Local born and bred Tumut Blues stalwart Dean Bristow will take the helm in 2026 in a great boon for the Club.
Photo: Tahlia Crane Photography
Tallon Smith
The Tumut Blues have gone back to the future ahead of the 2026 season after unveiling long-time player turned mentor Dean Bristow as the First Grade coach for the upcoming Group 9 campaign.
No stranger to the role, Bristow has teamed up with three different co-coaches in sharing the job in the past in Adam Pearce, his brother Lachlan Bristow, and more recently Zac Masters, however, this occasion marks the first time he will take on the top job himself.
Bristow said that while this would inevitably create some new challenges, his prior experience co-coaching will be invaluable in leading the Blues’ charge for glory.
“It’ll obviously have its challenges, no doubt, co-coaching gives you that luxury to have someone to bounce ideas off and make decisions with,” he said.
“Doing it solo, that solely rests on one person’s shoulders, so there will probably be a little bit of doubt in my mind at times throughout the process, but I’m lucky enough to have done it a few times as a co-coach, so hopefully that puts enough experience in me to make the right decisions.”
After a first start draw with Albury, the Blues shot out of the blocks in season 2025, before finishing the regular season in fifth and being bundled out by Temora in the opening week of finals.
Despite that strong start, Bristow said that the side actually moved more towards the style of play they wanted to achieve later in the season, a build he is looking forward to continuing in 2026 as the side chases a goal of going deeper into the playoffs.
“I feel like we put some steps in the right direction towards the back end of the year, we were probably a little bit slow to get going in terms of the style of footy that we wanted to play, but I feel like the back end of the year we did,” he said.
“I’ve got a younger playing group there, the bulk make-up of the squad is probably a little bit undecided at the moment, there’s some blokes moving on and some blokes who are undecided [as to] what they do.
“If anyone steps away from our squad, we need to be actively getting someone in to replace them, just to get some help around our younger squad and to make sure we don’t take a backward step next year.”
As for whether we’ll see fellow stalwart Zac Masters on the park next year, Bristow said that the Weissel Medal-winning front rower is undecided as to whether he will put the boots on.
“He’s undecided what he’s going to do, [but] whether he plays or not, I’m sure he’ll still be open to some sort of help,” he said.
“What he does playing wise, I’m not too sure, he nursed a fair few injuries throughout the year.
“He could potentially have a year off and try and get his body right, but hopefully he does want to play.”
In other news related to the Tumut club, Grant Fenn has been re-elected as Group Nine President for 2026 at the competition’s recent AGM.
The renowned administrator will be joined by Vice-Presidents Marty Hay and Greg Wiscombe along with an experienced board for the upcoming season.
