THE introduction of the Western pre-season competition has caused Group 10 officials to shorten their 2009 season by three rounds.
Group 10 sent out a draft draw for next season to clubs this week to gain feedback on the proposed scheduling.
The proposed draw has been cut back from 17 to 14 rounds as a result of the added pre-season competition against Group 11 clubs and the 2009 Group 10 season is planned to start on May 10.
Groups 10 and 11 ratified the draw for the Western pre-season competition on Wednesday night with the 16-team tournament to be held during March.
Annual Group 10 pre-season competitions like the Bathurst Football Challenge will now be staged in April, pushing back the start of the season proper.
This has caused the Group 10 season to be reduced by three rounds, which sees clubs play each of their rivals once at home and once away.
Every club has six home games and six on the road with premier league and first division teams having two byes.
Under 18s will not have a bye as when their club-mates have a weekend off, they will play freshly re-instated clubs Oberon on Saturday and Blayney on Sunday.
This will see two weekends next season where each under 18s team from the seven major clubs will play a double-header, but they will not have to back up for first division.
Group 10 secretary Peter McDonald hopes all clubs will support the scheduling of the under 18s competition, which was difficult to structure with nine teams as opposed to the seven in the other two grades.
He believes the 14 round season is more equitable as all clubs will enjoy the same amount of home games and play other teams only twice.
“It’s definitely a fairer way and it’s fairer for points for and against, point scorers and best and fairest points,” he said.
McDonald expects the draw to be finalised by the end of the month, which is much earlier than last season when Oberon’s late withdrawal from all three grades created chaos just over a month from the scheduled kick-off.
“Hopefully with this one, by doing it in the second week of November, we will have it organised early rather than trying to change it around in February or March,” McDonald said.
Rival coaches Dave Elvy and Michael Rushworth have also been appointed to coach the Group 10 representative team next year.
The Bathurst Panthers and Lithgow Workies mentors went head-to-head in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 grand finals and will now attempt to plot the downfall of Group 11. The annual clash between the two representative teams will take on another dimension next year with an under 23s game to be staged alongside regular open and under 18s matches.
A Far West league under 18s team
may also take part in the junior competition depending on if a team can be formed.
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