The Orange Tigers’ future is clearly safe, with all three of the club’s junior sides qualifying for the Central West AFL finals, which kick-off on Saturday.
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The Tigers’ under 12s and under 14s both finished second while the under-17 outfit ran third, all three will contest their respective preliminary finals at Bathurst’s George Park.
The two youngest age groups both take on the Bathurst Giants while the under 17s play the Bathurst Bushrangers, with a grand final spot on the line in all three games.
Winning would be ideal, under-12 coach Nathan Totten says, but he’s absolutely stoked with the development his young charges have shown and that’s the most important thing to him.
“At the start of the season we had 10 or so kids who hadn’t played before and a handful who’d come from AusKick, the improvement they’ve gone through since the start of the season has been incredible and surpassed the expectations I had for them,” he explained.
“They have the ability to work together now, work as a team and play for each other, none of that individual hogging the ball stuff so we've been working together which is the best part.
“They've been very easy to coach with some of the kids leading the way like Harvey Shepherd, Nate Constance, Harrison Coleman, those three young fellas are a testament to the whole team.”
Totten’s side has scored a win and suffered a loss against the Giants this season while a couple of other games were called off, so the preliminary final is anyone’s.
He has confidence though, because of a breakthrough win over the minor premiers just two weeks ago.
“We beat Cowra the other week, who are on top of the table, and they’re improving by five per cent every week,” Totten said.
The Tigers’ under 14s have enjoyed plenty of success against the Giants and will start as favourites, while the 17s are yet to best the powerful Bushrangers.
In the under 14s Cowra also won the minor premiership while in the under 17s the Giants were the top dogs after a strong season.
First bounces in the under-12, under-14 and under-17 preliminary finals are at 9.30am, 11am and 12.30pm respectively.