After starting bright and knocking on the door of the top four by the midway point of 2022, the Thunderbolts fell off the pace in the latter half of the year due to consistent injuries and absences.

Also read:

Over the weekend, they wrapped it up with a pair of losses to the Inner West Bulls Red, 110-85, and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, 108-58.

Team point guard, Bailey Keech, led the scoring for Tamworth across both games, and said the team was "pretty tired" after a draining year.

"It's been a bit tough," Keech said.

"It's been a long season of traveling and playing constantly ... it's taken its toll."

Saturday's game began at 8pm against the Bulls, and was competitive until a couple of Inner West players "caught fire" and opened up the lead.

But 16 hours of rest was not enough to prepare the team for a clash against the top-ranked Sea Eagles on Sunday.

They fell to a 50-point loss to close out the year, but Keech said the general feeling among the squad is one of optimism for what lies ahead.

"We built a really good culture between all the boys, we all became really good friends," he said.

"A couple of the boys are keen for next season already. It just goes to show where we came from, a couple of boys had barely played rep basketball before and now we're competing with the top teams in Division Two Youth League."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: