You would need to have been living in a cave for the past few months to not have seen the eye-watering results coming out of the Tallangatta & District League as the Lions have copped one hiding after another.

But while a cursory glance suggests 2022 has been all about losing, the truth is that even making it as far as the second week in June is a massive win for the club.

The way Wahgunyah haemorrhaged players over the summer left them seemingly without a way forward and on the brink of going into recess.

But, as they say, not all superheroes wear capes and answers to their player shortage conundrum started to come from unexpected places.

Terry Delamere, 41, hadn't played football for more than 30 years but something about the Lions' call to arms struck a chord.

"My youngest son plays for their under-12s and when they put a call out on social media, I put my hand up," Delamere said.

"I played one season of under-8s back in 1989 but that was it as far as football was concerned. I played hockey and ice hockey after that.

"But I'm overweight now, so I wanted to get fit and training with the boys is one way of doing that.

"The camaraderie and openness of the club, it's like a family down there."

Still, talk about jumping in at the deep end.

"I was a tad worried I might get injured but I've got an office job, so I sit behind a desk for most of the day and I could work from home even if I did hurt myself," Delamere said.

"I don't want to see this club go. I've been involved in strong hockey clubs in Adelaide and Perth and what we have here is unbelievable, better than where I've been before.

"There's light at the end of the tunnel.

"We're going to hurt this year, we know that, but I'm not going to let the club fold.

"The club's 100-plus years old, so to keep the club going is why we're doing this. I'd like to see my son play a seniors game here one day."

There is a father-and-son combination already running around alongside Delamere in Wahgunyah's reserves, with 41-year-old Michael Bowles having taken the plunge to join Douglas, 16, in keeping the show on the road.

"I came out halfway through last season," Bowles explained. "Marcel Meunier, a good mate of mine, asked me to help the club.

"During the off-season, I knew the blokes were doing it a little bit hard and struggling so he asked me to come out again this year. I felt welcomed to the club the very first day I came out.

"I get a lot of anxiety and I feel it's helped that settle down, being around a good group of blokes.

"I didn't play much football in my younger years and I actually didn't play from the age of 15 until Marcel came out here.

"I wanted to come out and help my mate. It sounded like good fun to come out here and get amongst it all.

"If you do the hard work, things evolve. You don't have any negativity, you need to be positive and good things come.

"I've played a couple of senior games this year and they're the first senior games I've played, at 41 years old.

"It was good, I didn't mind it at all.

"I've said to them I don't mind playing for either side and I've played eight quarters this season. I played a seconds game and then I went out and played the seniors game as well, I've done that twice now.

"It's all for the club and that's why I enjoy it so much."

No-one likes losing but starting this unexpected chapter of life has unquestionably lit a fire inside Bowles.

"I look forward so much to coming down here on a Thursday," he said.

"All day on Friday, I'm thinking about Saturday football at nearly 42 years of age.

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"My brother plays football at a good level in Queensland and he said 'I bet you wish you'd done it a lot earlier' and I do. I wish I'd started at 25 and had a good run.

"You don't want to lose a footy club anywhere, you don't want anyone to fold at any stage, it doesn't matter where you go, everyone does their thing to try to keep the ball rolling, to keep moving forward.

"We've got good facilities, a good little town and it's not all about the football.

"I like it because the families get together.

"I get to bring my daughter and my wife and even my Mum and Dad travel from Shepparton to watch games."

Wahgunyah's struggle for player numbers has been mirrored on the netball court but so, too, has the fierce determination to play on.

"While we've had our challenges, the resilience has been incredible," netball co-ordinator Lisa Byatt said.

"The week the footballers got hit hard with COVID, we went from 14 players in our C-grade down to three. That was tough.

"I literally sat there and started a list of people I knew and I just wrote names down. I went 'right, I'm going to start at the top and call everybody on my list and once the team's full, I'll stop' and within six or seven hours, the C-grade could go ahead.

"That was good, otherwise it puts the pressure on our juniors to have to step up and we're already in a situation like a lot of other clubs where 16 and 17-year-olds have lost interest in playing the game."

Leah Culhane was one of the names on Byatt's list.

"I retired 10 years ago," she said.

"But Lisa called me and said we wouldn't fill a side, so could I help out, and if it means being able to fill a side and the younger girls not having to miss out, I was prepared to step up and have a crack."

