EVEN if Group 10 rugby league were to resume this season, how many clubs will be capable of taking to the field given the impact coronavirus has begun to make on the region?
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As many club's sponsors go through a rough period, due to closures across the country, it could hit several teams financially.
Group 10 president Linore Zamparini said there are clubs which will certainly be feeling the financial pinch with every round which goes unplayed, but the committee will be doing everything in their power to offer support during a challenging time.
"We're on a total playing ban until May 1, when there will be another announcement, but after that the clubs told us they'll need three weeks of fitness to start back up. That would give us a start date around May 20 but that is looking highly unlikely at the moment," he said.
"A lot of clubs are doing it tough. A lot of them are sponsored by licensed clubs, hotels and cafes and the like which are all doing it tough. No-one is out and about much.
"Their lifelines have certainly closed on them a fair bit as well. We just hope that they can survive.
"It would be good if we can get the whole competition run but if we don't start it at the end of May I don't see it as an achievable goal. We'd have to look at a shortened competition."
At the top level in NRL there has been endless discussion about which clubs will be able to emerge alive and well when business returns to normal in a post-coronavirus society.
In the midst of leagues club closures it has dried up a significant revenue stream for some of the nation's biggest teams.
However, Zamparini is hopeful that similar issues won't filter out to the Central West.
"At the end of the day we might not end up playing rugby league this year, and that goes right up to the national level in NRL. It's certainly hurting there," he said.
"Grassroots is funding through Country Rugby League, and that's now done via NSW Rugby League since they amalgamated.
"We're seeing how hard the NRL is doing it at the moment, and you'd imagine that lifeline they've given NSWRL to hand out to the grassroots clubs will be coming back to them."
Zamparini believes the ramifications of coronavirus may still be felt in the competition for "up to three to four years" at worst.
"We'll be doing whatever we can as a board to make that time as comfortable as we can," he said.
"Without eight clubs in our group we'd be doing it tough. We really need them."
Alexander Grant
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
