Moree president Paul King believes there are "opportunities to be had out of any situation".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Salvaging some positive from the disappointment of the 2020 season being abandoned, King spoke about using the downtime to push forward with a few ideas the club has.
"There's opportunities to be had out of any situation and our perspective is, okay, well, there's a couple of ideas we've got in the pipeline that we'll probably attack a bit more thoroughly at this stage, while we've got the time and space to work on them without concentrating on running a rugby season as well," he said.
In saying that, he remains optimistic of playing some type of footy this season.
Providing the situation around the COVID pandemic continues to improve, there is the potential to play some non-competitive games later in the year.
READ MORE:
"The interest is still out there. There will be some stuff running at some point," King said.
King, who is also the zone vice-president, said there had been some discussions about staging derby games - such as Moree versus Narrabri. Other ideas include gala days.
Clubs have been permitted to resume restricted training.
Quirindi president Richard Brabrook said despite there being no actual competition to train for, the Lions will look to keep training open.
"We spoke on Monday night (following the decision) and one of the things we talked about was the senior players getting on the phone and just ringing all the players, sounding out interest for training (this) Thursday," he said.
As much about getting everyone back together, he said they would look to go the pub for a meal afterwards.
"That will get part of the group back together and then they can make up their mind what they want to do," he said.
One of the reasons behind the clubs' decision to forgo the season was the financial impact of potentially having no spectators. It would have left them with virtually no income and little means of meeting the costs of hosting a game, let alone ongoing costs such as rates, water and electricity.
There will still be some costs to incur. But the Bulls, Lions and Gunnedah all told The Leader they were in a position to wear the expected loss.
That is in no small part to the support of their loyal sponsors, and all three were effusive in their thanks.
"We are very lucky we've got an amazing group of sponsors that look after us every year," Gunnedah president Bruce Hockings said.
"From the little sponsor to the big sponsor, just amazingly loyal and they've stuck by us."
READ ALSO:
For the Red Devils, the lockdown has been a bit of a double-whammy. As well as their game day takings, a lot of their income comes from hiring out their clubhouse for functions.
The pandemic has also put a stop to that.
Hockings expects the loss from that to be significant. But they will, as the adage goes, solider on.
As for sponsorship dollars, he said they will roll it over to next season.
The Bulls are doing likewise.
"Anyone who has paid, we asked whether they wanted to defer or [receive a] refund. Most chose to carry it over [to] next year," King said.
Brabrook said that while the Lions have enough money in the bank until next season, they weren't "in a position to give back a lot of money" - given funds had gone towards covering costs this season.
Instead, he said the club will look at offering a discount next season for any sponsor that has paid up.
