The Tenterfield Tigers are set to start their season this Saturday against two strong Tingha Tigers teams at home.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Tenterfield league tag side is fit and ready for the new Group 19 second division season.
Skipper and their leading try-scorer from last year, Megg Landers, has put her hand up to be captain-coach this season.
She believes there is a good mix of players from last year's team as well as some up-and-comers who bolster the side.
"I think we have a really good side," Landers said.
"We have a few young girls that are coming through and I think we are going to be strong this year, stronger than last year.
"We have a lot of new talent from the under 16s from Tenterfield.
"Our under 17s girls folded this year so we have got a few from there."
They finished the season with a series of tight matches, including a four-point loss to eventual premiers Uralla.
The strong end to the year fueled their fire to return and climb even higher this year.
"I think we have 20 girls registered this year and a lot of them came back because of how well we were going last year," Landers said.
"It took us until the end of the year to really start working as a team but we have been training for a while as a team so I think it will really start to come together."
Landers said everyone is "keen" but is expecting a tough hit out against Tingha.
"When I played in Group 19 before, they were very strong, the Tingha girls.
"We have been training hard.
"We have had about 15 girls at training every week.
"Last year there might have been seven at training but this year it has been really good.
"I think it is because there is such a good group of girls.
"There is no bitchiness, we just come and train and have a chat afterwards and go home."
The men's squad's pre-season has been a bit of a different story.
The numbers aren't as strong but president Brendan Minns is confident once they hit the field, interest will build.
"We are a little bit low on numbers.
"The side we have got is a quality side, it is just that we are lacking a bit of depth, just bench players.
"We are still searching, we could probably do with an extra five players to get us in a healthy position to accommodate maybe injuries, blokes away and stuff like that.
"We have got a few new faces, a couple of them haven't played yet so it will be good to see them run out for the first time and get a feel for the first game."