The crowd showed up in force, obviously curious to see how the new captain-coach, Luke Branighan, had blended the local boys with the new signings. They weren’t disappointed.

After the Tigers’ strong showing at the Bathurst Knockout, the crowd were keen to see what Branighan had in store for the Tigers’ first 80-minute hit-out this year. 

The Hawks arrived on the back of thrashing Blayney the previous week with their new captain-coach Willie Heta at the helm, and with a side bolstered by a large contingent of new signings. 

The late withdrawal of Blake Fitzpatrick meant a last-minute reshuffle for Oberon and there were some early palpitations among the Tigers faithful when the Hawks scored two minutes after kick-off to skip away to a 6-0 lead.

Branighan’s troops rallied quickly and played some great footy. The new combinations gelled quickly and the old firms, such as Trent Rose’s combination with Jackson Brien, picked up where they left off from last year.

The Tigers went to the break ahead 30-6 on the back of some precision kicking from Branighan.

A powerful and cohesive effort from the forwards, led by new signings Luke Carpenter, Ryan Verlinden and Jake Dawe, with the rock-hard Dave Sellers, made sure the Hawks felt every tackle.

The second half again started with a lapse from the Tigers resulting in an early try to the Hawks.

Once again the Tigers rallied, showing great teamwork, even this early in the season, to strike back with some champagne football.

Tries on the day went to Matt Ballinger, Abel Lefaoseu, Trent Rose, Jackson Brien, Mike Ingwersen and Blake Miller.

But the try that brought the crowd to their feet came when new signing, winger Daniel Qoriniasi, showed blistering speed and rare athleticism to plant the ball down after an interchange of passes down the clubhouse touchline.

The final result was a win to the Tigers 48-18.

The ladies’ tag side faced a champion Orange Hawks outfit. The Orange girls swept all before them at the recent league tag knockout championships and it wasn’t hard to imagine why. The Oberon girls tried valiantly, but were no match for the blue and whites.

Oberon's 18s fielded an understrength side and never gave up despite going down convincingly in the end. There is a lot of courage in this side as they showed great tenacity and grit. Coach Abel will have the boys firing as the season unravels.

Dallas Booth’s first division side emerged victors 22-0 in a great display of structured defence. Tries by Sam Gascoigne, Dallas Booth, a rampaging Nathan Booth and Lochie Gilmore ensured that the Hawks never really got a look in. It could be a great year ahead for the ‘reggies’. 

This week the Tigers host the Cowra Magpies at home on Easter Saturday. Ladies’ tag will play at 10.30am and the premier league boys will run out at 2.15pm.