North Tamworth have reiterated that they have not contravened social distancing rules aimed at combating the spread of the coronavirus.
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Bears president Jodie Cooper responded to an article in the Leader on Thursday in which both the club and Group 4 denied a police allegation that two Group 4 clubs - later revealed to be Norths and Gunnedah - had held team training sessions.
Cooper said the Bears were "super, super worried about" the pandemic and had been strictly adhering to social distancing requirements.
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"You know, we've got a lot of older guys in the club, including myself," he said. "We're all vulnerable [to catching the virus].
"So we're all well aware of it [the need to be cautious], and we've passed that on to the players and the people involved in the club.
"At no stage did we do anything that contravened anything that's been set out [to combat the virus]. As a matter of fact, we've been more than cautious."
At a press conference on Thursday, Oxley Police Chief Inspector Jeff Budd accused the two clubs of holding training sessions. "We've seen some really stupid things the last few days: sporting groups continuing to train in our town," he said.
The Leader learned that there were three occasions when Norths and Gunnedah were alleged to have held training sessions. Group 4 said none of them were team training drills.
Group 4 said one of the incidences involved a group of North Tamworth-signed players having a run at a South Tamworth Park, but Cooper said the players were not from Norths.
He supported Group 4's assertion that another of the alleged team training sessions was in fact a single Norths player taking part in a CrossFit session that adhered to social distancing rules.
In response to the current climate, Cooper said the club had cancelled a planned working bee at Jack Woolaston Oval this weekend.
