Trangie Magpies announce captain-coach and partnership with headspace

Last week the club not only announced Damian Bell as the Magpies' captain-coach for 2020, but their partnership with mental health organisation headspace.

Secretary of the Trangie Magpies Lorna Deamer said the partnership with headspace would allow the club to provide workshops, talks and exciting opportunities for their players, which they hope would extend into the wider community.

"These men are fit, athletic people and the community and young kids look up to them, so it makes sense we should team up with somebody who could help people, so we can help people," she said.

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Ms Deamer said as an emergency department nurse, she understood mental health issues were prevalent within the community, and realised rugby was not only a great way to bring together the community on a Saturday but a way to build positive mental wellbeing.

She said the club would be offering workshops, education evenings and would even host Bruno Efoti from Tradies in Sight to sit down and have a chat to the boys.

"[Mental health] is a bit of an epidemic and especially now we're so drought-stricken, we're finding that mental health is is even more of a prolific problem than what it was seen to be before," Ms Deamer said.

"It's going to really open up a lot of things for us, but its also helping headspace reach further than Dubbo, it's going to help them reach into the peripheral communities and extend their support."

The new partnership will be led by the club's new captain-coach Mr Bell.

In 2019, Mr Bell played with the Batemans Bay Tigers, before joining the magpies mid-way through last season.

In previous years, the halfback has played in Griffith, Parramatta and Lalor Park competitions winning various awards for being best back.

Mr Bell had been a leader for the team, and had left a positive influence on the players.

"He's extremely committed to the team, which is fantastic," Ms Deamer said.

"It's very exciting and we're very committed.

"Damian wants [the team] in and training as soon as we get players registered, so I think we're going to be playing fit by the first knock-out."

The 2020 season for the Magpies looked promising, and Ms Deamer said it's "exciting times ahead".

"I think we're going to change the way people see Trangie and football and we're going to change the culture, and bring winning back into it," she said.

"And that's not just winning the game, its winning as a community as well, to help build some resilience."