THE final decision of the format of the 2017 Group Three Rugby League competition is expected to be made after the Country Rugby League representative program is released.
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This should be at the East Coast Dolphins Regional meeting next Saturday or the CRL’s annual conference the following weekend.
This was determined at the group’s annual meeting held at the Wingham Services Club.
Clubs considered two draws – one from the group and the other from Port City.
“The clubs favoured Port City version,’’ Group Three chief executive Barrie Smith said.
This will involve an April 22 kickoff after Easter, with the grand final to be played on Sunday September 3. There will be two rounds of home and away games with two spare weekends.
However, Mr Smith said the draw doesn’t factor in the annual representative fixture between Group Two and Group Three. Group Two will host the match next year.
Mr Smith also has concerns at clash with the group’s major semi-final and the Taree Gold Cup meeting in late August. He believes this would have an impact on gate takings if the major semi was played in the Manning or Great Lakes area.
“The draw’s about 90 per cent in place,’’ Mr Smith said.
“But I think the clash with the Taree Cup is a problem.’’
The group’s board will meet to finalise the draw once the CRL representative program has been announced.
Bridge chairman of the board
GROUP Three Rugby League now has a chairman, two deputy chairmen and a chief executive after a new constitution was adopted at the annual meeting held at the Wingham Services Club.
The new constitution which necessitated the change in management was an initiative from the Country Rugby League.
East Coast regional manager Kevin Hill explained the new constitution to clubs at the meeting. Mr Hill also conducted the election for the board of directors. There were nine nominees for the eight positions, with Port Macquarie’s Dave Henry and Greg Medhurst from Forster-Tuncurry tied on the same number of votes. Mr Medhurst was then successful following a secret ballot.
The board then met to elect office bearers for 2017. Former president Wayne Bridge from Wingham is the chairman with Barrie Smith (Cundletown) the chief executive. Mr Smith was previously the secretary/treasurer.
Kevin Hardy (Taree) and Geoff Kelly (Port Macquarie) are the deputy chairmen. Warren Blissett (Forster-Tuncurry) is the registrar with Warren Kimberley (Taree), Greg Medhurst (Forster-Tuncurry) and Ian Andrews (Taree) the directors.
Long serving referee and now board member Ian ‘Charlie’ Andrews from Taree and Manning River Times sports writer Mick McDonald were awarded life membership of the group at the meeting.