Nyngan Tigers may have only played four Western under 21s matches but they are loving their time in the competition so far.
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The Tigers are one of the new sides in the six-team competition and sit second after their opening four matches after impressive performances at Narromine as well as Dunedoo last weekend.
Coached by Jackson Hedges, the side is made up of the core Nyngan Tigers group who won the Tom Nelson Under 18s Premiership in 2022 while a few new faces have made the journey out west from other clubs.
"They are playing, we've got guys like Aiden Bermingham," Hedges said.
"We will get a few boys back from Western Rams duties as well like Braith Boyd and Fletcher Hunt.
"They know how to win which certainly helps us out."
Macquarie duo Maclay Ryan and Dalin Smith have joined the club for the competition with Hedges happy with how the Tigers are looking so far.
"It's gone pretty well, we've had a few blokes come from Macquarie and a couple from Parkes as well," he said.
"It took us a bit to sort of gel together, we only had the one training session all together but it's come pretty good now."
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Nyngan defeated Woodbridge 30-0 in their match on Sunday before backing it up with a 16-8 victory over Dubbo CYMS with their only lose coming against Orange in round one.
All six sides will have this weekend off before playing in Wellington and Nyngan will face their biggest test at Kennard Park, the undefeated Bathurst St Pat's.
St Pat's currently sit at the top of the ladder without a loss this season and look like competition favourite but Hedges is confident the Tigers can produce a strong performance.
"We are running second at the moment and we play them next but have to win by 30-odd points," he said.
"I think we will compete with those blokes, we were right in the game against Orange but just started pretty poorly.
"It's a bit hard in those shortened games when you start slow because you are chasing your tail a bit."
Nyngan hadn't featured in the first two instalments of the Western under 21s but chose to be one of the two Group 11 clubs to take part in 2023.
After a talented crop of their juniors finished under 18s in 2022, Hedges believes the concept will help smaller towns like Nyngan keep young men playing the game.
"I think it's a great idea, to be honest," he said.
"You can see that we were sort of losing kids between that age group after they finished under 18s.
"We'll get a few of them to play reserve grade as you've seen over the last few years guys like Jordi Madden at Dubbo CYMS come in and kill it then go on to start in first grade."
Dubbo CYMS split their two matches last weekend with a loss to Nyngan but earlier in the day enjoyed a win.
The Fishies showed their class against Castlereagh, winning 22-6 to stay in fourth spot on the ladder.
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