Mr Drury was commenting on reports in Wednesday's Times where it was revealed the clubs have held unofficial talks regarding an amalgamation. The clubs will meet next week for more discussions.

However, Mr Drury also warns the clubs about rushing the process. He was involved in the ill-fated merger between fierce rivals Taree United and Taree Old Bar in 1994 to form the Taree Rhinos. The Rhinos lasted just two seasons before collapsing under a mountain of debt and acrimony.

"A merger is a good idea to form one strong club here,'' Mr Drury said.

"There's just not the players here to support the eight teams (first, reserves, under 18.5s and league tag) in two clubs. The Bulls don't have an under 18s this year with some of those players going to Wingham and Old Bar.

"If the Bulls did have an 18s, it would probably mean Wingham or Old Bar wouldn't. Reserve grade's another problem - we also have reserve grade players swapping between the clubs each year.

"If we only had one club that would no longer be an issue.''

He said an amalgamation would open the opportunity for the new entity to build a strong player base and should also be more attractive to sponsors, so making the club more financially viable.

However, an amalgamation doesn't guarantee success, as the Rhinos showed.

Mr Drury wouldn't elaborate on the problems that resulted in the collapse of the Taree Rhinos, nor would he apportion blame.

"But it is difficult when you have two clubs with different ideas on how to do things, especially when everything is thrown together in a hurry,'' he said.

He said there are valuable lessons here for the Taree City and Old Bar clubs should they decide to go down the amalgamation path.

Mr Drury explained a major issue was the fact the union was forced when the then revamped Group Three committee refused to accept nominations from Taree United or Taree Old Bar at the annual meeting held in November 1994.

These two clubs had gone into recess the previous year. This led to the formation of the Rhinos in time for the 1995 season.

The Rhinos won the under 18 premiership that year and were grand finalists in reserve grade the following season.

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Mr Drury said the Rhinos attracted a solid playing roster. However, he said splits that developed between the players as well as the committee fractured the club.

Should the Bulls and Pirates agree to merge Mr Drury thinks 2021 would be the better starting season.

"We're nearly halfway through this season and that's not going to give the clubs a lot of time before next year to get everything in place,'' he explained.

Both club presidents, Jamie Moorehead (Old Bar) and Michael Clarke (Taree City) said in the Times this week it would be advantageous for a merged club to sign a high profile captain-coach for the debut season, citing the success Michael Sullivan has had at Wingham this year.

"I think that would be the way to go,'' Mr Drury agreed.