"You were on your bum in the first 30 seconds of the game!" Byatt laughed.

"Yes, but I loved it," Culhane smiled.

"It was really enjoyable. It's like riding a bike, you soon remember what to do and it was great to get out there.

"Some younger girls stepped in to play as well and to be able to guide them a little bit was rewarding.

"If the body could do it more often, I'd play more often."

Like the footballers, B-grader Amanda McNamara isn't just fighting to preserve her own playing opportunities but those of the next generation.

"Amanda's got young kids coming through and you want to be able to make sure the club survives, so there's a club for her kids to play at," Culhane said.

McNamara, who describes Wahgunyah's facilities as the best in the league, is desperate not to see them sit unused in future years.

"I am, 100 percent, not an A-grade player," she smiled.

"I'm too old and too slow but if that's what we've got to do keep the club going, I'm happy to take one for the team."

Mick Malthouse's recent appearance at training was the latest illustration of how news of Wahgunyah's plight has spread throughout the region and beyond.

"The publicity has helped," Culhane said.

"It would have been easy to say 'no, it's all too hard' but now that people actually know the situation we're in, we're getting so much support and it's really encouraging us to keep fighting.

"That's precisely what we're doing and I believe the club will build from here."

So does Byatt, despite the ongoing challenges.

"There's a passion for this club and a history which means people aren't prepared to let it die off," she said.

Thursday night training in the cold and wet might not have been on Rob Rowe's to-do list at the start of the year but the Yarrawonga golf professional is beaming as he talks about the latest string he's added to his sporting bow.

"I feel younger in the rooms beforehand but about 100 years old when I get up at 5.30am on Sunday to go to work," Rowe laughed.

"The last game I played was in 1997, so 25 years ago, a reserves grand final against Wahgunyah when I played for Jerilderie.

"I'm so sore but I'm having a great time. I'd love for there to be extra younger guys playing, so I could play every few weeks when they need someone to fill in. They don't need old fellas like Terry and I playing permanently but in the meantime, it's good.

"My young fella thinks it's awesome, he sees it and thinks it's really cool.

"It's good to think he will have the opportunity to play and progress through the ranks at all different age levels and get to seniors or whatever it might be.

"Small footy clubs are the lifeblood of your towns.

"We're in a tricky situation in town, we've got three teams, but Wahgunyah's our team and we need it to thrive. It brings everyone together and it's a great way to spend a Saturday. I don't know why I'd want to go to Bunnings to build a cubby house.

"Yes, the scores have been ordinary but we haven't seen it as demoralising.

"We all know our situation, we're realists. We all go out to do the little things, hit a target with a handball, shepherd for a mate, yell out, and then we get in the rooms and we have a beer afterwards and smile about it because we got through another week and the Wahgunyah footy club's still playing footy."

The face, and certainly the voice, of Wahgunyah in 2022 has been president Darryl Hore, whose proactive approach to get the club's name out there in the toughest of times has been pivotal in helping build some positive momentum.

"I finished up as president in 2019 and served a couple of years on the TDFL executive but there was a bit of talk about mergers and closing the club down," Hore said.

"I heard, through people at the club, that it was going to happen but I didn't believe we'd tried everything yet.

"I formed my own ticket, rang a lot of people, got them on board and here we are.

"What's happened since then has been a bit overwhelming. I knew we'd have some support out there but I didn't anticipate it being on this level.

"The media's been a massive part of that, The Border Mail and 2AY and the interviews we've done around here have led to 3AW, which led us to Mick Malthouse and Nine News.

"Our Facebook page has grown by close to 200 people in the last three months."

But navigating such uncharted waters has taken a huge amount of energy.

"It's tiring," Hore admitted. "We got to the end of the week with Mick Malthouse and I just said 'I need time, I'm tired, it's been hard.'

"The easy part of the season is out of the road, we've got the tough run to go but I'm not seeing the attitude of the footballers or netballers drop at all. They just keep stepping up.

"We're starting to do things now we never would have done before, we're starting to appoint coaches and we're starting to talk to new people about 2023.

"We need to look outside the square. The exposure we've had is enabling us to do that, which I believe was part of the plan.

"We needed to change the way we do things, to look in different areas for players and we also need to give something back to our players.

"It's fine to say 'we want you to play for Wahgunyah' but we need to be showing our playing group that we're doing something to move forward."

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