GROUP Three Junior Rugby League will work towards a July 18 start for the 2020 season, president Warren Blissett said.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
This follows an announcement this week from the NSWRL that senior and junior competitions around the State will be kicking off in July.
"At this stage we'll be playing a 10 round competition before the start of the semi-finals,'' Mr Blissett explained.
However, this will take the competition into October when summer sports traditionally begin. Mr Blissett said the group will play all semi-finals on Sundays to avoid a clash.
This would be a first for the group. Mr Blissett can't see this being a problem providing there's adequate notice given to clubs and parents.
He'll also be seeking a meeting with the Manning and Hastings junior cricket associations and Football Mid North Coast.
"We don't want to impact on other sports. They have a right to conduct their competitions,'' he said.
"We'll all work together to make this achievable.''
RELATED:
However, he is against playing a first-past-the-post style competition for this season only, with no semi-finals. This would award the premiership to the side leading the pointscore at the end of the competition-proper.
"Anecdotally we've heard that parents are keen to pay money for new football boots and other gear just to play X amount of games,'' he said.
"So we're going to do the best we can to give them a proper season, even if we are starting later than usual.''
He said clubs can start training on June 30 and this will give them a fortnight to prepare.
"We need to give the kids something to do and get them off their backsides,'' he said.
"That's the important thing.''
