THE Temora Dragons are "120 per cent" confident they will return to the Group Nine fold next year, but have implored members to do their bit to ensure the club's long term future.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After opting not to play in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Dragons held their annual general meeting earlier than normal on Thursday last week, but failed to form a committee.
They have scheduled a 'wake up' meeting at Temora Bowling Club on Sunday, October 11 from 1pm. Current president Anthony Madden issued a call to arms via the club's Facebook page on Monday.
"We held our Annual General Meeting on Thursday with the general same small group in attendance and failed to form a committee," Madden wrote.
"We have some members who are willing to go around again but would like to see more fresh faces and players in attendance showing their intentions on playing in 2021, and people willing to put their hand up to help out with the many roles involved in running the club.
"We will be calling for nominations for the committee from the floor with all positions declared open and see it as vital we form on this day to start the ball rolling for our return to the footy paddock in 2021."
Dragons secretary Mark Hughes said the year off has helped the club improve its financial position and allowed time to focus on recruitment.
"We're 120 per cent sure (we'll play)," he said.
"We're financial and have got players, but we're pretty certain we won't have 18s unless they come out of the woodwork. Depth is always going to be our problem, we can't keep enough kids in town as they often need to go elsewhere."
Hughes was adamant the club made the right decision to pull out of this year's Group Nine season, which culminated with Gundagai's win over Tumut in Sunday's grand final.
"I think we absolutely made the right call. I don't think Group Nine should have gone ahead along with the rest of the world, but they decided to so good on them," he said.
"I think it might put a few clubs under pressure, trying to exist in a COVID world with no income and still plenty of expenses.
"One of the reasons we made the decision we did was to shore up things and chase players obviously, and look for a couple of marquee buys.
"I think we would have had a good top-17 this year if we played, it would have been very competitive."
READ MORE
