The Moree Suns made the agonising call to completely withdraw from the AFL North West competition in 2023.
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The Suns have struggled with numbers in recent seasons, often forfeiting matches across both the men's and women's grades.
They didn't want a repeat of that so president Chris Lehman said they made the call early, before the season's slated start date of mid-April.
"We just didn't reach the numbers we were wanting to warrant putting in a side," he said.
"We were really trying to get involved but unfortunately at the end of the last year a couple moved away so it was just a bit tough to get a team this year."
Lehman said the long distances the side has to travel played a big part in retaining players.
"But I think that is the case of country footy as well, especially in the AFL, with the big distances you have to travel, it is hard to take a committed 22 each week," he said.
The Suns have had promising juniors coming through the ranks but not enough for the time being.
But they are hoping a handful of community initiatives can spark a few more into playing.
"We are looking to get our Auskick program running this year," Lehman said.
"We have had a couple of inroads with some teachers - a couple of schools as well, so hopefully we can capture a few kids that way.
"We have had a couple of new people come along this year which is good but again, the numbers.
"You need more, that is just the game we play."
The club does run an AFL 9s competition which is mixed and is non-contact.
"We have had four teams in that locally," Lehman said.
"Hopefully with that we can build the game locally as well and build more interest that way."
Despite it being a "disappointing" decision to make, the Suns are hoping they can turn the year off into a positive one.
"We can re-focus and hopefully re-build with our resources being freed up," Lehman said.
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