Any time a club drops out of a competition it's easy to assume there will be a downturn in interest.
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Less teams, less players, less games, less interest ... right?
Throw in the fact, in Group 10's case, that club is Oberon, arguably one of the most parochial rugby league communities in the bush not just Western Division, and the arguments for a lean year in the Rams' blue and white group continue to prove ever-so compelling.
But, like a Workies and Mudgee bout at Tony Luchetti on a windy, windy Sunday afternoon, there's something brewing in 2020.
You could easily say seven out of the eight teams on deck for next season have improved. Panthers included. The two time defending premiers will start very short in their three-peat bid.
Hawks look better on paper. Mudgee, too, despite losing some big men through suspension - the aftermath of the 2019 decider came back to bite them, hard - will again be a formidable side.
And while Cowra looks to be the obvious outfit that might battle, returning coach Steve Sutton has an enviable record at the club and with two grand final appearances while mentoring the black and whites it'd take a brave man to write off the Magpies in 2020.
So which games are musts to watch?
Of the 112 regular season fixtures revealed a fortnight ago by the Group 10 board, which ones will shape 2020 more than most?
Here's our five must-see games of 2020:
ROUND 2: Cowra v Blayney at Sid Kallas Oval
The Magpies have ridden the rugby league roller-coaster in the last two years.
They nearly folded at the back end of 2017. Mustered together a great roster for 2018 and then went within a conversion of a premiership that season. Built again in 2019 but battled injury, and a first-round exit in the finals was an underachievement. So what now in 2020?
The club went public about its financial battles and said it couldn't continue to spend the sort of money it did in 2019, and as a result Sutton's side will start 2020 minus a whole host of talent but loaded with tough, died-in-the-wool black and white local players.
You'd hope the community rallies around those boys. And up against a Blayney side that didn't win a game in 2019 the Magpies will get an early chance to chalk up a victory.
Same deal for the new-look Bears too. The ghosts of what has been a lean three-year period will almost certainly continue to haunt them if they don't jag a win early.
Big Siosave Vave will make an impact, but how fit he is early in the piece will be telling.
The Bears need an early win. The Magpies need those two points too. Shapes as an early-season corker.
ROUND 2: Panthers v St Pat's at Jack Arrow Oval
Starling, Brien, Lefaoseu, Fitzpatrick ... all four played together over the last two seasons at Oberon, but come round two the old Tigers quartet will square off, adding a juicy sidebar to an already potentially very spicy Bathurst derby on Anzac Day.
Former NRL prop Josh Starling has joined the defending premiers while Blake Fitzpatrick, who has a history with St Pat's after playing there previously while Oberon didn't have a team in Group 10, brought star fullback Jackson Brien and rampaging centre Abel Lefaoseu with him for his latest incarnation in blue and white.
St Pat's has added some serious talent to its roster in 2020. You get the feeling they'll be a whole lot better under Zac Merritt. Finals is a must.
But Panthers has also improved, and on top of adding Starling the club has brought back Jeremy Gordon, too, who won a Group 10 player of the year crown the last time he was in the No.1 jumper for the men in black.
Both teams will love to get one over the other early in the season, and given this game is now an annual fixture on Anzac Day it's a pretty big stage.
Both side's will rise to it. Can't wait.
ROUND 5: CYMS v Hawks at Wade Park
A rejuvenated CYMS up against a formidable Hawks ... the Orange derbies in 2020 shape up as some of the most competitive we've seen since 2013, when the two clubs faced off throughout an incredible finals series and then, of course, the grand final too.
But aside from that, Orange derbies in 2017 and 2018 were dominated by an additional rivalry that lit up the clashes - Heta versus Sullivan.
Invariably high-scoring clashes, the two star halves rose to the occasion and refused to let the other get the upper-hand, resulting in some spectacular, to-and-fro games.
Will Willie Heta aim-up similarly against new CYMS coach Daniel Mortimer, another former NRL gun in green and gold?
Here's hoping. Because when Heta's on, it's incredible to watch. And if Mortimer brings half the competitive edge he used to rise to an NRL title with the Roosters, than you can bet he won't be letting Heta have it all his own way.
The battle is back.
ROUND 8: Mudgee v Panthers at Glen Willow
Any grand final rematch is spicy. Then there's the 2019 grand final rematch. After last year's extra-time thriller. After all the Dragons' blow-ups in the weeks and months after.
The premiers meet Mudgee in round one which will be a cracker, no doubt, but that clash is at Carrington Park, where Mudgee might be given a less-than hospitable welcome ... but let's be honest: Panthers fans may well be out-numbered two-to-one by visiting Dragons that day.
It's not an overly tough place to travel to.
The spicy rematch will undoubtedly happen in the game at Mudgee, when there's a chance both sides are entrenched at the top of the ladder and the Dragons faithful will be eager to see Littlejohn's boys get one back on Panthers at Glen Willow.
Now, it's been many years since the Peanut Gallery up at Mudgee was in full voice. This game, though, surely they're out in force.
It will be hostile. You can't miss it.
ROUND 9: Hawks v Mudgee at Wade Park
Orange Hawks proved a picture of consistency in 2019 - winning the club's first minor premiership in six years and looking every big a side capable of at least a grand final appearance.
That was until they played the Dragons.
Mudgee turned out to be a bit of a bogey side for the two blues, a 32-8 loss to the red and whites in Mudgee cancelled out by a win at Wade Park in the return leg but their next meeting was remarkable, the Dragons locking down Heta and co in a stunning 14-0 preliminary final win at Wade Park.
Most sides didn't beat Hawks at all in 2019. Mudgee got the chocolates twice, including once in Orange, where the two blues had won eight of nine games last season.
At this point in the year, you'd expect Hawks and Mudgee to be in the top three. A win for either one here could potentially mean the difference between a home semi-final or missing out on the top three all together.
A huge clash. You can bet Heta has this game circled in his diary.
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