In 2017, the Oberon Tigers faithful was up in arms after then Orange CYMS captain-coach Mick Sullivan, with his side up by a point in the grand final and time ticking away, decided to run the ball backwards to rundown the clock and ensure the green and golds lifted the Western Challenge Trophy.

Unsportsmanlike, some called it.

One letter to the editor in the aftermath of CYMS' fifth premier league crown in seven seasons dubbed Sullivan rugby league's Trevor Chappell.

"Sullivan's actions made it a sad, sad day for fairness and sportsmanship," the letter read.

Three years on, with Oberon seemingly running away when things are getting a little tough, can we get that same letter writers thoughts now?

The Tigers dropped back to second division for this season, preferring to contest the 2020 Wallerawang Landscaping Cup, or the old mid-west premiership as it's otherwise known.

It was a move made pre-COVID and one stemming from a lack of numbers and a lack of quality. That's a feasible notion.

Running a footy club in that small town environment can be unforgiving.

Finding enough players to field two senior men's sides is an arduous task. Throw in the requirements to field an under 18s side and a league tag outfit and the battle is there for all to see.

Then ensuring those numbers are of the sort of caliber you need to be competitive in Group 10 and it's not difficult to see why small town teams can battle.

But the fall from grace for Oberon has been alarming.

The club won five games last season. They played finals in 2018. Made the grand final in 2017. It's hardly a tough stretch.

On the other hand, Blayney hasn't won a game in two seasons, the winless run for reserve grade is longer ... yet no mention of dropping out of Group 10 by those at King George Oval.

Oberon, and Blayney and Cowra for that matter, get a fair number of exceptions from Group 10 to help remain competitive against clubs based in larger centres like Mudgee, Orange and Bathurst - allowing them to have additional points in the cap system just one example.

The offer to remain in Group 10 and play reserve grade and league tag in 2020 another option tossed up before all this COVID madness transpired.

The board opted not to take up that favour, though.

The preferred option? Dropping back to a competition that functions as a village league in order simply to win.

After five rounds, the wins are rolling in too.

The Tigers are undefeated after 74-0, 44-6, 50-14 and 28-8 victories, the latter against last year's reigning premiers CSU Mungoes.

While the Barbarians forfeited in round two because of a lack of numbers, and probably an unwillingness to go up the hill and be rolled by a Group 10 club.

That first result, too, that's the score against Lithgow Bears.

It's crazy to think a side that played in the Group 10 grand final three years ago, and finals the year after, is now taking on the Bears from Lithgow.

Those blokes don't deserve that.

Sure, it's a different Oberon side, but names like Sellers, Fitzpatrick, Christie-Johnston and Booth remain, while the Tigers' fullback this year also played in the No.1 jumper for Bathurst Panthers, and they've won back-to-back Group 10 top grade crowns.

Josh Rivett deserves a shot to play with Oberon. That's not in question. The other local boys absolutely should be playing in black and gold, too.

It just shouldn't be in mid-west.

Why is it acceptable for Oberon to decide Group 10 is too tough and then drop down a division only to make life infinitely tougher for the teams already battling away in mid-west.

That competition is for them. Not a side capable of playing in Group 10 but one that chooses not to in 2020, or 2021, potentially.

But there's an opportunity here.

Oberon is a proud rugby league community, one we've highlighted many times on these pages before, the lead up to the 2017 grand final was as special as we've seen.

The work Dallas Booth and co have done this year is first class. Booth is one of the genuine good guys in bush footy.

But 2020 and what the club is doing in the mid-west league this season has to be used as a spring board back into the Group 10 competition in 2021.

Numbers and quality was the issue when the group's annual general meeting rolled around in November last year, but with the names mentioned above and a list of over 20 senior players on the Tigers' facebook page each week, it's a more than handy base to work from.

Juniors will continue to be an issue, and that's more a long term process, but Group 10 has shown its hand by offering the Tigers the chance to play in the top league minus a first grade and an under 18s side already.

Surely all clubs will be welcoming of a Tigers return if it means another premier league, reserve grade and league tag side is in the group.

Oberon takes on Cargo in the sixth round of the Wallerawang Landscaping Cup on Saturday, the Blue Heelers also undefeated after sneaking past the Warriors by two points in Cargo last weekend.

If the Tigers do the job on Cargo, as expected, then that victory must be the catalyst for a planned return to the top flight in 2021.

As mentioned, Tigertown is one of the great rugby league communities in NSW, never mind Western Division. The club's run of grand final victories throughout the 1960s and into the 70s will never be topped.

But as that letter writer back in 2017 penned ... "if an opponent retreats, wouldn't that signal that he didn't want to compete?

"Rugby league is one of the toughest sports and wimps shouldn't take part."

Oberon is not a community that retreats. Nor are the town's players wimps. But deciding to return to mid-west is essentially a nod to both.

As a rugby league community winning is important, but the players and fans can't be satisfied running roughshod over second division clubs, surely?

Make the jump. Do the work. Restore pride.

Make it happen.