MANILLA’S hopes of fielding a side in Group 4’s reserve grade during the 2019 season have taken a major step forward.
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The Tigers are close to securing former captain-coach Mitch Doring to lead the side and have already received interest from more than 20 potential players.
Club secretary Ian Bennett told the Leader the club was focused on having a “community focus” in 2019.
“We recently had a meet and greet day and we were very pleased with the interest,” Bennett said.
“From that day and other recruiting we have done we have been able to compile a list of about 21 names to play next year.
“Now our major focus is getting a ladies league tag team together, so far we have about 16 or 17 names on the list, so it’s going pretty well as well.
“All told everyone has been working really hard to make this happen and all systems are go for 2019.”
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Bennett said the potential inclusion of Doring as captain-coach would be “massive for the club”.
“Mitch is a local boy and while he hasn’t signed yet there is a lot of buzz about him coming back,” he said.
“He’s about 99 per cent committed to being the captain-coach this season and would be a really strong leader for our club going forward.”
Less than a year after the club’s 100th anniversary, the Tigers sat out the 2018 season due to a lack of player numbers, but looks set to take the field in 2019.
“We have paid our fees to Group 4 and as far as we are concerned we will be playing this year,” Bennett said.
“Having senior sport is so important to a small town like ours because it not only benefits the players but the whole community as well.
“That’s going to be a big focus for us, we really want to support the whole community and local businesses through the club’s week to week dealings.
“As well as that, playing team sport leaves you with lasting memories and we’d hate for this current generation of locals to miss out on playing for their town.”
Bennett said the club had focused on only recruiting “local talent” to help field the team.
“For us it is really important to be Manilla based,” he said.
“We have nothing against our neighbouring towns like Gunnedah or Tamworth, but it is really important for us to have our own identity.”
The push for local recruitment comes amid concerns Manilla’s renewal would hurt other club’s playing stocks.
“We are very focused on ensuring our playing list is made up mostly of locals,” Bennett said.
“I think based on that, Group 4 fully expects us to fail.
“But we’ll certainly be there in 2019.”
Group 4 chairman Ray McCoy hosed down claims the league didn’t have confidence in Manilla’s hopes of taking the field.
“At the Group 4 annual general meeting the clubs made the positive step of voting Manilla back in,” McCoy said.
“It’s very exciting to see them back and from here the ball is in Manilla’s hands.”