Armidale head coach Luke Stephen says resuming training and getting the playing group back together has been important from not only a football perspective but also for the culture and fabric of the club, this year and moving forward.
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After what has been a testing time he said it has been "a good relief" to get back on the training paddock and starting to work towards getting back on the field.
When that will be remains unclear with the state government yet to announce a date for a return to senior community sport, but there is still plenty to be gained from just being back together.
"I think the main thing is just getting the guys together at the moment to one improve on where we have started the year and two at least get together socially, because a lot of guys have been impacted through either losing jobs or have been on jobkeeper or they've been at home and have had minimal social contact over the restrictions periods," Stephen said.
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There are "still a few boxes to be ticked" before they can hope to pull on that blue and gold jersey again.
"But we have to make sure that when those boxes are ticked that we're in a position to be able to compete at the standards that we've set ourselves this year," he said.
There was an understandable sense of disappointment when the season was suspended. The Blues had just taken out their annual knockout tournament having earlier in the season won the Plate at the Cresent Heads 7s.
After what was a disappointing 2019, Stephen couldn't have been much happier with the way they had started 2020, their results inherent of an overall improved commitment.
"It's about going back to those core values around what as a club we aspire to be and making sure we have that competition on the training paddock for positions to drive improvement on the field," he said.
There were good signs of that.
Fortunately it doesn't seem to have been lost over the break. Stephen said the players have generally come back pretty well.
"The guy's efforts have been good. It's obviously hard with the restrictions that are still in place with regards to what we can do at training to get a full read on where exactly the guys are," he said.
"We've been focussing on rebuilding some of our conditioning while focusing on some of those core skills of catch, pass, kick and the guys are putting in the work."
