The Blue Heelers having joined the Midwest fold before their Woodbridge Cup competition folded earlier in the season because of difficulties playing under the restrictive COVID-19 conditions.

Cargo is in - but new Orange club, the Raiders - have withdrawn, leaving seven clubs remaining, and the competition left with a bye each week. The other new Orange club, Orange United's Warriors take the first bye.

Kandos Waratahs are expecting a hard match against the Woodbridge Cup team at their home ground south-west of Orange, but are quietly confident they have the players who can take the points in the first-round game.

The return of the best goalkicker in the Central West, Cody Strickland will line up with his old club alongside some 'blast from the past' premiership-winning teammates Mat Hayward, Andrew Aylott and 200-game veteran Glenn Osgood.

Osgood and son Oden will have the rare distinction of playing together, the first father-son combination since Frank and Adam Stewart played for the Waratahs in 2011.

Kandos have a good blend of experience and youth, and in their second milestone have 19-year-old Kevin Large, the son of former Waratah Chris Large, taking the field, the fourth generation of his family to play for Kandos, one of very few families to achieve this feat.

His great-grandfather Jim played his first game as a teenager at Kandos 80 years earlier, and grandfather James in 1973 before Chris in the late 1980s and 1990s.

The inclusion in the competition of new teams from Oberon and Cargo will give the Midwest competition a boost and all clubs will need to lift their intensity, but coach Glenn Osgood is confident his team has the players to come away with their first win before they play their home game at Waratah Park the following weekend.

The Kandos Tiara-tahs are low on overall numbers but with the return of experienced players Emma Ashford, Angie Usher, Alex Knihinicki, Ebaney Pateman, Clare Warton, and Jessica Bills, the team hopes to once again be a force in the Wallerawang Landscaping leaguetag competition.

They are hoping a couple of wins will attract new players to bolster the side, and skipper Ashford points to newcomer Lilyandra Laurie as a player to watch.

In Ashford's last year as coach at Kandos in 2018 she was the standout player and, in relinquishing the coaching duties she hopes to enjoy playing without the extra responsibility.

Lachlan Parsons is the incoming leaguetag coach.

Leaguetag will kick off at 1.30 on Saturday, followed by the men's game at 2.30.