Warwick clubs rebuild after May's devastating floods

The Warwick community is rallying together as three rugby league clubs begin to rebuild in the aftermath of last month’s floods.

The Warwick Cowboys, Eastern Suburbs Junior Rugby League and Collegians Junior Rugby League were all hit hard by the floodwaters, suffering damage to fields, carparks and clubhouses, and losing training equipment, kitchen appliances, trophy cabinets, fencing, and more.

While Collegians’ clubhouse was high and fairly dry, their fields and carparks were greatly impacted, causing the club to lose home games and revenue over the past month, as well as having to find elsewhere to train.

Eastern Suburbs meanwhile sustained substantial damage inside their clubhouse, losing the majority of their canteen area and major appliances.

The structure of the clubhouse was impacted as well while their pump for underground sprinklers was also lost alongside training gear.

Warwick Cowboys, who have a team in the Toowoomba Rugby League A Grade competition, were the hardest hit, with the inside of their clubhouse completely damaged.

They also lost their fencing around the grounds after large hay bales were washed across Father Ranger Oval in the floods, knocking down the boundary gates and spreading across the field.

All three clubs are working with Queensland Rugby League as they go through their options for recovery and Cowboys president Dayne Barrett said the community had banded together to help each other through these trying times.

“On the morning after the floods, we had 40 volunteers down there – players, committee members, ex-committee members, some sponsors,” Barrett said.

“They were down there helping us clean up. The council were good too. They removed a lot of the rubbish, like the hay bales.

“We have a relatively small committee and the work from here falls back on that small committee so we try to stay as positive as we can for everyone.

“Moving forward, we want to make sure whatever we do is not a Band-Aid. We want to improve as we go.

“Morale’s pretty good.”

Despite the efforts to stay positive, Warwick Cowboys have lost a lot.

Barrett said they’ve lost little things like kitchen cupboards right up to floor coverings, freezers, cooking appliances, tackle bags, gym gear, and benches.

And, of course, there was the damage to the fencing.

“There were 90 round bales of hay washed out of a local farmer’s shed,” Barrett said.

“They washed up against the front of the building and over the field. We lost two fences. We have no signage. Nearly all of our field signage supplied by our sponsors is gone.”

The floodwaters started to rise across Warwick on Friday, May 13, and they came quickly, with Barrett saying he had never seen it move so fast.

Barrett said that made it difficult to access the clubs and, while he did manage to save some memorabilia from the Cowboys' proud history, the water was too deep to take any risks.

The Cowboys were able to play their first home game since the floods on Sunday, June 5, but there is still a long road ahead to get everything back to where it was.

Barrett said they will also have a lot to consider moving forward given they are in a flood zone.

But he said the Cowboys, along with the two juniors clubs, were doing what they could to keep going.