The Rock-Yerong Creek will be back with an under 17.5 team in the Farrer League next season.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Magpies have confirmed they'll field three grades of football for only the second time since 2010.
TRYC stalwart Ted Fellows will coach the young 'Pies.
"Yeah I am looking forward to it, definitely," Fellows said.
"I probably didn't think about it until I was asked and then I thought it's a pretty good thing going forward for our club.
"Obviously it's good for numbers for training but having the younger boys around the club is good for enthusiasm and all that.
"We just need 17s up and running for the future of our club."
The Magpies' move should take the Farrer League under 17.5s back to a six-team competition, with the East Wagga-Kooringal, Marrar, Northern Jets, North Wagga and Temora all indicating they will have an under-age team again next season.
The Pies brought back an under 17s team in 2018 but battled for numbers and were forced into forfeits in the back end of the season.
This time, they inherit a strong under 15s team which finished runners-up this year after going through the home-and-away season undefeated.
"They got beaten by Turvey Park in the grand final so were probably a bit unlucky but yeah it's a pretty good group of kids to start off with as a base and we'll try to add a few more as well," Fellows said.
"We really need to pump up our 17s, being a small country town. And it's a good opportunity for me to learn as a coach as well, I think."
TRYC's new president, David Pieper, is rapt to lock in Fellows, who played his first game with the Magpies at the age of six and has played for the TRYC seniors for the past seven years.
"Ted's great. He gets on well with the kids and he coached juniors a few years ago. He's one of those lads that the boys will enjoy playing for and learn a lot from," Pieper said.
He is confident the club will have more than 20 players on their list.
"When Brad (Aiken) signed on as coach he met with our under 15s and they were all keen and indicated they were going to hang around. And the players we already have at the club who are eligible for under 17.5s will top us up as well," Pieper said.
Pieper said fielding an under 17.5 side next year is critical to the club's survival, otherwise they'd face a severe struggle in coming years. Next year, their top age junior team will be a young under 13s.
The senior club is also going to apply for dispensation under the player points system.
AFL Riverina's policies allow for clubs to apply for additional points in consideration of a club's geography or other unique circumstances.
"We have applied for a couple of points because we haven't had under 17s," Pieper said.
"And a few players we've lost are one-pointers, so to bring players in to replace them, it makes it very hard for us, being a small country town when you don't have the numbers there."
READ MORE: