The first players will hit the field for what will be an eight week competition plus one week of finals on Monday July 20.

Tamworth Oztag coordinator Pam Potts admits she has been pleasantly surprised by the interest with the Wednesday night mixed competition almost at capacity within the first week of opening up registrations.

That has since filled up with another three-four teams on the waitlist.

There are still a few spots remaining for the Monday night men's and women's, and Thursday night men's over 30s competitions but teams need to get in quickly with registrations closing on Monday.

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"We've got about 72 teams all up," Potts said.

"Normally in winter we run at about 90-odd."

"Considering what's happened I half thought we'd be lucky to get 50."

"It's been a surprising result.

"But I think people just want to get back out there."

They will be running at a reduced capacity with fewer time slots to try and keep people out of the cold as much as possible.

As part of the Covid safety plan, game time slots have also been extended from 45 minutes to an hour to allow a 15 minute turnaround time for players to move in and out, and for all the balls to be sanitised, which they will be before, during and after each game.

After a couple of months ago pretty much writing a winter competition off, Potts said it is exciting to be preparing for the competition start.

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