AUSTRALIAN RULES
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
AT one stage the Orange Tigers were confident of fielding four sides in this year’s Central West AFL competitions including two in the revamped, one-tier top grade.
Now it seems they’ll only field two.
The Tigers advised the CWAFL board on Sunday they will only be fielding a men’s team and women’s team, meaning the black and golds - at this stage - won’t have that second top grade side, nor will they be trotting out an under-18 team.
As it stands, they also won’t field an under-16 side but have nominated in the under-12 and under-14 divisions.
Tigers secretary Matt Tabbernor said the club has been assured by the CWAFL committee they will have the chance to potentially enter more sides in the coming weeks, if they can drum up more player numbers.
“They’ve told us that should be okay, but we decided to go the conservative route in nominating teams originally,” Tabbernor said.
“We’re confident of being able to put more teams in, we’re doing some promotional work and that type of thing and normally we see player numbers start to increase as the summer sports finish up and university comes back.
“Ideally we’d like to have a team in every age group from juniors right through to seniors but it hasn’t worked out that way so far.”
Tabbernor put the issues down to a massive player exodus after last year’s third straight flag win, with a number of guns retiring and plenty more moving away.
“We have a lot of guys who work in the mining industry and move around for that, a lot of guys retired after three in a row as well. We contacted everyone who has played in the last couple of seasons to gauge interest and we’ve lost about 45 during that period,” Tabbernor explained.
“If you take that out of any sporting club they’re going to struggle a little bit.”
The club is hosting a registration and promotion event at Big W on Saturday, February 27 and at Robertson Park on Sunday, March 6 to try and increase player numbers, and is also working with the AFL NSW/ACT on their school programs over the next month.