It may not have ended how they had hoped, but the group of junior Orange Tigers who finished top of the table deserve to be celebrated nonetheless.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The under 14s side were in first place when the AFL Central West season ended prematurely due to the ongoing COVID lockdown.
For coach Matt Shephard, it was something to be proud of even if he would have liked a couple more games.
"I think the excitement is a bit subdued because we weren't able to take it through to a finals series," he said.
"It is a reward for the team's effort and their consistency. They would have liked one more game against the Bathurst Bushrangers to show their skills and prove who was the best team. They were the only team who beat us throughout the year."
The Tigers finished the year having won eight of their nine games and 12 points clear of the Bushrangers.
"We still had a great season," coach Shephard added.
"The kids were enthusiastic pretty much all the way through. Obviously there's some disappointment with the way we had to end our season but in saying that we were able to get quite a good block of the season together, the kids were able to attend training and develop their skills throughout the year.
"We got some fitness, got outdoors and there were definitely some positives to how the season unfolded, we just didn't quite manage to play our finals series."
With no premiers, the league's records will only acknowledge this season's minor premiers.
Casey White, the competition and development coordinator for the Central West competition expressed his sadness at finishing the season like this.
"This is not how we wanted to end our 40th Year of Footy. However, it has unfortunately become the only way to do so," he said.
"This season has been one like no other, as we celebrated the rich history of our game in the region. It was competitive and deserved to have finals for a conclusion.
"Personally, I would like to say thank-you to our AFL Central West community for supporting our code during challenging 2020 and 2021 seasons. Hopefully we can return to normality in the very near future.
"Thank-you to our players, coaches, club administrators, volunteers, and spectators for your involvement this season.
"Finally, to any retiring or departing players and outgoing committee members, thank-you for your individual contributions to our league and its clubs."
The under 14s were the only Orange side to claim this accolade and Shephard hopes it's something to build on.
"We had a core group which have played through under 12s and some have done Auskick, maybe two thirds of the kids have played under 12s," he added.
"We also had some new players come from other sports, a couple from rugby league and from rugby union and they had to learn the game which they did pretty quickly and picked up some of the new skills, so they developed pretty quickly and were major contributors to the team.
"We had three girls in our team and they're major contributors and all get involved so hopefully they'll go on to youth girls and hopefully women's.
"Claire Gibson has been playing since under 12s and Charli Hunter is another strong tackling player who has been playing well.
"On the boys' side, there's a good dozen footballers there that have really developed their skills well and their game sense and will hopefully go on to under 17s and then potentially senior footy."
The other junior titles were awarded to Bathurst Giants (under 17s and under 12) and the Bathurst Bushrangers (youth girls).
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.centralwesterndaily.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Catch up on our news headlines at Google News