NO club across Bathurst District Football's junior and senior competitions enjoyed as much success as Macquarie United FC did in 2019, so it's no surprise the team's registrations have remained as strong as ever during an interrupted 2020 campaign.
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Macquarie picked up a pair of senior titles and two junior titles in a memorable season last year and were eager to get back onto the field for a new journey.
Macquarie FC registrar Geoff Rankin said there's been little change in club numbers between 2019 and 2020.
"From a registration and participation perspective we have consistency. New players were registering and people were coming on board. It was looking healthy," he said.
"We're still optimistic that a great majority of those players who have already registered, if given the option to play a decent sort of season, they'll play."
This year the number of teams across the Macquarie club is expected to be 33.
"That number is pretty consistent for us over the last few years," Rankin said.
"We have our ladies first grade staying consistent with their complement. We'll definitely be putting our boys up into second grade, and there will also be our fourth grade men's."
Given the excellent season Macquarie had as a club in 2019 it's no wonder there's plenty of buzz for the upcoming season.
The club were victorious in senior men's third and fourth grade while their under 16s and under 13s also finished as premiers.
Rankin said the club members are keen to find that winning form again but all players have to remain vigilant in their training and be minding of social distancing measures.
"Our message is about not just building up match fitness and being competition ready, it's about getting engagement with the game going in the club and getting a sense of normality back," he said.
"The message we're sending to coaches is to always be very mindful of what you're doing, keep everyone safe, but work on bringing people together to gain that sense of normality."