Newcastle Olympic stalwart Rhys Cooper keen for fresh…

Newcastle Olympic stalwart Rhys Cooper keen for fresh challenge at Maitland Magpies

Rhys Cooper celebrates a goal for Newcastle Olympic against Cooks Hill this season. Picture by Marina Neil

Leaving Newcastle Olympic for Maitland wasn't an easy decision for Rhys Cooper after more than a decade at Darling Street Oval.

So much so, that the 26-year-old is already aiming to return there to finish his NPL career after giving "Maitland everything I've got".

Cooper will join the premiers in 2023 to reunite with former Olympic coach Michael Bolch, who gave the midfielder his top-grade debut as a 16-year-old in 2012.

Apart from one season with the Jets Youth, Cooper has been at Olympic since 2008 and has been club captain the past two years.

Cooper, though, said it was time for a change. He and defender Tom Davies will join Maitland from Olympic next season. It will be Davies' second stint at the Magpies.

"It wasn't an easy decision. It took me a while to come to it," Cooper said.

"My age was a big thing. I'm 26, so I thought Bolchy's got something pretty good going at Maitland and I've obviously played for him before, and I just thought it was the right time.

"If I can give Mick a good couple of years, then I'm still under that 30 years of age to come back to Olympic. So I thought, 'why not do something different?'"

Cooper, who came off the bench in Olympic's last three games of the season, said he left on good terms.

"It will be good to finish my career at Olympic, but I also want to give Maitland everything I've got as well," he said. "I'm hoping to continue their success. Obviously Mick is one of the better coaches around Newcastle and his teams always seem to be successful, so to play for him again, I'm looking forward to it.

"It's not so much a fresh change, it's more of a challenge for me as well because it's out of my comfort zone, but I know Mick has my best interests at heart, so I'm sure it will be enjoyable."

Bolch believed Cooper would complement his strike pairing of Braedyn Crowley and James Thompson, who have scored an amazing 42 goals between them this year. The Magpies beat Broadmeadow 4-1 on Sunday to qualify for the grand final.

"He's still got a lot of good football in him, Coops," Bolch said. "Hopefully we can get him back to where he was a few years ago. He'll fit in well with what we're doing.

"I think last week we had seven guys under 23, so we have got a lot of really young guys. He'll add that little bit of experience and a bit of quality in the middle of the park.

"I see him as a running No.10, running off Jimmy and Crowley.

"We've retained the rest of the squad, so add him and Tommy Davies to it, I don't think we need much more."

Meanwhile, Bolch said Thompson was on track to play in the grand final on October 2 after missing the major semi-final win because of an ankle injury.

"We're not going to bother getting him to do anything until the middle of next week, but the physio reports are good," he said. "They are really happy with how he's going and are pretty confident that he'll be right."

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