TAREE Touch Association will seek a three year tenure on the Northern Eagles Championships to be played at Taree Recreation Centre next month.
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This will be the first time the championships have been staged.
Taree Touch president Graham Goodwin said 60 teams are expected in the under 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 boys and girls age divisions.
The event will be conducted on January 20/21 – the weekend Taree usually hosts an open gala day.
Northern Eagles takes in the area from Forster-Tuncurry to the Queensland border and inland to Armidale, Tamworth and Narrabri.
Selectors will use the championships as a guide to select Northern Eagles teams for the regional championships next year.
Taree Touch president Graham Goodwin hopes Taree will be able to secure the championships for the next three years.
He added that there’ll be teams here from Newcastle and Singleton, even though they are not in the Northern Eagles area.
They will only be able to play matches on the Saturday.
Teams will use the championship as preparation for the State Junior Cup to be held in Port Macquarie next February.
Northern Eagles will run the championships, with Taree Touch in charge of the catering.
Mr Goodwin confirmed Taree will be represented in all 10 divisions at the Northern Eagles championships and the State Junior Cup.
The championships will be the biggest event Taree has hosted since the State Cup in 1986.
Earlier this year it was announced changes are expected to the format of the State Junior Cup tournament.
Under the NSW Touch plan from 2019 the cup will be split into northern and southern sections for preliminary matches.
This will be before the winners of the various grades come together to decide the State champions.
Meanwhile, the Taree summer competition has gone into recess for summer, with a return set for after the regional championships next month.
Grand finals will be played in March next year.