It’s with great pleasure that the Gundagai Tigers finish their 2024 season inducting a true clubman into the ranks.
After playing his 200th First Grade game this year, Mark Elphick is up there with the most capped Tigers ever.
Also inducted – Chris Rose, – Dave Tout and Martin Hay.
The club would like to thank Steve Rose who had the honour of inviting and presenting these men into a small number of Gundagai Tiger Life Members group.
What an inspiration and motivation to continue the support and passion of the Gundagai Tigers.
The Times will be reaching out to all inductees to tell their stories in the coming weeks.
The Gundagai Tigers Rugby League Football Club held their club presentations on Saturday night, and although First Grade had a disrupted year due to a shocking injury toll, they still performed admirably as a club. Reserve Grade proved to be the powerhouse of the competition winning the Grand Final and only dropping a game on one occasion.
The League Tag side went so close on so many occasions and will be better for this year’s efforts in the 2025 season.
The Times spoke with President David Tout who didn’t mince words with the high expectations put on the club. When referring to the First Grade side, he said, “We said at presentation night that it was a pass mark. We had one of those years where we seemed to give a lot of penalties away and drop a bit of ball, but we had a really good defensive year and that was due to Dunny (Blake Dunn) and Derek (Derek Hay) having the Tigers the fittest I have ever seen them since I’ve been associated with the club.
“I think that is one of the main reasons why we did run third. It was just one of those years where we didn’t get the bounce of the ball to be honest.
“We were thereabouts, Young was the only team we didn’t trouble. The rest of them we troubled.
Royce Tout who played NSW Country this year had his year cut short by injury and has undergone surgery. He will hopefully be ready to come back in, in the middle of the season next year.
“My young fella has been operated on and he will be raring to go in the middle of next year.
It wasn’t only the First grade side who were fit.
“The Reserve Grade are in the same category, they are the fittest that I have seen for a Gundagai Club.
“They are probably the best attacking team that I have seen running around for Gundagai. They just worked it out on the way. They were down a few games and they just found a way to win and were very unlucky not to go through undefeated.
“The League Tag girls tried hard and couldn’t come up with the chocolates. A couple of games they could have won if the bounce of the ball had gone their way, but they tried hard all year, which is a credit to them.
“The Coota 16s and 18s – I thought the 16s would win it, just things didn’t go their way at the end of the year. The 18s ended up higher than what I thought they would. They were both a pleasure to have around, they were no trouble. You know what it’s like sometimes with 16 and 18 year olds you have a bit of trouble with them, inconsistency, but these guys were a pleasure to have around.
“I’d like to congratulate the 15s on winning the premiership. It’s a massive, massive thing for a Gundagai team to win any premiership with the size of Gundagai.
Most Minor League teams in Gundagai sadly don’t get the winning feeling because of the size of our town, it just doesn’t happen very often, so it’s a massive achievement by them to win the premiership.
Group Nine is talking about implementing ladies tackle and 18s tackle and it seems like it’s going to make a very full day of football for Group 9 towns next year with the potential of 6 games being played on the one day. However, it may not be sustainable for towns the size of Gundagai.
“At this stage it’s the unknown. I still think that 16s should be playing in the seniors, they are ready for it at that age. I don’t know how they are going to marry that in with the girls.
“With the girls it is a big unknown how it is going to pan out. With the training there is not many girls from Gundagai that have played tackle. To play tackle, in my experience, with the boys they start getting taught to tackle at six years old onwards.
“It’s going to be hard for Gundagai to get into the groove to playing tackle when we are playing against teams like Wagga where the girls who have been playing, have been for the last ten years.
“It’s going to be a difficult thing for us to fulfil and be competitive, only because our skillset, we haven’t really played football and none of the girls have played football as yet. A few played in the Roddy Shield set up but it’s going to be a lot of coaching and a ten or twelve year process to really get things happening. It’s not going to happen straight away.
“I worry about injuries to be honest, because if you go into a tackle the wrong way, it is dangerous.
In regards to Group 9s proposal and the ladies of the town having the chance to take part, Dave said, “Good on them, I’m happy to see it happen, but it’s going to take a lot of coaching and no pre-season is going to fix it.
The presentation night saw news continue to filter through the club that two well-known players would be leaving the Tigers for 2025 and joining the Yass Magpies in Cody and Kaidan Bell. The Reserve Grade stars are looking to cement positions in the Yass First Grade side under Coach Luke Berkrey.
Dave said, “I want to thank the Bell boys for their contribution to Gundagai. They have been great for the club. It’s sad to see them go, but hopefully they will be back in the Tiger skin one day down the track.
Group 9 Awards
Burmeister Shield – Premiers.
Craig Makeham – Club Volunteer of the Year.
Cody Bell – Leading Try Scorer (Burmeister Shield).
Burmeister Shield – Minor Premiers.
Group 9 Team of the Year
James Morgan – Centre.
Derek Hay – Coach.
Representative Achievements
James Morgan – NSW Country Firsts.
Royce Tout – NSW Country Firsts.
2024 Club Awards
Hawthorne Shield – Player of the Year: Wilson Hamblin.
Peter Britt Memorial Shield – Player of the Year: Danielle Hand.
Mark Jones Clubman of the Year: Jan Freestone.
Reg Wheeler Rookie of the Year: Benjy Hannan.
Matthew Cole Highest Points Scored: Kaidan Bell (5 tries, 58 goals, 1 penalty goal, 1 field goal – 139 points).
Bell Family Premiership Award: Chris Bell, Cody Bell, Kaidan Bell.
Life Memberships
Chris Rose – 2021.
David Tout – 2021.
Martin Hay – 2021.
Mark Elphick – 2024.
First Grade
Tyron Gorman – King Tutty Memorial Best & Fairest.
Benjy Hannan – Players Player.
Benjy Hannan – Dale Cadman Best Non-Contract.
Wilson Hamblin – Best Forward.
James Morgan – Garth Molloy Best Back.
Trent Skeers & Joel Field – Coaches Award.
Coach: Blake Dunn & Derek Hay.
Reserve Grade
Jack Elphick – Anthony Smith Memorial Best & Fairest.
Kyle Ramage – Players Player.
Kane Lindley & Joe Tahaafe – Best Forward.
Caleb Piper – Best Back.
Dylan Edwards – Coaches Award.
Mafi Fanua – Most Improved.
Coach: Kyle Ramage & Mark Elphick.
League Tag
Destiny Cooper – Best & Fairest.
Destiny Cooper – Players Player.
Jessica Makeham – Coaches Award.
Abbey Flanagan – Most Improved.
Coach: Steve Rose.
2024 First Grade Milestones
Mark Elphick – 200 Games.
Benjy Hannan – Debut.
Kennedy Kilanda – Debut.
Caleb Piper – Debut.
Cody Bell – Debut.
Joe Tahaafe – Debut.