The feedback is coming in and it's all positive for the Port Macquarie Touch Association after a standout NSW Senior State Cup.
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From the choice of food vendors to the state of the playing surface; players, administrators and supporters were glowing in their praise of the showpiece event.
Behind the smooth running of the three-day tournament was a small team from the Makos, NSW Touch and Port Macquarie Hastings Council.
Port Touch Association president Wayne Gleeson, in his first year overseeing the event, is thrilled with the positive reports.
"It's my committee's first rodeo so we're pretty chuffed with the feedback we're getting," he said. "On the first day I had a bit of downtime and I just went around to all the vendors and grabbed some different samples of everything and their feedback was great.
"The product I think was the best thing from our rice paper rolls to the pitmaster and just the waft of his barbecue going all day was awesome."
NSW Touch general manager Dean Russell said the grounds were in magnificent condition.
"It's a big weekend and it flows into the after party," he said. "I was really pleased with everyone's behaviour last night at Panthers (Port Macquarie).
"It's a long week for the staff and it takes 12 months of the year to prepare and then the staff arrived there on Monday.
"It always amazes me, it takes us a week to set the venue up and about five hours to pull it down."
Big 'spin-off' for local economy
An estimated $4 million is injected into the Hastings economy in three days with about 6,000 people booking out accomodation and restaurants.
Port Macquarie Tourism Association president Jannette Hyde said the long running event is vital to local business especially after years of disruption and poor trade.
"All the businesses have had it rough and I think having an event like that it just adds so much confidence to the economy," she said.
Alongside the Port Macquarie Ironman in May, the Senior State Cup runs outside the school holidays, providing tourism operators and businesses with a boost Ms Hyde said.
"We're lucky we've had it for 34 years now and it's just fantastic and there's so much spin-off from it," she said.
"Whilst they are playing touch, obviously they're intent on what they are doing, but they get to experience what we've got available and they'll think about coming back for a holiday."
Port Macquarie Hastings Council are well aware of the opportunity to showcase the region and are working with Port Touch Association and NSW Touch to ensure Tuffins Lane is best suited to hosting the event in the future.
The council purchased the precinct in late 2022 and is in the investigatory stage of what can be done to improve drainage.
Councillor Adam Roberts said the ownership of the land is a big factor in any planned improvements.
"It's really up to us how much we want to put into upgrading them. As an individual councillor and it's something that I've pushed for a while, is to make sure that we choose our own destiny there," he said.
"We weren't able to invest as much (previously) as probably what was required because the land has not been in council ownership before."
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