GROUP Three Junior Rugby League will work towards a July 18 start for the 2020 season, president Warren Blissett said.
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This follows an announcement this week from the NSWRL that senior and junior competitions around the State will be kicking off in July.
"At this stage we'll be playing a 10 round competition before the start of the semi-finals,'' Mr Blissett explained.
However, this will take the competition into October when summer sports traditionally begin. Mr Blissett said the group will play all semi-finals on Sundays to avoid a clash.
This would be a first for the group. Mr Blissett can't see this being a problem providing there's adequate notice given to clubs and parents.
He'll also be seeking a meeting with the Manning and Hastings junior cricket associations and Football Mid North Coast.
"We don't want to impact on other sports. They have a right to conduct their competitions,'' he said.
"We'll all work together to make this achievable.''
However, he is against playing a first-past-the-post style competition for this season only, with no semi-finals. This would award the premiership to the side leading the pointscore at the end of the competition-proper.
"Anecdotally we've heard that parents are keen to pay money for new football boots and other gear just to play X amount of games,'' he said.
"So we're going to do the best we can to give them a proper season, even if we are starting later than usual.''
He said clubs can start training on June 30 and this will give them a fortnight to prepare.
"We need to give the kids something to do and get them off their backsides,'' he said.
"That's the important thing.''
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