WEST COAST LIFELINE STRENGTHENS AS GREYHOUNDS ENTER TWO TEAMS IN 2025 CRL COMPETITIONS

Rugby league’s resurgence on the West Coast in recent seasons – with the support of Canterbury Rugby League – takes another significant step forward in 2025 as Greymouth Greyhounds prepare to enter two teams in CRL competitions for the first time.

The Greyhounds fielded a side in the CRL ISC Sports Canterbury Cup in 2022-23, before making a historic step up to the CRL Whitehead Plumbing & Gas Men’s Premiership in 2024.

The club’s growing exposure and blossoming culture has sparked an explosion in interest on the Coast, creating a player base sufficient to participate in both grades this year.

“A strategic priority for CRL has been to support the West Coast with enabling rugby league to thrive again in the district,” CRL CEO Malcolm Humm says.

“The Greymouth Greyhounds have progressed from playing reserve grade, then to the premiership.

“This has certainly supported the growth of the game on the West Coast and we believe, along with the Greyhounds, that the time is right for them to compete in both the CRL Whitehead Plumbing & Gas Men’s Premiership and CRL ISC Sports Canterbury Cup.”

Preliminary finalists in the premier reserves in 2022 and ’23, the Greyhounds’ premiership introduction last season was a resounding success – despite finishing at the bottom of the Massetti Cup ladder.

The Greyhounds proved overwhelmingly competitive throughout the campaign. The Kurt Dixon-coached outfit endured a heartbreaking, last-minute 22-17 loss to Eastern Eagles in Round 2 but turned the tables on the Eagles five weeks later at Papanui Domain to chalk up a landmark 24-20 win.

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The plucky outfit’s season highlight came in the form of a stunning 40-0 rout of eventual semi-finalists Riccarton Knights in the second of their three matches at Wingham Park, while the Greyhounds finished the year with a gutsy 20-10 loss to eventual champs Hornby Panthers in Greymouth.

The Greyhounds’ ability to support two teams in CRL’s top two grades is another major milestone in the code’s admirable recovery in the region – and in the century-old rugby league relationship between West Coast and Canterbury.