GROUP Three Rugby League will make a decision this week on whether the Group Three All Stars/Indigenous All Stars game goes ahead at Kempsey on Saturday June 8.
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This follows up to eight withdrawals from the Group Three All Stars side.
Group Three chairman Wayne Bridge said he hopes the clash, which will be preceded by a women's All Stars/Indigenous All Stars league tag fixture, will be played.
"We will make a call this week,'' Mr Bridge said.
He said selectors named a 20 strong All Stars squad and this was always going to be whittled down to 17 before June 8.
Mr Bridge said the withdrawals are from the Taree City and Port Macquarie clubs, with the players claiming prior commitments. There's no club football planned that weekend, which is the June long weekend.
The indigenous squad remains largely intact.
Coaches have been named for the games, with Jasmine Wilbow, Nakita Bidge and Simone Smith in charge of the indigenous league tag side and Lyn Eason running the All Stars.
Jason Holland will coach the indigenous men's team while Matt Everitt and Joe Cudmore will coach the All Stars.
The game was inaugurated in 2018 and played in the pre-season. It was originally set for Friday March 22 this year, well before the start of the season-proper.
However, Mr Bridge said there were delays with the playing strips, so it was decided re-schedule to the June long weekend.
"We also didn't have a sponsor,'' he said.
"That has now been sorted and the sponsor has indicated they want to be involved next year as well.''
Mr Bridge expects the game to switch to the pre-season in 2020, however, he said there is also possibility of it being incorporated into trials for the North Coast under 23 representative team for next year's Country Championships.
The format of representative football will be decided at a Country Rugby League meeting on Sunday June 16.
Mr Bridge said he is open to tweaking the format and said a match between indigenous representative teams from Groups Two and Three is also a possibility.
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