Craig Garvey and winning teams go hand in hand, and it’s little surprise that Mounties are currently on top of the Intrust Super Premiership ladder.
As one of the better players within the competition over the past few years, Garvey made the jump from the Preliminary Final-finishing Bulldogs to the Canberra Raiders to seek an NRL opportunity.
He is yet to debut for the Raiders, but he’s strengthened an already strong and proud Mounties club that the likes of Brad Fittler, Arthur Summons and Eric Grothe Snr once played for.
“There is a lot of support around the area, Mounties has always been a strong club,” Garvey tells NSWRL.com.au.
“I’ve played them for the past couple of years and they’re always around the top four, so it’s good to be at a strong club because it makes it easier to transition into first grade if you’re playing at a good club.
“I’ve just got to keep trying to be consistent [to get to NRL], the more games I put together and the more back-to-back wins we get then it will be better for me.
“I’ve just got to worry about my own game and make sure we’re getting those wins for Mounties.”
Being a part of the Raiders NRL squad but not playing first grade is a situation quite unique to other players and teams in New South Wales.
Most second-tier teams just train at a different time to the top squad, but the Raiders players have to make the trip from Canberra up to Sydney on a weekly basis to do so.
It’s a different set of circumstances to the kid who grew up in La Perouse, but Garvey is adjusting and credits Mounties’ coach Ryan Carr for making it easier on them.
“It’s pretty draining,” Garvey says.
“But if I can get up here a couple of days early then I can relax with the family, then get into it with the boys.
“Ryan Carr keeps it nice and short for us, we get a lot done through the week because a lot of us are in the top squad so it’s not too bad and our preparation is always good.”
“I do miss home, but there’s not a lot much more we can do down there [in Canberra] but it’s a good place to really concentrate on your footy.”
Mounties went down to the Newtown Jets yesterday, but that can’t discredit how impressive they have been this season.
They’ve won six and lost three, and haven’t been too far out of the contest in any of those defeats.
It’s an impressive team that boasts a few players who recently graduated from the NSW Pathways Program, and also recently saw the return of 2016 Intrust Super Premiership player of the year Sam Williams.
“It’s been a pretty good start to the year for the boys, we’ve had two losses which we know we could’ve won.
“There is a new boy Corey [Horsburgh] he still plays under-20s, he’s a really good player, we’ve been watching him play for the past couple of weeks.
“We’ve also got Emre [Guler] and Jack Murchie who have been handling this grade really well, so a lot of youth here.”
“We’ve bonded pretty well and we’ve got a good team here.”
