A fear Launceston Rugby Club could well fold forever had motivated past players to put the boots back on and reaffiliate for a new season.
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New club president Issac Anderson said after a year in recess players have come out strong five weeks into preseason training this summer.
"It wasn't so much about numbers, but it was more of a recognition among the players that if it didn't come this year that is probably it for us," Anderson, a former player a decade ago who also returned to Royal Park, said.
"To be honest, if the club had a two-year hiatus, that is the sort of thing that you don't come back from.
"The response we've had from some of the older players that haven't played in a few years has been very good.
"They have all agreed to come back on that basis. We're really trying to develop juniors so when these guys give it up after a couple of years is to throw them in."
The issues of the past have gone, according to Anderson.
A new management structure, a new coach and a new look too has also breathed some life back into the club.
The Bumble Bees moniker is now also gone, replaced by the original club's Tigers name that pre-merger Glen Dhu first were that new club Launceston adopted in 1999.
"The committee has presented a fresh start to the past playing group and certainly to new players," he said.
"The issues that had been around the club we have just tried to move away from."
Anderson was pleased the club has worked its way out of a sorry financial position.
Tasmanian Rugby Union have repeatedly called in the debt mostly over registration.
"The approach we have taken is a fresh start and the TRU have been willing to negotiate more than previously with their new management coming in," Anderson said.
"That certainly something in the six months or so since I have been back at the club that we are in a much stronger position than we were."
Outgoing TRU president Michael Ryan clarified that owed fees were not the reason the club sat out last year.
"At no stage did the TRU threaten to shut them down. We had conversations for many years with the committee about working through the debt process," Ryan said.
The Tigers will return at the preseason 10s on March 16.
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