But here we are. Delving into a crystal ball dreaming of a world with some normality.

And as sporting codes of all shapes and sizes look for ways to re-emerge post COVID-19 and run some form of meaningful competition there's a common theme those bodies are being urged to keep in mind - get innovative.

Last week NSW Rugby League Western manager Peter Clarke remained optimistic the 13-man code will hit the ground running sooner rather than later in 2020 and when that happens it's likely the normal Group 10 premiership we've seen for the last 80-odd years will look a little different.

How different? The crystal ball is too murky to tell, but Clarke had this for those dying of rugby league thirst a week after the schedule season kick-off.

"We are going to have to be innovative in how it looks," Clarke said.

"Once we get the go-ahead, if we get the go-ahead, we'll be ensuring there's footy on the park."

So how would an innovated rugby league landscape in the bush look like?

It's a discussion this page has dissected a number of times.

Bearing in mind the Western Rams division is the largest in NSW, and includes Group 10, Group 11, the old mid-west competition, Woodbridge Cup, Castlereagh League and the Barwon Darling League the scope for change is huge.

There's been recent pushes for an alternate universe too - Dubbo CYMS' almighty quest at the end of 2016 to join Group 10 the latest design to eventually be quashed by those in power.

And that's normally the way it goes.

Disgruntled club seeks new competition to play in, puts agenda to a board, board denies said desire for change.

Rugby league-types love nostalgia. Tradition is one of the pillars of the code. Innovation's not getting a Christmas card, let alone a seat at the table to tuck into the turkey.

So for a sporting body to then suggest change is essentially the only way we'll see competition, in any form, in 2020 is engrossing.

How? What? When?

Clubs have dipped in and out of both Group 10 and Group 11 - Western's two biggest competitions - over the years and as such windows of opportunity have presented themselves for a potential merger of both competitions.

Being such a huge geographical area, though, those windows normally shut pretty quickly.

No one from Lithgow would want to go to Nyngan to play footy, surely. Visa versa.

The nine-hour round trip would be, right now, leading page one of Scott Morrison's non-essential travel guide.

It's not the only stumbling block.

Could small-town teams compete against the more sides from bigger markets - your Dubbo CYMS, Hawks and CYMS in Orange and then Bathurst St Pat's and two-time reigning Group 10 champions Panthers?

Is it worth having two tiers and dividing the markets, so the likes of Blayney, Narromine, Oberon, Parkes and Cowra enjoy perhaps a more level playing field against their fellow one-team town clubs?

Dubbo CYMS thought so in their proposal a few years back. The board they put the changes too four years ago thought differently.

So how will innovation save footy in 2020?

How is a group of administrators with a not-really-original Super Bowl concept pitting Group 10 and Group 11 premiers against each other as its sole innovation in the last decade going to come up with a concept to get football back on the field this season?

Really, right now, the answer is they can't. Not for a lack of trying.

For all its faults, rugby league can not be faulted for trying - the NRL's daring, some-would-say careless, ambition to return to the field by May 28 would just about be a world first, in terms of sport returning to the playing field amidst the coronavirus threat.

Out here, though, in the bush, it's not as simple.

Like those in the NRL, clubs in the country rely on funding to run efficiently. That funding often comes from sponsors, gate-takings, raffles, canteens and social functions.

Out of all of that, players are then paid to play.

The government made it very clear its social distancing and isolation measures will be in place for the long term. That policy was brought into effect in March, and the Prime Minister has said a number of times those restrictions will be enforced for as long as six months.

"I like it that people are planning to get Australia back to normal but obviously all of these things will be subject to the health advice and the health clearances that are necessary," Morrison said on Tuesday morning.

"Whether it happens to be football or whatever it happens to be the health advice has to be paramount and I have no doubt that the NRL and the other codes understand that and they will comply with that."

The NRL may be angling for a return in May, but it'll be without supporters in the stands. Which isn't such a huge deal when your major stream of income is broadcast dollars.

But when you're a bush footy competition and you rely on people coming through the gates, the chances of running a sustainable premiership are slim to nothing.

Innovation sounds great. Chopping up the competitions and restructuring premierships is a tantalising proposition - this page loves the idea.

But whatever form Group 10, of Group 11, or any rugby league competition takes in 2020 will be irrelevant if we can't get along to watch it all.

If we can't sit in the stand and enjoy a sausage sandwich, a beer and grab a double at the gate, we can't support clubs the way they need us to.

The way communities have loved doing for decades on end.

And so while the NRL can still stage games and stem the haemorrhaging via its broadcast deal throughout a modified competition in 2020, if clubs in the bush are to play minus crowd support, both in patronage and financially, then clubs will enter season 2021 on their knees, if they're lucky enough to survive at all.

We're not out of the woods yet, as a society.

So while Australia is the lucky country, let's not make it the dumb country too - stay home, stay safe, and let's look towards making 2021 sporting-wise as fruitful as it can be.