Shane Rampling was on the receiving end on Sunday as he traded the coaching pad for the boots, and led a 10-man South West Robins outfit onto the field against Gunnedah and left it with 20-odd minutes on the clock, eight fit players and a scoreline reading 94-0.

The week before the Robins fielded two sides but could only rustle together 10 and had to forfeit reserve grade, despite having “close to 50 players” on the books.

The loss of a starting side worth of players from last year coupled with a lengthy injury list – sitting at roughly 10 players – and unavailability due to work has led to an unsettled side, and seen the Robins use over 40 players in first grade. Heavy losses on top of that, has seen a lack of commitment by some players.

“It’s tough, it gets you down,” Rampling said.

“But like I said, I couldn’t be more proud of the guys who put a jersey on, it shows a lot of guts and courage to go out there and play.

“It’s just a shame a few other blokes didn't have the same mentality. It is what it is, we just have to get through next week, regroup and set new goals for next year.”

The state of First Division, which Rampling has previously said was in a big hole, has also played a role in South West’s year of woe.

Rampling believed something as simple as a scheduling change could boost the quality of players in First Division.

“Saturday football has a big bearing [on who players sign with],” he said.

“A lot of players don’t want to play Sunday. Second Division is strong because they play Saturdays and their sponsors, which is generally a pub or club, get the benefits of playing on Saturday night.

“I know a lot of players that are playing Second Division because it’s on Saturday and you don’t have to worry about work the next day.”

If First and Second Division remain separate competitions, Rampling said the introduction of double headers – where First and Second division matches are played on the same day at the same ground – could fix several problems.

“Absolutely, the league should be looking at doing double headers,” he said.

“One, it helps with the referees and two it’s going to bring bigger crowds.

“There should be Friday night and Saturday night games, too. When we played Warriors on Friday night we had one of our best crowds.”

Rampling said there was no magic solution to fixing the rugby league landscape but he knew all the clubs would have to pull together.

“We have to work together for the benefit of the game and I think there are too many clubs in and around Tamworth,” he said.

“You want everyone to be competitive.

“I know over the years, it’s been Wests and Norths [stronger clubs] which hasn't done any favours to the group but now you’ve got Narrabri and Gunnedah competing which is good, it breathes a bit of life back into it.

“Clubs have gone through it [tough periods] and now it’s our time to go through it but we’ll try out best to try and rebuild.”