Tara Murray
The Sunbury Tigers return to the NRL Storm premiership first grade competition has been a few years in the making, but the wait has been worth it.
One of the more successful teams in the last decade, the Tigers struggled for numbers before COVID-19 and had to fold their senior team.
The work then started behind the scenes to get the team back up and running. Last season they played in the second grade, winning the premiership and earning promotion back into the top grade.
Coach Grant Paaka said they had always wanted to be back in the top flight.
“It was always part of the plan,” he said. “What happened was in 2018-19 we put a plan in place.
“We had a lot of 17-year-olds at the time. We thought they would go through the 18s, 19s as a playing group and then be ready to go in seniors.
“A lot of ex-juniors have also returned to the club and want to help rebuild at Sunbury.
Paaka said a lot of work had been done at Sunbury behind the scenes to ensure that the program is sustainable for the long term.
He said after the previous success the club had, there weren’t the people there to step up when that group decided it was time to step away.
“We got a plan together to try and get back into first grade and it’s a perfect time to move forward,” he said.
“We want to stay in first grade forever, touch wood. We have a system in place and not a lot of people realise that we have every age group at the club.
“It’s about nurturing that sustainability for the long term and hopefully have them progress into the senior side down the track.
“It’s an exciting time to be a Sunbury Tiger.”
Off field the club has had plenty of sponsors come on board across the age groups, while they’ve got new lights and club rooms.
The club continues to grow talent that are making it to the next level. Paaka said the club has had two players play NRL, while there’s another three on lists of NRL clubs.
On field things are going well for the Tigers in their return to first grade.
The club sits third on the ladder with three wins from four games.
On Saturday, the Tigers beat the Northern Thunder, 38-16.
Paaka said there was a lot of unknown heading back into the top flight.
“I have coached the majority of them since they were 11 years of age,” he said.
“We’ve had a lot of interest from ex-Sunbury juniors and there’s a lot of new interest with growth in Sunbury.
“They bring that culture of wanting to work for each other. They are reaping the rewards of that.”
Paaka said the focus for the club this season wasn’t on results, but was individual growth and getting the players to play their roles.
He said they want to be competitive each week and see what happens from there.
The Tigers this week face ladder leaders and reigning premiers the Truganina Rabbitohs.
