The Wollongong Devils hope it's not a case of groundhog day this Sunday.
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For the past five years, the Devils men's premier league team has reached the NSW Touch Football's Country Championships grand final. Each time, their hopes have been thwarted by Doyalson.
Wollongong Touch Football Association vice-president Tim Robinson said he hoped the Devils could "reverse that result" in 2019.
"I think they will be in the contest, but they face stiff competition again from Doyalson and some other really strong teams such as Central Coast, Beresfield and Newcastle," he said.
"It will be tough. I'm pretty sure [Devils stars] Terry Deegan and Matt Cope have been ruled out due to injury concerns."
Wollongong will send three teams to the championships in Tuggerah, which starts on Saturday and concludes on Sunday. There will be two men's premier league sides while the Devils will also compete in the women's premier league division.
Robinson said he hoped the second men's side, called Wollongong Two, could reach the finals.
"Unfortunately they don't have split competitions for the country championships, they're mixed together," he said.
"The top four in each pool will go through to the semi-finals. We should make that top four but I think Doyalson and Beresfield are in our pool. We could then cross over and face our other Wollongong team in the quarter finals."
The Devils will sport a rejuvenated team in the women's premier league division. Robinson, who coaches the side, believes Wollongong will put up a strong challenge this weekend.
"We've had a reasonably strong women's side for years with lots of similar players. This year, we've had a bit of a clean out," he said.
"A lot of our older girls who have gone through the system, won the State Cup and represented at the highest level have now gone up to the [over] 30s competition.
"There's no 30s comp at the country championships so we've created a new-look team and this will be their first tournament together. It will be a mix of some experienced players, but also new players who want to want a go at rep footy. A couple of them are from our junior base, our 16s and 18s girls who have come through the system and stepped up into women's program. It's an exciting venture.
"Central Coast will be the team to beat, as well as Newcastle. But I reckon we can make the semi finals and anything can happen from there."
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