Group 6: The Oaks Tigers crowned club champions 2021

At times, perennial battlers The Oaks Tigers could’ve been forgiven for thinking about packing it in. Now, they have been crowned Group 6 club champions for the first time in 40 years.

At stages across the club’s history, perennial battlers The Oaks Tigers could’ve been forgiven for thinking about packing it in.

The footy club has been waiting since 1992 to break their Group 6 first grade premiership drought, despite appearing in four grand finals since. For reserve grade it has been even longer, last lifting the silverware in the mid 1980s.

Tigers' Ben Scambary in action this year. Picture: Warren Gannon Photography

The club, at times ridiculed by rivals as also-rans, has spent long periods anchored near the bottom-end of the first grade ladder and at points struggled to field teams in the lower grades.

However, the commitment and dedication of the club’s hardworking inner circle has paid dividends with The Oaks Tigers breaking a 40 year drought to be crowned Group 6 club champions for the abandoned 2021 season.

President Kevin Bell said the achievement came as a shock for the club and was a reward for weathering the hard years.

“We are really stoked about it,” he said. “A combination of good committees has built the club to where it is today.”

The Tigers lost the first grade grand final in 2018.

Club stalwart and committee member Glenn Davies said the turning point came on the field when the club appointed Mitchell and Matthew Brasington as co-captain coaches in 2015, which led to the first grade outfit narrowly losing the grand final in 2018.

“We had to do something different and that is what we decided to do to turn the club around,” Davies said.

“It was a fairly big risk but we didn’t really have any other option.”

Davies said, despite receiving the award in an abandoned season, there was no reason to think the club wouldn’t have finished the season at the top of the club championship considering they led the way at the halfway point.

The appointment of current first grade coach Nick Crouch for the 2021 season has seen the club go from strength to strength, finishing the abandoned competition in third position.

The club championship is calculated through ladder position in the under 18s, reserve grade and first grade competitions, with the Tigers’ strong performances seeing the club pip Thirlmere Roosters.

Bell said the club is building for a premiership tilt in coming years, welcoming former Camden Rams hooker Ben Quinlan, ex-NSW Cup forward Evrett Vaurasi and Jake Bentley for the 2022 season.

The new signings will join returning Tigers Bailey King, Kyle Bell, Kyal Greene, Cameron Graham, Michael Midson, Dan Smith, Luke Gibson, Daniel Bell, Nathan Rumsby, Cooper Smith and Josh Morgan.

The club is calling on Wollondilly Council to accelerate plans to revamp home ground Dudley Chesham Oval, which have been proposed since 2019.