Berkrey takes the reins at Yass

Three-time Group 9 premiership winner Luke Berkrey has been called upon to take the reins at Yass.

A well-credentialed player and respected coach who helped lead the Gundagai Tigers to titles in 2018, 2020, and 2022, the 32-year-old bookend will take over from the outgoing Adam Kyle as the Magpies look to plan for the future.

Berkrey, a player who likes to lead from the front, will be a good fit for the Magpies, who boasts a loyal supporter base desperate for Canberra Cup success following a myriad of lean seasons.

Following a short stint in Wollongong marred by injury, Berkrey is back living in his hometown of Cootamundra, and he’s ready to help Yass improve on the three wins they recorded in 2024.

“It’s certainly a big challenge, but it’s going to be a different challenge,” Berkrey told CRRL.

“With Gundagai, it was a successful team, and it was about maintaining and growing the next group of players, whereas at Yass, it’s almost the complete opposite.

“Still, I’m confident we can build a good team and steer them in the right direction so they can be successful now and well after I leave.”

When asked about the job and how he ended up in charge in Yass, Berkrey said it was an opportunity that surprised him.

“I was in a position where I was not really thinking about anything like this, but the opportunity came up, and it really excited me,” Berkrey said.

“Not that I had lost the love for it or anything, but I saw this as a new challenge, and I can’t wait.”

Having battled injuries in recent seasons, Berkrey hopes to put all that behind him ahead of an important campaign in 2025.

“I haven’t been knocked around too much, and over the last couple of years, I haven’t played too much because of a leg injury and shoulder injury, so I feel fresh,” Berkrey said.

Finding marquee players to join Yass will be one of Berkrey’s biggest challenges, but he was the first to admit it wasn’t his key focus heading into the off-season.

“A big thing is recruitment and retention, but the biggest thing is the connection with the boys that will be there next year and starting to grow that,” Berkrey said,

“It’s about getting to know everyone before the preseason starts, making sure everyone is happy and on board, and rowing in the right direction.”

Success seems to follow Berkrey

At the beginning of what has been a storied career, Berkey was a prodigious talent raised in Cootamundra.

He was a regular in Group 9 and Riverina junior sides as a five-eighth and lock before he made his first-grade debut with his beloved Bulldogs as a fresh-faced 16-year-old in 2008.

NRL clubs scouted him, and eventually, he progressed to Canberra and attended Erindale College, where he would play Harold Matthews Cup and then SG Ball Cup for the Raiders before advancing to the clubs under 20s team in the now defunct under 20s Holden Cup competition

This meant training sessions mixing around first-grade players such as Terry Campese, Jarrod Croker, and Alan Tongue, which undoubtedly helped a young Berkrey learn and appreciate good training habits that would be carried throughout his career as a player and coach.

Once leaving Canberra, Berkrey was offered a one-year contract with the Melbourne Storm.

Still, he soon enough found himself back home, playing with the Bulldogs again in 2012 before eventually coaching Cootamundra to the Group 9 finals in 2015.

In 2016, while living in Cootamundra, he shifted to the Queanbeyan Blues but was eventually drawn to the Tigers’ den in Gundagai.

Gundagai’s former inspirational leader played under the likes of James Smart and former Canterbury Bulldogs star and Junee product Adam Perry, winning a grand final with each coach in 2018 and 2020, respectively.  

Berkrey took the reins in 2022 and led Gundagai to a third premiership in five years.

During his tenure with the Tigers, Berkrey upheld a sterling reputation as one of Group 9’s best and most consistent forwards.

He captained and coached Riverina until he stepped aside from those commitments after 2021. 

Despite being a little longer in the tooth these days, the hard-working forward will be a significant pick-up for the Magpies as they look to change their trajectory and once again become a force in the Canberra Cup competition.