Cowra Magpies rugby league club secretary Wayne Browne said the Magpies have never been so close to folding as they were in October last year.
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The third annual general meeting which Marc McLeish was appointed president was “do-or-die”, Browne said.
After two meetings failed to gather interest, Browne went to McLeish and “pleaded” with him to fill the role which had been left vacant by Bill Brien who was president back-to-back years in 2016 and 2017.
The third meeting attracted the biggest amount of people out of any, naturally, given the circumstance, Browne said.
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“We were nearly gone,” Browne said.
“I rang him [Marc McLeish] and told him we were in dire straits. That third meeting was do-or-die, we had everything else we just needed a president, all other spots were taken. Thank Christ he came on board.”
Browne was the person to approach Steve Sutton as well.
He revealed that the club missed out on signatures of about five potential coaches due to the time it took to secure a committee.
“I pleaded with Sutto [Steve Sutton]. We missed four or five coaches by probably two weeks. Because we were so late to get our committee we were so far behind the eight ball.
“Luckily for us Sutto stuck around. He has so many contacts and people were contacting him when they heard he was on board. He’s done a lot.”
While the players have battled to get the results on the field, Browne said it’s been just as hard off the field.
“There’s a lot of things that make a club work and it’s never a really smooth ride,” he said.
“We’ve worked really hard for this. A home grand final would be like a fairy tale.”