Eagles president Ian Robertson believes rugby is alive and kicking in Cowra, despite the Eagles tumbling out of premiership contention on Saturday.
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The Eagles suffered a deflating 27-0 loss to Bathurst Bulldogs in the Blowes Clothing Cup’s preliminary final on Saturday at Ashwood Park.
While it spelled the end of the Eagles’ season, it also gave an opportunity for Robertson to reflect on how successful the club’s 2018 campaign was.
From fighting for a place in the Central West’s tier one competition to hosting their first semi-final in five years, and also attracting a Shute Shield fixture, it’s been a year to remember for those within the club.
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“We achieved all our goals, we exceeded our initial goals. We’re very happy,” Ian Robertson said.
“I believe it’s created a lot of faith in the code within the wider community particularly supporters.
“It’s not only been a success on the footy field but things like the Shute Shield and Walla Rugby carnivals they’ve been magnificent and well supported.”
Robertson indicated he’d return as president in 2019 if the club wants him.
He said the club’s restructure implemented late last year, which introduced “work streams” and multiple vice presidents, “worked extremely well”.
Moving forward, Robertson hopes the eligibility criteria for tier one remains firsts and seconds.
“The competitions have delivered the levels of footy appropriate for those teams at those levels,” he said.
“We fought hard to be in tier one because we knew we had potential to perform. If we were in tier two our standards could have dropped.
“Tier two has been a good competition particularly for the teams coming up, Narromine and Blayney, and Narromine has gone on to win it.”
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Coach Colin Kilby took the reins along with Troy Hayes and Rohan McKay when Col Jeffs departed for Canada at the end of July.
Not guaranteed a finals spot at that time, the trio steered Cowra to a third place finish and victory over Forbes in week one of the finals.
Kilby said its been Cowra’s finest season in five years, when they were knocked out in the corresponding game by Parkes Boars.
He added that he’s interested in being involved in the coaching ranks again next season.
“Our performance became a lot more consistent this year. Five years ago we were knocked out in the same game so that’s a the goal now we have to overcome,” Kilby said.
