Sport
18 March, 2025
Gilgandra Panthers need you!
Gilgandra Panthers need players to sign up for first grade, or there will be no team in 2025.
Perennial Castlereagh Rugby League heavyweights Gilgandra have less than a fortnight to find the numbers needed to field a first grade side for season 2025 as the Panthers battle a player shortage.
That’s the stark assessment from Gilgandra president Shane Byrne after continual poor training attendances has pushed the club to act publicly.
On March 10, Gilgandra Panthers RLFC released a social media post asking players to join their first grade team for season 2025.
“Come on down to secure the future of the club,” the post read. “Look forward to seeing everyone there.”
However, that post didn’t have an affect for the next night’s (March 11) first training session since the release.
Speaking to The Gilgandra Weekly on Wednesday, March 12, Byrne revealed Gilgandra started training back in mid-November under first grade coach Bill Welsh.
Byrne reported the best attendance for the first grade side has been around a dozen, which happened semi-regularly in January and February.
Recently, numbers have dwindled to the point where there are around eight regulars attending training.
Byrne explained a first grade squad will often use up to 30 players across a season.
“We need as many as we can get,” Byrne said.
The deadline is nearing closer.
Byrne said Gilgandra needs to have a viable squad ready to compete at the Castlereagh Rugby League knockout at Warren on Saturday, April 12 to proceed in 2025.
“If we don’t have numbers by then, we will have to pull the pin (withdraw from first grade),” he said.
He said training numbers need to dramatically improve across the next fortnight to make the side a reality.
The club committee will meet tomorrow night (Wednesday, March 19) to discuss the issue and map out a likely path forward, with the final decision expected by the week ending Friday, March 28.
“We definitely can’t go into April without numbers,” he said.
Byrne said the women’s league tag side has enough numbers to proceed in 2025, with around 16 interested and committed players.
“They could do with some players as well … but they’ll definitely have a side,” he said.
Bill Welsh is the men’s first grade coach, while Byrne and Luke Ritchie are mentoring the league tag side.
Byrne confirmed that season 2005 was the last time Gilgandra didn’t field a first grade side in the Castlereagh Rugby League competition.
“Twenty-straight seasons without happening,” Byrne said.
Gilgandra played in 2006 with a group of young players that didn’t win a game, however, sticking together meant there was better days ahead, a lesson that players who put their hand up to play this season Byrne feels can learn from.
The Panthers retained the core of that 2006 group and went on to make a grand final in 2009 before a period of sustained success with five premierships through the 2010s.
The club has won Castlereagh League first grade premierships in 2011, 2013 and three straight from 2016 to 2018 under that re-birth, adding to a 2001 Castlereagh League title and group 14 premierships in 1956, 1981, 1986, 1987 and 1997 along with a group 11 premiership in 1989.
Gilgandra also played in every Castlereagh League first grade grand final held between 2015 and 2022.
Gilgandra Rugby League Football Club has a dedicated committee including 19 general committee members in addition to its executive, won last year’s Castlereagh League reserve grade premiership and simply just needs first grade players to function this year.
