With just six teams in the 2021 premier league competition - Cowra and Blayney dropped back to the first division title race late in the pre-season - it should, in theory, be easier for those left to lift the trophy.

Anyone who's capable of basic maths would know having less teams in a competition would give those left a greater chance of success.

But there's been some unexpected hurdles for clubs in Group 10's premier league this season.

The stop-start nature of the competition would be a nightmare for coaches to try and navigate with squads crying out for week-to-week footy.

Take this weekend for example: Orange CYMS travels to Bathurst to take on St Pat's while defending premiers Panthers heads in the opposite direction to tackle Hawks at Wade Park.

The other two teams in the draw, Mudgee Dragons and Lithgow Workies, both have a bye. It seems mad to leave the Dragons best and Workies' top grade with no game this weekend, but it's the nature of this year's messy draw.

Group 10, to their credit, has thought outside the square a touch, and the introduction of the magic rounds has been a welcome one.

But there's only three of those. The weeks in between would be making officials weep.

Look at last weekend.

Last round, Workies forfeited to CYMS, citing an injury toll too great to overcome, and the premier league race was left with just one top grade game for that weekend - albeit Mudgee's great, upset win over the premiers in Bathurst. A must-see for anyone interested in footy in Group 10.

Still, CYMS, Hawks and St Pat's didn't get a game last week. It's crazy.

No other competition in NSW last weekend would have had just the one first grade fixture on its draw. It's a real shame.

Woodbridge Cup has four games a weekend. Group 11 has three. And there's no exceptions. No double bye rounds. Nothing.

Three years ago there was nine teams in the Group 10 premier league competition. The region loomed as one of the strongest in bush footy.

Times change quickly and certainly the pandemic has accelerated the sudden backwards jump for the game and some clubs in this region.

Now, for some, injuries are playing their part, too. Mudgee had more than a half-a-dozen players on the sideline for its most recent trip to Orange for the competition's second magic round.

Maybe the spike in bye rounds will help the Dragons - their next game isn't until July 11.

Still, you have to think the breaks aren't doing teams any favours.

CYMS, for example, started the year with a bye, then four rounds straight, before a bye in round six, their magic round derby victory over Hawks at Wade Park in round seven and then a forfeit against Workies the following week. This week they play St Pat's, before another bye in round 10.

Game, no game, game, no game, game, no game - that's the challenge for Daniel Mortimer's CYMS side over a six week period in the middle of the season.

The green and golds aren't alone either.

Surely it makes motivating a playing group difficult? Surely it makes getting everyone to training twice a week a harder-than-usual task? Surely it means winning is tougher? Does it make winning the competition that much harder than normal, too? It has to.

There's no benchmark for a competition like this. The stop-start draw, it's not replicated anywhere and as such there's no gauge for coaches looking for any sort of form line for their squads.

Whichever side is standing at the summit in September will have gone down a path none in Group 10 have before.

And successfully negotiating that uncertainty has to mean something, right?

To those off the field, that uncertainty has brought about a lack of interest.

The footy brethren will know where their side is on the ladder, but those casual supporters who'd go to a game or two here and there would have their head spinning trying to keep up.

The magic rounds are a great concept, but one officials would have hoped would have been better supported by stronger crowds - the paying public.

That lack of continuity for everyone involved is a real issue, and one that will hopefully be solved come 2022 with the possible introduction of a new tier for clubs in Western.

More detail on that championship and premiership structure NSWRL officials launched at the start of the year was supposed to be revealed on June 15.

That date rolled around without a whimper and we're more than a week down the track now and still no official word on what we'll see next season.

It's believed, however, the NSWRL is still getting around to clubs to go through the proposal.

An announcement on the changes, if any (Group 10 and Group 11 still have to agree, and that's not a lay down misere by any means) will be likely in July.

The sooner the better, because some light at the end of this bye-riddled tunnel is needed, for players and supporters.

Having a tough-to-win competition is one thing, and that's what we have in Group 10 in 2021, but having one that people will follow, and invest in, is another all together.

And you have to think we've missed the mark on that one in 2021.

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