“And I mean that in the nicest possible way,” he said.

Russell’s comments were in reference to the record-breaking heatwave in the Hastings seven days ago.

“We have a policy where if we get to 32 degrees we need to look at possible restructure of games so rather than playing our current format of 25 minutes straight we may need to provide a break mid-term,” he said.

“If it gets beyond 36 we really have to consider calling a halt to play.”

Russell said there was always the risk that play could be halted at any time.

“We are very thankful we weren’t up here last week because it was 44 degrees and there is no way in the world we would have been playing on Sunday,” he said.

This year’s event will see a total of 340 team’s who will only field one side per age division due to the increased growth of the competition.

“We currently have a situation where we try and give the kids seven games minimum through the weekend and we want to make sure they get value for money.

“We were disappointed to have to make it, but we’re probably a victim of our own success with the event.”

The tender for both the senior and junior State Cup events will be released in August.

“We’re here til the end of this year for the senior event and next year for the junior event,” Russell said.

“It’s always nice to stay in Port Macquarie, but we’ve got to have a transparent process.”