The crowd might have been smaller than what everyone involved would have liked but the Warriors' match at Tamworth's Scully Park has been labelled the blueprint for other regional centres to follow.
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The New Zealand side took the clash with the Knights to Tamworth as a thank you after the music capital hosted the team when it first arrived on Australian shores during the COVID lockdown.
But with a huge amount of restrictions in place due to the pandemic there was a lot for those in Tamworth to deal with before a ball had been kicked.
But the limited crowd of 1900 people was treated to a special thank you from the Warriors, who ran out dominant 36-6 winners.
The match not only kept alive the Warriors' finals hopes, but also made councils and footy fans in other regional centres around the state take note.
Rod Laing, the CEO of the Wests group which owns the Scully Park Regional Sporting Precinct, said the way the match was conducted during a pandemic is something others can follow.
And with Dubbo "guaranteed" to host an NRL game next season, and work on Orange's $25 million sporting precinct underway, many in this region would have been taken note.
"I believe we also now have the blueprint for other regional cities looking at hosting other trials and premiership games next year," Laing explained.
"It wasn't easy, but the key to the safety of the event is that the majority of spectators were all from our local city."
Everyone was prepared for a level of complacency from the 1900-strong crowd in relation to health and safety precautions, but he was "blown away" by the spectators' behaviour.
"Especially considering that we haven't had the positive case for over four months in Tamworth ... but they were just very respectable, well behaved," Laing said.
Laing has already been in discussion with two other NRL clubs about more games at Scully Park while the Warriors are dedicated to strengthening their ties to Tamworth.
Dubbo MP and chair of the state government's NRL Regional Taskforce, Dugald Saunders, revealed last week he was in contact with clubs as well and was hopeful of confirm details of a 2020 match in Dubbo in the coming weeks.