After a season in which they lost all 16 games (two by forfeit), finished a distant last on the ladder, and generally had little to celebrate, one might be forgiven for thinking that the Manilla Tigers are downbeat.
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The truth, captain-coach Mitch Doring said, is actually the opposite.
The halfback, who the Tigers recently confirmed would continue his dual role in 2023, said the spirits among the team were high during a team catch-up over the weekend.
"We had a little get-together on Saturday and ... a few of the boys rocked up," Doring said.
"They're all keen. We had a few beers and a bit of banter, and we're all ready to rip in and train hard."
While the team is in the early stages of the 2023 pre-season, Doring still feels the residual impact of 2022.
"It's still quite early, my thoughts are a bit everywhere at the moment," he said.
But one thing is certain - Doring is more determined than ever to make 2023 a season to remember for the Tigers.
That drive is fueled not just by personal ambition, or a desire to see the team succeed, but Doring's commitment to Manilla as a whole.
"It's more for our town," he said.
"We're a small town with a small population, and it gives people something to do on a Saturday or Sunday. Whether we win or we lose, it's all about them."
2022 may go down in history as a season to forget for the Tigers, but it was not all bad news for the club.
In fact, there were quite a few aspects that Doring was pleased with throughout the year - the highlight of which was probably the commitment shown by the team regardless of their results.
"When we were getting beaten, week in, week out, we were still having fun," he said.
"And you could see it in the boys. A lot of people take it different, but these boys stepped up every week. They probably knew we were going in against tough teams ... but they put all that behind them and just got out there and played."
Almost every club in every local competition has endured seasons of hardship, and the perennial silver lining to those campaigns is that the only way to go is up.
This is Doring's mindset, and though Manilla's pre-season training has only just begun, he already knows where his attention will be in 2023.
"Fitness [is the focus]," he said.
"Fitness-wise and skill-wise [first grade is] just a bit faster, and you need to be fitter. You probably need to commit to your training a bit more, and train a bit better than reserve grade do.
"I'm not saying we didn't train hard, but we'll really get stuck in this year."
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