Courses were held earlier in the year in Port Macquarie, Laurieton and Tuncurry with good numbers in attendance.

FMNC club and referee development officer Justin McIntyre said they had “fantastic numbers.”

“We had just over 100 participants across the four courses that were held which included a large number of our high performance players from the WPL and NPL,” he said.

“As well as the 38 who have just gained accreditation, there is a number of others who have completed the theory and practical components and they too will eventually gain accreditation.

“We also had a dozen of our FMNC officials upskill themselves by attending a level three course held in March at Laurieton.”

The new numbers in the ranks have seen a slight increase on total numbers in the zone compared to 2017 which is something FMNC hopes will continue into 2019.

“We’re working on more training and mentoring for our match officials, especially the younger ones just starting out,” McIntyre said.

“Every weekend we are getting a number of assessments done by senior officials along with coaching which is going to be great for the zone moving forward.”

“It’s a process, but I’d like to think it will mean we retain more officials in our ranks and continue to grow and strengthen in numbers but also in quality.

“It’s a credit to the FMNC referees executive and our assessors for the work they are putting in out and about the fields every weekend.”