LEAGUE - Grand masters coming soon to a field near you

Once you hit your 30s, playing rugby league is a different ball game altogether.
Semi-retired Portland player Raki Harding said it's still about keeping fit, but without breaking any bones.
Tomorrow, Harding will join Portland Masters, players aged 35-plus, on the paddock against Auckland Masters in the curtain raiser to the Whangarei City and Districts rugby league round seven match between Portland and Kaikohe, at Portland.
While participants may be slightly wary about injury, fellow masters' player Val McDonald said the competitive spirit was still alive and kicking.
"The games are social in nature and you're not supposed to keep score but we always do," he said.
McDonald, the former Whangarei City and Districts chairman who has also played and coached both Northland and Portland, is among several players trying to get a masters' module running in Whangarei next year.
Presently, around six Portland Masters players travel to Auckland every three weeks to play for Ponsonby Masters in the Auckland competition, which sports 48 teams across the different age-groups.
"Ideally, we would like a competition up here to run in conjunction with the premiers - maybe a game every two weeks," McDonald said.
"It would be good for clubs, bringing guys back to play for and support their old clubs.
"Most of them would bring their children and grandchildren here to play, and most of them are working so they would bring a lot of income into the clubs."
Failing the creation of a regular and consistent masters' competition in Whangarei, it is hoped enough players could be found to form a team from Northland to contest the Auckland competition, McDonald said.
Kaikohe club have a team who occasionally play the prison team, McDonald said - and Takahiwai have made noises about joining in but other clubs are yet to form teams.
After putting the idea forward to clubs, he hoped they would jump on board.
Portland Masters will run onto the paddock tomorrow in front of their home crowd. They are a star-studded outfit, with several players who have previously represented their country and are hoping to again at the International Masters of Rugby League tournament in Auckland during October.
McDonald has played in the Nifty 50s (50-59 years) for New Zealand, as has Len Phillips, while Stewart Cameron was selected for the Kiwi Legends (60-plus) in the past.
Nigel Bradshaw donned black and white for the Stallions (35-39 years), and Trevor Bristol, Doug Andrews and Steven Wells have played for the Kiwis (40-49 years).
The curtain-raiser kicks off between Portland Masters and Auckland Masters at 1pm, before Portland play Kaikohe at 2.30pm.
Meanwhile, at Moerewa, Takahiwai face Moerewa, who defeated Kaikohe 26-14 on Saturday in a re-match of round one due to a score discrepancy, while Hikurangi play Wairoa at Wairoa and Bay Slayers host City Knights.