Five questions with Woodbridge Cup boss Andrew Pull ahead of grand finals

I think it's been terrific; we have already gone from being two different areas joining back in November to one united competition.

Once the clubs were formally adopted and the draw completed in March, everyone just got on with playing of the game, supporting each other and the competition.

Credit goes to all the clubs, I know I have said this a lot, but we realise all our clubs are community-based clubs and we all have the same worries, the same positive attributes and we all need each other to play against.

It's serious on the field but off the field there's a lot of comradery. The new clubs think the same way and have embraced it. There's so much more about community rugby league then what happens on the field.

What is your prediction for the first grade grand final?

The 2015 grand final was the best I'd seen in 23 years at Woodbridge Cup, Binalong 30 - Trundle 28, with Trundle attacking as the siren went.

I think this year could equal that. Oberon are so big and powerful, with speed for big men. They are going to score points. On the other side, Manildra with Luke Petrie is so wily and crafty, they won't take on Oberon in the middle they'll go around them with speed, over them with Petrie's kicking game and only late go through them with his grubbers.

Both sides will know they'll need to score 24 points to win. I predict Zac Reimer getting a hattrick. As for the result, the president is impartial but the soft side of me looks at Manildra they've had two grand final losses in 2018 and 2019, they've worked hard, felt the pain, they love their footy and they deserve a happy ending.

What is your prediction for the league tag grand final?

The one question I was dodging. I predicted Condobolin last week to beat Grenfell. Well, the Grenfell team read the paper and listen to the radio and are not afraid to tell me. Both teams are so good right across the park. Molly Hoswell for Manildra is so dangerous, she can set up tries as well as score them.

Then Lily Holmes for Grenfell is equally as dangerous but in a different way, straight up the middle. Can I just genuinely leave it as congratulations to both coaches, the standard of both their teams has lifted this year, I've seen individual players improve enormously. If these teams are lifting, then the whole competition lifts.

What lessons have been learnt from this season that could be implemented in the years to come?

The minor one is looking at organising our finals schedule a little better, we have never had so many teams across all grades, and then the scheduling.

It's over two days, we need to get our independent board officials to all games to be just that, independent. But we need to work harder to avoid clashes with our junior league competitions, with players backing up from 17s tag in juniors that are needed for senior footy too.

All clubs are affected by it, but this year Molong were really hamstrung in an elimination semi-final, the coach didn't deserve that for all his handwork all year.

The problem is ours, we need to work around our junior clubs. We now have great lighting facilities at Canowindra, Molong and Orange maybe we look at having Saturday night semis? We will find a solution anyway, that's what we do.

If there was one highlight in particular that you could highlight from 2022, what would that be and why?

Representative day Woodbridge Cup against George Tooke shield at Canowindra. When every other competition across NSWRL has constant issues with player availability and scheduling, we don't.

In all three grades our coaches were so passionate about it, they picked great teams, the performance from our players showed they wanted to be there.

The crowd was big and there's something nice about all the different clubs represented coming to support their teammates, supporting the rep team and being so vocal about it. And George Tooke Shield were exactly the same.