Now in its fourth year, there has been plenty of anticipation surrounding who will take out the Peter “Parra” Montgomery Battler of the Year for season 2025.

After being renamed in honour of the late Hay and Albury rugby league icon following his passing in October, a shield was yesterday unveiled to Parra’s family and members of the Albury Thunder club prior to the announcement.

The award, the most prestigious presented by Battlers For Bush Footy, recognises the most “outstanding contribution to the development and conservation of rugby league in a regional location”, in line with the mission statement of Battlers For Bush Footy, which is to “positively promote and share the spirit of the game of rugby league in regional New South Wales and beyond.” 

And today, after two weeks of deliberations, Battlers For Bush Footy is proud to announce that the 2025 Peter "Parra" Montgomery Battler of the Year is Coolamon Raiders JRLC President Thomas Besgrove.

A local school teacher and former South City Bulls and Dubbo CYMS star, Besgrove was recognised for his work in founding the Coolamon Raiders JRLC in 2023, with the club growing to field four teams this season.

Through his work in establishing and helping to grow the Raiders and in the process restart rugby league in Coolamon, Besgrove was adjudged as having made the most outstanding contribution to his local club among all of the volunteers highlighted to Battlers For Bush Footy in 2025.

Speaking to Battlers shortly after the presentation of the award, Besgrove said it was both humbling and a “huge honour” to receive the accolade.

“I’m not going to lie, it is awesome to receive such a great award,” he said.

“I keep an eye on the page, so looking at all the previous winners, it’s pretty humbling.

“I will say [however] something that all the other volunteers would say, you certainly don’t undertake any type of role or position as a volunteer for the accolades, you do it for the kids and you do it for your community, and that’s something I’ve always tried to do.

“Congratulations to the other nominees.” 

Despite the award being a form of individual recognition, Besgrove said that he certainly wasn’t alone in starting junior footy in Coolamon, with the Raiders President quick to thank the people and organisations who helped him along the way.

“It was tough, but it’s hard to fully say that too, because I had and still have a very good committee of people who genuinely care about the town first and foremost, but also about the kids, so that was huge,” he said.

“Obviously my wife was incredibly supportive, there would have been no Coolamon Raiders and I wouldn’t have been able to drive it the way I could without her.

“I’ve got to give a big shout out to the NRL, New South Wales Rugby League, and to Coolamon Shire Council, because without those three, it doesn’t happen.

“With all that support, it made things a lot easier.”

A premiership-winning first grader at both CYMS and South City, rugby league has been a part of Besgrove’s life since his early days growing up in Dunedoo.

That positive influence the game had within his own life inspired him to start the Coolamon junior club, giving his own children and others in the town the opportunity to play the game without having to travel into Wagga or Junee.

Although he downplays his role in the success he experienced in his own career, the newly titled Battler of the Year said that the award ranks highly amongst his achievements in the game, especially given the hard work behind the scenes that goes into volunteering within the sport compared to playing.

“In fairness to those competitions and those teams, I was certainly the support cast to some some very brilliant players and brilliant teams in Group 9 for [South City] Bulls and Group 11 for [Dubbo] CYMS, I was absolutely a battler in every sense of the word in those sides,” he joked.

“It’s one of those things that to a degree, most people can get out and play

“You hope that there is an opportunity for kids and people to play, and I lived that as a kid and loved every minute of it.

“It is harder when you are a part of a family and you’ve got your own [kids] to volunteer.

“So [the award] sits pretty high up there, and some great winners beforehand certainly push it up there.”

With the junior club now flying as it prepares to enter its first mod league teams in the form of under 10s next season, talk in Coolamon has shifted towards re-establishing a senior club.

In a show of his dedication to the game, Besgrove has been one of the driving forces behind organising the initial meetings for that venture as well, with a view to form a working committee and further expand the sporting opportunities on offer in Coolamon.

“One of the best things about living in Coolamon is the strong sporting culture that it has,” Besgrove said.

“We’re very fortunate as a town to have an awesome AFL setup in Coolamon Hoppers, awesome touch footy, we’ve got golf, tennis, cricket, all the above, so kids have plenty of options.

“Being able to provide rugby league gives another option within that.

“The other thing now with the talk of the seniors is that it hopefully gives some of our league kids something to aspire to so if they are looking up going ‘I would like to play for Coolamon Raiders going forward’.”

“That would be brilliant”.

However he did admit there might yet be another catch to the two-time Group 9 premiership winner coming out of retirement.

“If you spoke to my wife, I’m not sure she would be quite as impressed about this part, because it would mean that I get to play again,” he joked.

In winning the 2025 Battler of the Year, Besgrove narrowly beat out the other five finalists of Nicole Collins (TLU Sharks), Mikey Dynon (Bendigo Crushers), Stephen Howse (Cootamundra Bulldogs) and runner-up Stevan Cetinich (Orara Valley Axemen).

Battlers For Bush Footy would like to again congratulate all of the other nominees for their selection as one of the five finalists for the prestigious award.