Andrew Whatman is bullish about the Canowindra’s Tigers chances for 2019, with a host of soon to be announced recruitments boosting the senior men’s side ahead of the Woodbridge Cup.
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“We need to improve a little bit up front. We weren’t quite powerful enough and we weren’t quite big enough,” Whatman explained.
“We’re gonna be really competitive this year, more competitive than last year to be honest.”
It’s a big call, given that Tigers were no slouches themselves, making the top four before a premature elimination in the first week of finals, which Whatman said drew attention to some of the gaps in the club’s list make-up.
“[In the final we had] a couple of injuries, a couple of guys who couldn’t play and it ended up hurting us a lot,” the president said.
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“We’ve had to recruit players to fix the holes we had…You’ve got to get a few guys in to help the local guys out.”
That said, while the Tigers have lost some players from last year, they’ve also added and bolstered their ranks as well.
“We’ve still got the Hughes boys, and Curtis Hughes is playing this year as well.”
While Whatman is keen for a big 2019, it hasn’t stopped him from looking back on what was an undoubtedly a successful year, with the League Tag and Youthleague sides both competing strongly, the latter making a grand final appearance.
“Youthleague battled for a numbers a little bit and a few guys who came across from Grenfell [really helped],” Whatman added by way of detail.
“Getting to a grand final and getting beaten in extra time… is a really good effort.”
Meanwhile, the women’s League Tag side made up a lot of ground on their opposition during the season.
“They were a very young side that showed a lot of improvement throughout the year,” Whatman said.
However, while 2018 was a strong one for the club, Whatman was very specific in what he believed was lacking in bush footy.
“It’s struggling a little bit in the bush to be honest… A lot of small country towns are doing it pretty tough because of the drought,” he said.
“I’d like to see a bit more support from the CRL [Country Rugby League] and NSWRL guys… [by] sending players out, and trying to push back out into the country areas.”
While Whatman was more hopeful than assured of receiving that kind of support, one area he is keen to improve is junior involvement with the club.
“They had pretty good numbers last year, and I couldn’t see it changing too much – The seniors and juniors are hoping to work together more.”
