Before that scene of triumph when the siren sounded and the Tigers celebrated a 23-10 win over CSU in the Mid West League Cup grand final, there were other moments that made the season an important one for the club.

It was important because the Tigers still had the support of the Oberon community even though they stepped down from the higher-tier Group 10 premier league competition.

It was important because they fielded a line-up consisting purely of Oberon talents in a year the community was dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was important because they were part of one of the most gripping Mid West finals series in years.

And perhaps most importantly of all, season 2020 mattered to the Tigers because they raised funds and awareness for two very important causes.

"Sometimes it's about more than what the scoreboard shows," Oberon coach and Mid West president Dallas Booth said.

"Even in a season like this you still want to progress football, you still want to promote it and help guys with their mental health and physical health.

"A lot of people depend on sport for an outlet - take Oberon for example, for a home game you get half the town here. They don't care if it's under 10s, under 16s, league tag, opens, they want to see some footy."

WHEN it was announced in late 2019 that the Oberon Tigers would be stepping down from Group 10 to the second-tier Mid West League, it was not a decision made lightly.

For a club with many loyal and passionate supporters, it was not easy to admit the Tigers would be better suited to stepping away from Group 10 and rebuilding its ranks with local talent.

In fact, in the beginning, it looked as if the decision might mean no Tigers at all in 2020.

"We had a meeting in November and said 'Anyone who wants to be an Oberon Tiger turn up to this meeting' and there were six people," Booth revealed.

"Out of those six, four of them didn't get to play for Oberon because they'd played first grade in Group 10 and representative footy."

But those numbers grew and the Tigers were able to enter a senior men's plus a league tag outfit in the Mid West competition.

The club got approval for fullback Josh Rivett, a two-time Group 10 premier league title winner with Bathurst Panthers, and five-eighth Blake Fitzpatrick, who had initially signed to play with St Pat's, to make their return.

"They both had a lot of reasons this season to want to wear a black and gold jumper," Booth said.

"I'd played alongside Blake Fitzpatrick for Oberon when we were getting beat by 60 points every game. Up until Oberon did pull of out of Group 10 and he was going to try and best himself as a footballer by playing first grade, Blake had played every senior game of football for Oberon Tigers.

"Same sort of thing for Josh, he lived in Oberon, was born in Oberon, he played his junior football for Oberon and played senior football for Oberon. Josh actually approached us four weeks before COVID hit and Group 10 folded about coming back."

Once the roster was finalised the players all formed close bonds and the community got behind them.

The trained hard, played hard and gave their fans plenty to cheer.

"It was all the local boys, playing for free, playing for fun and getting back to enjoying footy," Booth said.

"They all trained all year and in previous years something Oberon has lacked is people showing up. We had a fun year, a solid year, we're all mates.

"As a club yes it was disappointing for us to drop out of Group 10, but we still had the full support of the town, at the end of the day they just wanted to be involved with sport.

"They wanted to back the club and the locals playing sport, our sponsors were still there."

AS the season unfolded on the field, the Tigers fought off some stiff opposition from the likes of defending premiers CSU and fellow Mid West newcomers Cargo to claim the minor premiership.

But along with that on-field success came success off it - namely the Tigers' suicide awareness round and their Can Assist round.

"We got Ashton Sims and Dan Hunt, both former NRL players, to come out and they talked to our whole playing group and other members of the town about mental health and suicide. Then we took that into the round home game," Booth said.

"We promoted, we put it out on social media, we put it on the scoreboard as as a club we did a video that got 14,000 views. If that helps just one person, then that's a positive.

"We also had our Can Assist round where we raised $21,00 for our local Can Assist - so there were a lot of things that were bigger than football this year.

"If we didn't have a competition and we didn't have a team, these things wouldn't have happened.

"So while it was great to win a grand final and that was exciting, it's probably the icing on the cake, it wasn't the main thing we set out to achieve as a football club this season."

IT is not widely know, but with many fearing Oberon would be much too strong for their cup rivals before the season began the Tigers actually offered Group 10 and NSW Rugby League officials to sit out the finals series should they qualify.

For Booth and his side, the most important thing this year was playing rather than a premiership.

In the end the Tigers were given the nod to compete under the same as every other club in the competition.

Though Oberon went on to be the undefeated minor premiers and claim the cup, it was still a competitive league.

"We actually offered Group 10 and NSWRL to sit out the semi-finals," Booth said.

"We said if you think we're too strong for the competition that's fine, we actually offered group 10 and NSWRL to sit out the semi-finals. They so 'No, if you are going to play, you're going to try and win it'.

"We might of had some players who had played at higher levels with other clubs, but so did many of the other clubs this year.

"Up until the grand final, every other final game was determined by six points or less, so that means the top five sides were separated by six points or less.

"So people can say what they want and have their opinions, but if you've got a comp - and I don't care what comp it is - if you have a final series where the top sides were separated by six points or less before the grand final, then I think that's a really close, fair and solid competition.

"Last year CSU won the major semi-final by 60 points and won the grand final by 30, the year before Blackheath went undefeated and won the grand final by 50. This year it was a lot closer, we just got the lucky bounce of the ball."