Sport

By Matt Austin

Leigh Dodds has spent much of his life immersed in rugby union as a player, coach and dedicated volunteer helping clubs provide opportunities for others who share his passion for the game.

His football journey began at Blaxland High School, where he initially played rugby league before making the switch to rugby union.

“I thought rugby union was a better game to play, and I was encouraged to give it a go,” Leigh said.

Playing alongside his mates was always important to Leigh. He was also strongly influenced by his school coach, Phil Baker, who played first grade for Blue Mountains Rugby Club.

During his schoolboy representative career, Leigh played against future rugby league star Tim Brasher and faced the Junior All Blacks. John Fox was among his teammates for the match against the New Zealand side.

Leigh was invited to play first-grade colts with Parramatta but instead chose to join Blue Mountains. He began playing with the club’s juniors in 1986 before progressing to grade rugby the following year.

Starting his senior career as a prop and hooker, Leigh became Blue Mountains’ first-grade hooker in 1990. He went on to play 130 first-grade games and an impressive 556 grade games for the club.

During his playing career, Leigh won two premierships and appeared in five grand finals. He later added another premiership as a coach.

One of his proudest coaching achievements came in 2002, when he guided the Blue Mountains colts to a grand final victory over Oakhill College. The win was particularly rewarding after the team had fallen short in the 2001 decider. Leigh had been asked to become the club’s inaugural colts coach and embraced the opportunity to help develop its young players.

While continuing to play and coach at Blue Mountains, Leigh also served as junior president. He was later awarded life membership of the club an honour shared by only about 20 people.

Leigh went on to become vice-president of Penrith District Junior Rugby before taking over as president the following year at the invitation of Chris Hicks.

Known affectionately as “Doddsy”, Leigh has a strong understanding of the Western Sydney rugby landscape. He also knows the importance of advocating for junior programs and building pathways that allow young players to develop and remain involved in the game.

More recently, Leigh has enjoyed reconnecting with rugby through the Rouse Hill Renegades. He believes the club shares many of the qualities he valued at Blue Mountains, particularly its strong camaraderie, team values and family-friendly culture.

His colts team included many players from the Norwest area, as well as several who travelled from further west. It was a challenging season as the Renegades stepped up to Division Three after previously not fielding a colts side.

Despite the challenges, the team recorded five wins, finished fifth and earned the season’s first Subbies Try of the Week.

Leigh is looking forward to building on those results and helping the team improve its position next season.

He also acknowledged the many people who have contributed to his long involvement in rugby.

“I’d like to give a shout-out to all the coaches who helped me develop along the way and to every player who put in the effort when I coached them,” he said.