That was one of the proposals made at Saturday’s presidents’ meeting.

The meeting was effectively a forum to discuss the issues that arose from the structure of this year’s competition – not just the two-tier system but also the colts’ competition – and brainstorm solutions.

“It was a good, constructive meeting,” Central North president Peter Burke said.

The changes  suggested will now go back to the clubs for them to discuss further before the AGM later this month.

“Of course nothing can be ratified (until the AGM),” Burke said.

The two-tier system was one of the main points of discussion and will remain for next season, he said, after being voted in for two years.

Saturday was really about looking at any modifications that might improve the competition next season.

“What we’re thinking of doing is shortening the season,” Burke said.

“It’ll effectively be the same structure but teams probably won’t play each other twice in the second round.”

There was some feedback that the season was too long  and, with at least an additional two extra byes to factor in – one for the long weekend and one for the Country Championships – it would mean they’d have to start in late March if they followed the same format as this season.

“We feel that this is solving a lot of issues that clubs had,” Burke said.

One of those issues was the injury toll. 

The clubs involved in the top tier had expressed some concerns that the tougher games week in, week out were leading to more injuries.

Under the shortened format, they’ll only be playing half the games in the second round they were this year.

With the shortened season, they are also looking at staging a five- team finals series.

That will mean all clubs will participate in some sort of semi-finals, and will increase opportunities to host a final.

“We’ll probably have separate grand final days for Tier 1 and Tier 2 and move the colts back to playing on the Tier 1 grand final day,” Burke said.

This year the colts’ grand finals coincided with the Tier 1 preliminary final, with the two senior grand finals played on the same day.

One of the drawbacks of that as far as the clubs were concerned was that second grade started at 9.30am and, in Scone’s case, they missed out on hosting a final.

The separate grand final days should alleviate that.

There is a lot to consider and Burke said they were madly trying to put some draft draws together to present to the clubs.

He strongly believes the two-tier system has its merit and pointed to Barraba as a prime example.

“Barraba said it quite clearly that they would have folded if not for the two-tier system,” he said.

The pleasing spin-off of that is that they indicated they would be able to field two teams next year.

The colts’ competition was another topic of discussion, with the changes made this season not having the desired effect.

There was some suggestion about expanding the U18s to U20s but the sentiment from Saturday was persevering with U16s and U18s at least for next season.

“Both Narrabri and Gunnedah indicated strongly they will have U16s,” Burke said.

If they have all the teams they had last year plus them, it gives them a viable competition.

The 18s is a bit more of a concern but there is the possibility of an Armidale side coming in.