The toys haven't been thrown out of the cot.
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Port Macquarie will field just one team in the 2023 NSW Junior State Cup northern conference touch football carnival to be held at Dubbo in February.
The Makos would normally field up to 10 teams at the three-day event.
While wet weather and drainage concerns at Tuffins Lane and Regional Stadium forced NSW Touch Association to move the event from Port Macquarie, the local association are adamant it isn't a response to that decision.
Port Macquarie has a long-standing relationship with NSW Touch, having hosted the junior event since 2013 and the senior State Cup for more than 30 years.
Makos' representative director Brendan Prince acknowledged a number of alternative factors were at play which contributed to their low team numbers.
"Being the first [Junior State Cup] not held in Port Macquarie in quite some time, we were not quite as prepared as some," he said.
"Accommodation in Dubbo and surrounding areas sold out on the day the announcement was made to move the event which meant many struggled to find accommodation."
Prince said another key factor is other representative sports being held on the same weekend which particularly affected the older teams in the under-16 and under-18 divisions.
"I'm sure that if the NSW Junior State Cup northern conference is held away from Port again in 2024 - and hopefully it's not - that we will be better prepared to attend," he said.
"This is far from being a 'toys out of the cot' response."
The Makos will only have representation in the under-14 boys' division while nine other teams will head to the Northern Eagles Junior Championship series at Coffs Harbour and Ballina in January and February.
New South Wales Touch Association general manager Dean Russell admitted he was disappointed Port Macquarie would have a smaller representation than normal in the central west.
"Regardless of where we take events we know people will have difficulties in attending those events and those are just some of the challenges that face us," he said.
"We would hope everyone who has been supported by the event supports the event."
Mr Russell denied having any second thoughts as to whether the decision to move the carnival from Port Macquarie was the correct one.
"100 percent no," he said.
"Over the last three years in Port Macquarie we just scraped through in year one, but had to drop games and rounds-of-16 matches and quarter-finals to be able to get through," he said.
"With the weather effects and no work on drainage we cancelled after one day [in 2021] and we didn't even get started in 2022, so no, I have no issue with the decision we made."
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