Pre season training has gotten into full swing at the Harden Rugby Club as they prepare for the 2026 season.

Harden Rugby Club's Charlie Brown said training has been really good and the numbers for the men's squad are really good, and the women's squad is coming along in leaps and bounds.

Mr Brown said while the women's squad is coming along in terms of numbers, they are always looking for more players.

Her Harden Red Devils' pre season has been going for about a month now, and has been a promising start, Mr Brown said, with players in better shape than expected for this stage of the pre season training.

While the coaches are happy with the progress so far, Mr Brown said it is a long way to go before they get to the point where they are playing footy.

While the club has seen a bit of warm weather during the pre season training, Mr Brown said they don't mind that during the early training.

This year the men's coach is Jack Alcorn and John Manchester will be coaching the women's squad

The Red Devils will be fielding both a men's and women's team this year, with the first match of the season taking place on Friday, 11 April and Harden will be facing off against West Wyalong.

Mr Brown said while the results don't show it over the last few years, but West Wyalong are a strong outfit and it will be good to come into a match like that to start the season.

"Their women's side is quite impressive, so it will be a really good test for our girls," He said.

In the men's match, Mr Brown said it it will likely be a physical matchup up but he is hopeful they can start the season on a winning run.

Looking forward to the season ahead, the Harden Red Devils will be celebrating the club's 50th year with a black tie ball on Saturday, 9 May.

Mr Brown said the event will be looking back at the club's history and celebrating that, while also looking forward to the future and how they can build the club into another great fifty years.

Tickets are set to be released soon, with Mr Brown encouraging people to reach out to the Red Devils' social media pages if they need more information.