Central North president Tony Byrnes believes the proposed June resumption of rugby activities is ambitious but has his fingers crossed he is wrong with the possibility of no competition this season a very real one should they not be able to get underway then.
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Not necessarily no rugby at all, but not a competition in it's traditional form.
At present all community rugby is suspended until at least June 1 following an extension from the original first week in May date, last Friday.
Byrnes wasn't that surprised by the news, and questions whether the current restrictions will be relaxed by June.
He is of course hopeful, but said it is just hard to predict.
"At the moment we're in the unknown," he said.
All they can do is wait.
But there is only so long they can wait, and factoring in a minimum of at least three weeks for the players, and clubs, to prepare before kicking off any competition, Byrnes said early June is probably the cut-off date to be able to run a "viable" competition.
We're saying the only viable form of a competition is to play one full round
- Tony Byrnes
"We're saying the only viable form of a competition is to play one full round," he said.
"Unless we get the go ahead on the first of June I think we can give it a miss."
"Unless somebody could come up with a format we can play."
He dismissed extending the season into late September/ October. That was done one year, he said, and there wasn't a lot of support for it.
If the worst was to eventuate and there wasn't time to run a viable competition, Byrnes said they will certainly be exploring alternative options "to get people on the paddock".
There have already been a few ideas thrown around like gala days or knock-outs, or even playing 10s or 7s, although as he pointed out there is also the women, second grade and colts to consider.
Byrnes said in his communications with the club presidents they have been disappointed but all very understanding.
There are obviously some concerns. Without any games and the gate/bar/canteen takings from that they are looking at losing at least half of their revenue, potentially more. But he said so far he isn't "hearing any real issues coming in".
He added that from a zone perspective they have been fortunate that Santos has reaffirmed their support.
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Byrnes said with all the uncertainty they hadn't sent them an invoice for their sponsorship money but then he was contacted by someone asking where the invoice was so they could pay it.
"That's very much appreciated," he said.
Should they not be able to get a competition up, he spoke about using the time to do some strategic planning.
The current restrictions mean they are unable to meet face-to-face at the moment.
"[But] As soon as we can get together, I'm going to suggest, and there'a a lot of club presidents who are keen to do it, is to get together and work through some issues and try and get ourselves a better foundation for our rugby next year," he said.
"In the summer time we don't get a lot of opportunity to get together. But if we could find before the end of the this year we had an opportunity we'd start doing a bit of strategic planning like how do we solve our problem with our colts and do we have the bests competition that we can possibly have on the ground or can we do things better."
"There's some good brains out there and a lot of people making good suggestions about what the zone can do in certain areas."
"We want to be able to take advantage of the juniors with their regional comp because they've got players coming through."
