Orange All Blacks in the 2024 Koori Knockout a possibility

Although the Orange All Blacks have taken part in previous off-season tournaments, such as the 2022 Dubbo Waratahs Rugby League Knockout, the biggest event on the calendar has often seen the city's stars spread out across the state.

But former Group 10 premiership winner and current Orange United member Kurt Beahan believes the close proximately of the 2024 event could spell success for his city.

"We've got a lot of Aboriginal talent here," he said.

"There's a few of us that are talking behind the scenes that would love to see Orange come together as community and actually participate in the big knockout. We think we can."

To make that dream a reality, there's a few things they'll need.

The first, being sponsorship and the money to fund the side.

The other is a group of players willing to throw their name in the ring early on.

"We need a commitment from a playing group and if we want to be competitive which is what we want to be, we'll need commitment in particular from first graders," Beahan added.

"The fact it is a lot closer to Orange, I think it's going to motivate a lot of boys to want to get together and play together for Orange."

But it's not just the players who will benefit from the Bathurst location.

Beahan expects to see the Central West show out in force come 2024.

"Putting aside the football part of it, it's massive for our community," he said.

"You're going to have families and a lot of those mobs that can't afford to get down to a knockout when it's five hours away.

"A lot of our families can get to Bathurst so I think you'll see a lot more people from Orange floating around and fingers crossed they're walking around representing Orange All Blacks."

Beahan isn't just confident of Orange fielding a side at the Koori Knockout, he believes there will be an influx of sides from the west vying to take home the title.

"It's going to be big for a lot of our country sides," he added.

"For us to be able to represent our community in the big knockout is obviously taking it to that next level. I don't think there would be a much better feeling that being able to do that."

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