KYNETON president Rob Waters says the Tigers are the talk of the town as they prepare to make their long-awaited return to the Bendigo Football League finals this weekend.
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Twelve years after last playing finals – and only two years after the club’s senior side went into recess for a season – the Tigers will take on Eaglehawk in Sunday’s elimination final at the Queen Elizabeth Oval.
It has been 192 games since Kyneton last played in a final – the 2003 elimination final loss to Sandhurst – and Waters says a strong contingent of supporters are preparing to make the journey up the Calder for the clash with the Hawks.
“Everyone is excited and talking about it,” Waters said on Wednesday.
“There’s shop fronts that have ‘Go Tigers’ signs in the window and black and yellow balloons and so on, which is great because this isn’t something we’ve experienced for a long time.
“When you make the finals it raises everyone’s awareness of the club and we’ll be expecting to bring a really good crowd up to the QEO on Sunday to see how we go.”
Waters took on the role as president of the Tigers in May, 2013.
Three months earlier the club had withdrawn its senior side out of the competition following a mass walkout of players left the club with insufficient numbers.
The reserves and under-18 footballers, and netball teams, played on in 2013, before the new-look senior side under new coach Mark Adamson returned in 2014, winning six games.
The Tigers improved to eight wins this year under Adamson, before his sacking a month ago for “failing to meet the standards required to be the leader”, and his replacement Luke Beattie, with those eight victories enough to finish two games clear in fifth.
“You look back two years ago when we didn’t have a senior team or a coach, it was crazy what we were facing, but we backed ourselves with good people and gradually, put the planks in place,” Waters said.
“There wasn’t much there at the club, but Kyneton was still there and we wanted to show the community that if we could do this properly, they would back us, which they have.
“But there was no doubt it was fairly dire a couple of years ago.”
Waters says the re-emergence of the Tigers is not only exciting for the club and the town, but also sells a positive message to the league and other clubs who are doing it tough.
“I think it’s a good story for the league to show that if you work hard and get some good people involved, you can turn things around,” Waters said.
Meanwhile, the Tigers have confirmed Beattie will continue to coach the club for at least the next two years.
“We think Luke will do a fantastic job for us. He is really passionate and has made a seamless transition since coming into the role in a difficult situation,” Waters said.
“He is a highly-respected Kyneton figure and the players have responded really well to him.”