It's a bit of a defeatist attitude, isn't it.

And I think if Parramatta Eels fans are still brave enough to hold out even the slightest amount of hope for their side then we should all give most things a chance.

So, like the Eels in March, let's give this a crack.

Representative cricket has long been a frustration of mine - I just can't rap my head around it.

One competition, with five rounds, spanning the better part of five months? It's too long. Who'd want to be part of that?

And, seemingly congested: Western Zone Premier League, Western Zone Plate, President's Cup, Grinsted Cup and then throw in the Mitchell Twenty20 Cup and the Plan B Regional Bash as well.

There's a Western Zone under 18s competition and then a Mitchell Cricket Council colts premiership as well … why?

There's not too many Sundays in summer without a game being played. It's just too drawn out. Too much cricket.

For me, it's cricket being played for the sake of it. There's no purpose.

Most of the high level representative stuff is done and dusted by the end of November - think Country Championships and the Regional Bash, which was scheduled to wrap up on December 2 before being postponed and eventually wrapped up at the beginning of February.

There's literally no selection relevance to a rep game being played in February or March, so why is there still representative cricket being played when the first week of Autumn rolls around?

Town pride might be one argument? 

I don't think that washes much any more either though, as sad as that sounds.

Sure there's an element of wanting to represent your town and association, but if you look at two areas deemed Western Zone strongholds, both Dubbo and Bathurst have battled for players this summer.

Bathurst won this year's President's Cup, which was just a four-game campaign. And yet they used 19 players. 

Adam Ryan, Sam Macpherson and Connor Slattery were the only Barracudas to play all four games for the eventual champions.

Likewise for this summer's Western Zone Premier League champions Dubbo.

The might of the Macquarie Valley called on 23 players during its WZPL campaign. 

Corey McDean and Stu Naden were the only players to play all five games. Two out of 23 - imagine the work the selectors had to do to muster up a team whenever a premier league game rolled around. Insane.

It's clear commitment is one of the major issues.

Players have families, that'll never change. A lot of players work shift as well, that has changed.

Working Sundays is fairly common now, whereas, when the current format of representative cricket was at its peak, and the best played against the best every Sunday, working weekends wouldn't have been considered the norm.

Cricket isn't the only sport in this boat though.

After two losses on the trot to open the Central West District Golf Association pennants season, Duntryleague gun Robert Payne had this:

"We just don’t have the people that have the pride in representing their club and the drive to help the club get back (to the top)."

Maybe Payney's not alone.

But where to now?

Do we continue to make life a nightmare for selectors and run these competitions that progress at snails pace for months on end and then reach a crescendo and we're all left wondering, really, what was the point?

We must change. It's that simple.

The answer for representative cricket has to be a condensed schedule, I've waxed lyrical about that before.

Carnivals are a must, and they have to be played in October, before any meaningful country representative stuff is played out, normally in November.

That way a Western Zone Premier League carnival will actually hold some merit. If someone whacks two tons or takes a bagful of wickets, they're a chance of zone selection. If that happens in February in the current format what was the point?

The Regional Bash content is great. It's already in carnival format and playing at the SCG still means plenty - just ask the Wranglers boys who fought for it this summer.

So what happens after Christmas?

Let's run a club championship. Get a bit of sponsorship, throw in some prizemoney and run it over the course of a month, knockout style.

Let's have Dubbo CYMS up against CYMS from Orange, St Pat's Old Boys up against RSL Colts, Cavaliers taking on Bathurst City, Orange City up against Newtown and Centennials scheduled to play the Cambridge Cats, as a start.

Sixteen teams, from across the region and if you're good enough, and keen enough to play cricket competitively on a Sunday, then there's your rep fix post the festive season.

Of course, if your club's not keen, there's no mandate to throw everyone into the deep end.

But surely winning both the zone club championship and then your association grade title in the one season would be an effort worth making.

The worst thing we can do is sit by and change nothing hoping a different outcome will emerge. I've heard that's insanity. 

Western Zone is a proud but massive region. It's time to simplify what's on offer for cricket lovers in the west and reinvigorate the game so it continues to play such a large role in our sporting culture.

After all, we're not saying 'why bother' anymore.

Let's run with 'why not'?