They've had to wait an extra four months but Tamworth's Northern Rangers contingent will finally get the chance to show off their skills against the best in the country this weekend.
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After being postponed from October, the 2021 Junior National Oztag Championships get underway at Coffs Harbour on Friday.
The Rangers are a composite of players from Tamworth, Warialda and Port Macquarie, with Tamworth providing the biggest numbers.
They will have a strong presence at the tournament with 14 teams competing across the various age divisions.
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The last championships in 2019 were the first for the Rangers and saw some great results with the 14s girls making it through to the semi-finals and the 13s girls the quarter finals, while the 9s girls just missed out on a semis spot on a points count-back.
Tamworth and Port Macquarie junior oztag convenor Katrina Davis would like to think they could produce some similar results but said it is a bit of an unknown with everything that has happened over the last two years.
"Our goal is to be competitive," Davis said.
What isn't unknown is how keen the players are to get out there and play.
For many of them it's been about six months of preparation for this weekend.
Davis said the teams had been training for around a month or so when it was announced the championships were being postponed.
They had a short break following that to "remotivate and regroup" but have been training now consistently from about October minus a short break over the school holidays.
"They're busting to actually get some games," she said.
It is a busy time for Davis with the Tamworth junior competition kicking off next week.
The senior and junior associations also have a coaching clinic with Michael Buettner, who is the Director of Coaching and Development at Australian Oztag, coming up on March 13.
As they look to try and build the coaching ranks, Davis said hopefully it will encourage more people to "take up the coaches hat".
The junior association also recently named the Taipans teams for the State Cup, which is usually held this weekend but has been pushed back to June.
They will start training in the coming weeks.
