The club's 2020 fell apart long before anyone else's did - just one day into the new decade - when player Harry Greenhalgh died waterskiing on Wyangla Dam at age 13.

The outpouring of grief across Orange in the first days of January was palpable, and as the club's support network came together to help them rebuild, COVID tore everything back apart.

The club rebuilt. Again. They put players on the park, organised more volunteers, and rallied through the grief and confusion which has been the backdrop to 2020.

For that, club president and Harry's father Jason Greenhalgh has been recognised with the Western NSW Rugby League volunteer of the year award, a nod which he admitted left him "embarrassed" and said wasn't just a reflection on the work he'd done.

It's much bigger than that.

"It's a recognition to everyone involved with not just this club but everyone in the Orange rugby league community as a whole," he said.

"It took me by surprise when the treasurer rang me ... I thought he was having a joke.

"It's very unexpected, you don't do these sorts of things for the accolades."

The Greenhalghs - all four of Jason, Tammy, Jack and Harry - have been at the heart and soul of the Bloomfield Tigers for half a decade, and the New Year's Day tragedy was something club and affiliated senior club Orange Hawks rallied around, and they weren't going to let a pandemic get in the way of it.

"It has been an extremely tough year, it didn't start off well on a personal note but COVID did make life that a little bit more difficult," Mr Greenhalgh said.

"The options were there to not go ahead with the season but this club in particular knew the kids really needed to get out and play football to burn off some of their energy and anguish.

"I think it was really great for their mental health more than anything, there was a while there where they weren't going to school and getting out and socialising and not meant to do too much so (it was about) getting them back to be together and enjoy each other's company."

Rallying volunteers is a hard thing to do at the best of times at local sporting clubs, and coronavirus restrictions added an extra layer of difficulty and extra hands needed.

Mr Greenhalgh said he was humbled to have no shortage of people who were willing to throw themselves into roles which were needed for the season to go ahead.

"I think there was a community which pulled together and people put their hands up," he said.

Early in 2020, he considered walking away from it all, but didn't "for a number of different reasons" - coming back to continue as president and to coach Harry's old under 14s team to an ultimately unsuccessful grand final tilt.

"In the early stages there was trepidation or feelings of wanting to step away but that felt probably not the right thing to do on a number of fronts," he said.

He said he felt he owed the club and the rugby league community across the city.

"Without the community support from the rugby league community or the Orange community as a whole on a personal note we wouldn't have been able to get through, and that was the driving force to enable the season to go ahead," he said, jokingly adding Jack would spend the year "whinging" if he wasn't able to play.

"You've got to do everything possible to do it."

Mr Greenhalgh said he'd been "embarrassed" by having the spotlight shone on him, but was lost for words when asked what the award meant to him.

"I think it's just ... the recognition of not just myself but everyone who's involved. Not just at our club, with a hard-working committee and a recognition for everyone in our club to be recognised in that way," he said.

"It's certainly a team and a club effort."