Soccer: Oxley Vale Attunga press the restart button on 2020 campaign

Returning to the pitch for the first time since COVID restrictions saw all training suspended, the mood was understandably one of excitement, although even Coates was surprised by the roll-up.

He said on Tuesday, which was their first session back, he took down what he thought was a ball each.

"I took 22 balls to training and we were short. So that's good sign," he said.

It was quite a hive of activity down at Gipps Street with several clubs getting back into it.

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Now all the players are waiting for is a start date.

"The hope is the 4th of July but that is subject to public health orders and council etc," Coates said.

"But that gives us enough time to get 14 games in and three weeks of finals before end of October."

At present they are only able to train in groups of up to 10 and contact isn't permitted but Coates said it doesn't hinder too much what they are able to do.

"You can do conditioning work, do a lot of stuff with simulated play, just without the tackle," he said.

"The only thing that you're really missing is that physical contact. You can do pretty much everything else."

Coaching all of the club's senior sides, the biggest challenge for him has been working out how to be able to see what all the groups are doing. Under Northern NSW Football's Return to Training guidelines, coaches can only coach one squad of nine at a time and can't work across multiple areas.

Coates praised the way the senior players within the group have stepped up and really helped out.

He made particular mention of Glenn McKnight and Ryan Searl. McKnight is unable to train at the moment due to injury but took a group, as did Searl. The latter is set to miss the first couple of games through suspension.

As far as he knows, Coates said they haven't lost any players over the break, quite the opposite in fact. They've picked up a few players.