Taree Touch will field 10 sides in Sunday's Northern Eagles Junior Touch Football Championships at Tuncurry.
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For the first time in several years, the club won't host the event due to deteriorating fields at Taree Recreation Centre.
It will now be hosted by Forster Tuncurry Touch at Tuncurry's Peter Barclay Sports Fields and Harry Elliott Oval.
Taree Touch president Graham Goodwin said the move has no impact on the sides preparation or performance in the championships.
"We are disappointed we had to move it but you can't do much about a drought," Graham said.
"It's good that it is in Tuncurry so our players, referees and coaches don't have to travel far."
He was impressed by the work of the Great Lakes based team to prepare the fields by using recycled water.
"I went out and had a look at the fields last week - they're in immaculate condition," Graham said.
The Taree sides trained for the championships until Christmas. They resumed preparations last week.
Graham said each side has depth across the park and will have to wait until the tournament begins to see which opponents are contenders or pretenders.
He did insist however Macksville would be one of the clubs to beat.
Taree under 18 boys should progress far in the event.
"They have players who played in the State 20s event," he said.
"But I hope all our sides go well so we can go for the club championship which we last won two years ago."
The club will also supply 11 referees for the titles.
Games will be played from under 10s to under 18s in both boys and girls divisions. Forty-one teams from across the north coast will compete.
Forster Tuncurry Touch Association president Lyn Eason told Great Lakes Advocate the tournament will attract about 1300 people to the area.
The association is excited to have the opportunity to play host.
"It's good for the kids to have something locally," Lyn said.
"It's good for the town as well."
The championships will be a guide for Northern Eagles selectors who will soon name sides for the State regional titles.
Action gets underway from 8.30am with finals to be played from 3.30pm.
Meanwhile, the Taree Touch sides will be back in action on February 1 and 2 for the Hunter Hornets Peter Wilson Memorial Championships in Nelson Bay.
"It's not in our area but we're invited down to play," Graham said.
Then it's off to Port Macquarie on February 15-16 for the northern conference of the Junior State Cup.
