Group 4’s decision to sacrifice the Second Division to try and boost first grade was expected.

But Monley said no Second Division official or coach he spoke to during the recently completed season wanted to see the competition axed.

“I’ve spoken with officials from all the clubs and they were all happy with the way the comp was,” he said.

“They were happy that all the teams were competitive – and now it’s all been broken up.

Uralla and five other Second Division clubs – Bundarra, Barraba, Bendemeer Manilla and Walcha – will play in a new reserve grade competition next year with Gunnedah, Narrabri, North Tamworth and Collegian.

Second Division clubs Kootingal-Moonbi, Boggabri, Werris Creek and Dungowan have been promoted to first grade.

Monley – who coached the Barbarians first grade rugby side before taking charge of Uralla last season – said he understood the desire to lift the top grade but he doubted the move would work.

“They want to strengthen up the first division competition but teams haven’t got first division players,” he said.

“They play for the social side of it. That’s why they play on Saturday. They have Sunday off before they go back to work.”

He added: “Werris Creek will find it hard to step up to first grade. They’ll probably struggle a bit.

“We beat them twice this year and they’ve got a lot of older players and I don’t know if they’ll be competitive in first division. It will be very hard to see that happening.”

Group 4 vice president Ray McCoy has insisted that the promoted sides will be “more than competitive”, adding that they “deserved to play a higher standard of rugby league”.

“And we wouldn’t have made the decision had we not thought we were taking Group 4 rugby league in the right direction,” he said.