Mixed competition kicked off on Tuesday night, with juniors on Wednesday and men’s and women’s on Thursday. 

The transition from City of Orange Touch into Orange Thunder Touch has coincided with a large player movement in the top grades. 

READ MORE: Million-dollar touch: Junior carnivals to inject $2.2m into city’s economy

Thunder administrator Tracee Livingstone said most of the representative players in the division one grades of the men and women’s grades, who last season were split up among different teams, have mostly come together to play with their coaches as a mid-week training session. 

It’s an ominous warning to the rest of the players in the top grade, with Death By A Quickie, Fire Breathing Rubber Ducks and The Loose Goose the men’s division one teams chock-full of under 16 and under 18 Orange Thunder players.

READ ALSO: Skating and scooting and BMX-ing for a shot at glory

In the women’s top tier, Ally Kaufman and the Girls and Lucy Warner and the Girls the two teams for the under-18 Thunder said, with the under-16s largely in Handyman All-Round Services, with a few lining up for Try’s The Limit. 

The success of the junior touch program in Orange is paying also dividends, with the majority of juniors playing under 10s and under 12s this year now moving into under 12s and 14s. 

Under 14s is the oldest age division in touch before moving into seniors, and Livingstone is expecting plenty of them to make the transition into open age groups.

The league is still looking for more umpires, too – while teams provide umpires when the roster needs it, Thunder is looking to have more certified umpires able to coach the top grade, especially those who aren’t also representative players, with Livingstone saying they were short-handed during rep weeks.

Receive our free newsletter delivered to your inbox every morning, as well as breaking news alerts. Sign up here ...