MID Coast Football's Herald Women's Premier League football campaign will resume on Sunday, July 12 against Thornton Redbacks in the third round at the Taree Zone Field.
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Two rounds of the competition were decided in March before the COVID-19 lockdown. Coach Mick Grass said his players have been back in training for about four weeks.
"But we weren't allowed to have any contact stuff until this week,'' he said.
"We played our first trial game at training on Wednesday night.''
Grass said the majority of players have returned to training 'in pretty good nick.'
"But some obviously struggled for motivation in isolation. So we've been mindful of that at training, managing the different fitness levels.''
The competition was originally to be played over three rounds, however, this has now been dropped to two, with the finals series to start at the end of September. Mid Coast has a 0-2 record but Grass said the players remain positive about the challenge ahead.
"We played one of the favourites for the competition, Newcastle Olympic, in the first round and copped a heavy loss,'' he said.
"But the next game we played Warners Bay and lost 2-1. It was a game we should have won quite easily, but we just didn't take our chances.''
Grass is sure Mid Coast can push for a semi-final berth.
"I'm an optimist person and we're still a mathematical possibility to make the semi-finals,'' he pointed out.
"We haven't even seen what most of the other teams are like yet."
The Sunday July 12 opponent, Thornton, only played one game before the lockdown, losing 4-1.
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Eight sides contest the premier league, with Mid Coast the only one not based in Newcastle.
Meanwhile the Football Mid North Coast Southern League women's premiership will kick off tonight.
Ten clubs will contest the competition to be run over 14 rounds, with the last on Friday October 9.
In tonight's fixtures Wallamba will clash with Wingham, Taree will be at home to premiers Cundletown, Pacific Palms tackle Tuncurry-Forster, Hallidays Point meet Old Bar while Tinonee do battle with Lansdowne.
Games will be played at Omaru Park in Taree, Nabiac and Pacific Palms.
All competitions under the Football Mid North Coast umbrella at senior and junior level will start this weekend.
Football Mid North Coast chairman Mike Parsons said earlier this week that there has been a drop off in team numbers and registrations. He said this is understandable due to the circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic. He added that Football Mid North Coast's staff and member clubs have worked hard to ensure there was football played in the area this year.