BLAYNEY president Adam Hornby says he’s ‘”frustrated and disheartened” after Lithgow Workies forfeited Sunday’s Group 10 premier league game against the Bears, but it’s not entirely because his side won’t have the chance to finish its season on a win.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
“Forfeits just seem to be happening too often in Group 10 at the moment. This is the second time Lithgow have forfeited a premier league game this year and there’s a been a few over the last couple of seasons in first division as well,” Hornby said.
“I don’t know what’s happening, but maybe the penalties for forfeiting need to be a bit stronger, a bit more of a deterrent to stop teams taking the easy way out.”
Workies contacted Hornby mid-week to notify the Bears of their premier league forfeit, which comes a little over three months after they forfeited April’s 2015 grand final rematch against Orange CYMS.
Much like in their forfeit to CYMS Workies cited injuries and player availability – or lack thereof – as the issue.
“It is a bit of a cop out, I just think it’s the easy way out,” Hornby said.
“There’s been times we’ve struggled and could’ve forfeited games but we did everything we could to field a side. Whether that was a first grade quality side or a bunch of under-18s and reserve graders backing up, we’d get a team on the paddock and they’d want to do that for the club.
“Lithgow could be doing everything they can for all I know, they probably are, but I think something must be going on there for the club to have gone from playing in a grand final one year to not fielding a first division side and forfeiting premier league games the year after.”
With their finals hopes dashed last weekend the forfeit means Blayney, technically, finishes 2016 with a victory but Hornby said the playing group is bitterly disappointed they won’t be able to play for it.
“They’re just shattered,” Hornby said.
“We’re two points behind (fifth-placed) Mudgee but their points difference is huge, so we were no chance of playing finals but the boys wanted to the opportunity to at least finish the season on their terms.”
Hornby said, as far as he knows, Workies will front to play the Bears in under-18s and league tag.
“We’re expecting Lithgow to come and play under-18s and league tag, we’ve heard nothing of them forfeiting those games,” Hornby said.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
