Following a stunted pre-season due to COVID-19, new coach Corey Borthwick has been putting his troops through their paces in preparation for round one against Moree on Saturday.

"He's been with us 10 to 12 years and he's a mad fitness freak. He does a lot of triathlons," Inverell Saints president Jason Gobbert said.

"They've had a limited prep so they've been copping it pretty hard."

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He'll take a new-look, young squad into the 2020 season.

However, it almost didn't happen with Inverell getting a men's team together at the last minute.

"Earlier in the piece we were not so sure, with the COVID situation, whether we'd be playing but once the decision was made they [players] sort of came out of the woodwork," Gobbert said.

"We're in that rebuilding phase at the moment. A lot of older guys have hung up the boots and we'll be blooding a lot of younger players but we have a good junior program and it'll be good to see those guys out there."

The Saints will also field teams in the women's, under 17s and and under 14s competitions in 2020.

Gobbert said numbers were pretty good across the board but had been up and down for the women.

However, despite a drop in numbers, he said they were still "very confident" heading into the season.

"They're competitive and love their footy. When there was come talk around about [the season] not going ahead, they were shattered," Gobbert said.

"They've been very keen to push on again and they're a very committed bunch."

Both the men and women will kick-start their season on Saturday against Moree.

Meanwhile the junior competitions will start next weekend.