OSBORNE coach Joel Mackie is looking forward to a taste of the Riverina League this season should the Tigers get the green light to join the competition.
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Mackie is considered one of the best country footballers in the land and signed at Osborne last September after more than 200 games and seven premierships at Albury Tigers.
He is a two-time Morris Medallist for the Ovens and Murray League's best and fairest player, and could now end up in the Riverina League should Osborne enter the competition for the shortened season, as hoped.
Mackie, 33, is right behind Osborne's push to join the league.
"I'm all for it. I'm just backing the players in and the players are really keen to play footy somewhere this year, in a premiership season somewhere as well," Mackie said.
"As soon as the Hume League said they weren't going to put a premiership season on, players were a bit pissed off and were keen to play somewhere. If we weren't going to play, they were still going to look to play in the Riverina League somewhere.
"From my point of view, I'm more than happy to keep everyone together and come across and play in the Riverina League."
Mackie admits he has no idea what to expect.
"I wouldn't know a lot about it," he said.
"I've tried to stay away from it at the moment until we get 100 per cent confirmation that we're in it, then I'll really start to look into it there.
"I think (Matt Rava) has coached at Wagga Tigers before, the boys are mainly Wagga-based boys and are super keen for it so I'll jump on their keenness and go for it.
"We're going to be pretty competitive, I think, not knowing anything about the Riverina League. I'm pretty happy with what I've got and the main thing is we get to still play footy and stick together."
Mackie originally signed a one-year deal as coach at Osborne, but has already learnt enough about the club that he will take the job on again next season.
"I'll definitely go again next year," he said.
"My biggest concern was travelling from Albury up to, whether it was Wagga or Osborne, and not knowing about numbers, but since day dot I've had great numbers, good commitment from the boys, and they've just taken it to it, taken to me really well and it's made my job a lot easier. They're really keen to just keep improving and play some footy.
"It's been a really good change of environment for me, it'd just be nice to play some footy."
Mackie has also left the door open to adding a couple of players to Osborne's list for the upcoming season.
"The way I'm reading it, the competitions up here may not go ahead at all. It might leave the door open for maybe one or two," he said.
"We'll just wait and see what happens over the next week. We just want to make sure we're in the comp first and then see what happens with some other players.
"We're open to maybe a couple of boys coming in but we don't want to disrupt our group too much either."
Osborne will learn more about their fate at a Hume League board meeting on Wednesday night.
The club will make a decision shortly after that, but is expected to have no problems at the Riverina League's end.
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