An initiative between the Central Highlands and the Central West means that western patrons will be treated to a feast of rugby at Barcaldine

Despite the heatwave settled oppressively over the state, the initiative started well on Saturday evening in Barcaldine when the Rolleston Roos travelled west.

They are the first of six Central Highlands teams to do so over the next month and a half, in an initiative tailored both at giving the eastern teams a pre-season competition warm-up and keeping the dream alive in the west.

Barcaldine’s Leisa Pearce explained that the western Queensland rugby competition has been in the doldrums thanks to ongoing drought, so it was decided in 2016 to combine all available players into a western Queensland team and set up a series with the region with the most accessible clubs, the Central Highlands.

“It was awesome last year so it’s happening again,” Leisa said. “We’re keeping it short so it doesn’t interfere with the league season.”

The team is a combination of Barcaldine and Longreach players, some of who are gaining match fitness to go on to play for various league teams later in the year.

Leisa said the initiative also gave the players match fitness for when the representative part of the rugby season took place, beginning on April 1, when a Western Queensland team will play first Wide Bay and then Rockhampton, in Rockhampton, culminating with a match in Barcaldine on April 8 against a Central Highlands rep team.

“It’s important for them to support us so the rep competition has four teams, but it’s keeping us strong too, and I hope we’ll see a western Queensland resurgence next year,” Leisa said.

Saturday’s final score was a 50+ blowout to the Boars, but coach Paul Doneley said that was no indication of the effort put in by the Rolleston team.

Upcoming fixtures at Barcaldine