The unique structure of junior AFL in the Central West meant it was always hard for the Orange Tigers women's side to get ahead.
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The youth girl's side runs up to under 17s so players age out as they are heading into year 12 and many forgoing the step up to the open's division to focus on study.
It's something coach Jacqui Ryan says has resulted in a lot of turnover historically but with a recent boom in the women's game (including 28 players in 2023), the Tigers are seeing a turnaround in fortunes on and off the park.
"When it first got up and running they wanted to do it right and keep it small but I've noticed in the last two years we've had a lot more of the youth girls transition across to senior footy when they age out which is very exciting," she said.
"It used to be quite hard to retain a lot of those girls because they are in year 12 and they are focusing on school which is understandable.
"But this year we have about six or seven ageing out and we have three who have already registered.
"We are looking to pick up where we left off [last year].
"Notoriously the women have had a lot of turnover of players but we have good retention and a similar squad [this year]."
Favourite son in new role
Ryan will coach the women for the fourth consecutive year while Luke Rothnie will return as the men's tier two mentor with the goal of continuing the reggies' rise from wooden spooners to finalists.
They will be ably supported by former firsts coach Dean Price who has helped spearhead a new role within the club.
He said he came up with the idea of a coaching coordinator as a way of helping set expectations and supporting coaches across the Tigers' many teams and pitched it at the club's AGM.
"It's a new role I thought the club could benefit from so I brought it forward at the AGM and the executive obviously got onboard with it," he said.
"I'm looking forward to helping support the coaches and really unify the expectations for the club.
"Just being present at training and game day, getting regular feedback from the coaches and then channelling that up to the executive as well as being able to actually problem solve on the ground as well so things don't end up snowballing."
