After being thumped by the Panthers last round at Victoria Park, the Black Swans again again struggled to get players committed to the cause. 

The lack of consultation between potential players and the cub committee has left president Joe Cook searching for answers as he tries to stop the side from sliding further. 

“We just didn’t have the players turn up. We had four guys who said they would show up but they didn’t so we just didn’t have a choice,” Cook said. 

“We were looking at the minimum anyway which is 12, and when a few of them didn’t turn up, we had to pull the pin. 

“I don’t know what we’re doing wrong because we just can’t seem to get any interest out of anybody  and I feel like some marketing running the club not me.”

Cook expressed his frustration at the lack of communication between the players and the committee and the fact that some squad members hint at bring right to play and then do not show.    

“Even if they just sent me a text in the morning to let me know what they are doing. The lack of communication...I send out dozens of text messages out on Tuesday and Thursday chasing player and trying to ring people to confirm if people can play or not,” he said. 

When asked if the club is starting to flirt dangerously with forfeits and might come close to being shut down by Central West AFL, Cook said he hoped people in the region would not allow that to happen. 

“It might get to that point, we have to be realistic because even with a home game we only had 14 players so I don’t know what the actual rules are for the comp,” he said.  

“But if it gets to that point then we might have to make a tough decision, one that I really don’t want to be be doing. 

“I really just like to get some more players on the park and get a bigger player base. Because all of this wouldn’t be an issue if we just had a bigger player base. 

Cook also questioned how much of a public profile the club has and if people know they are welcoming of anybody, regardless of their history of playing AFL, and hinted at a last-ditch advertising campaign to save the side for 2015. 

“We’re not sure if the rest of Mudgee knows about the AFL comp, we are in a die-hard rugby (league and union) region, so whether people think ‘I’m not going to play AFL’ even if they know we exist, we just don’t know what people’s attitude is towards the comp,” he said. 

Mudgee trains on Monday and Thursday nights at Victoria Park from 6pm with interested players urged to make themselves known.