Opinion | Group 10 and Group 11 clubs deserve answers as D-Day for new Western Premiership looms

Juniors - winners. Seniors players - winners. Fans and supporters - big winners.

Eight months on there's not too many club bosses feeling like they've won the lottery.

Despite being on the cusp of a new dawn - an exciting one, too - as it stands just a few weeks away 2022 ticking over on the calendar, clubs from Lithgow to Nyngan and everywhere in between don't know what that dawn looks like.

Clubs are effectively in limbo because they've not seen what next season looks like, how to prepare for it, or even if they're going to be part of it.

That sounds like a mess. And largely it is. But it's one NSWRL must sort out before this new competition vanishes with little of the fanfare it initially arrived with.

Let's paint the picture.

In March the NSW Rugby League unveiled a new structure for the Rams region, with two new competitions, - dubbed the premiership and championship - to reshape the game in the west and revolutionise rugby league competitions in regional NSW.

Clubs across the west then had individual meetings with NSWRL officials as part of the process and to gauge where clubs across the region sat in terms of the premiership and championship.

And from there, once details were worked through, a draft draw would be released.

The magic date offered up at the time by Trodden was June 15. Clubs, officials, players would know more then: "It will become obvious to us and obvious to clubs where they're best placed during this consultation period," Trodden said in March.

That process was extended, but that's to be expected. Western's strength is its size, but - as is the case with rep teams - the vastness of the Rams region can also be a massive hurdle.

And so June 15 passed and we entered July, and after NSWRL Western regional manager Evan Jones indicated there had been "a lot of moving parts" throughout the consultation process it was confirmed a draft draw would be unveiled and clubs would rejoice.

The light at the end of the tunnel was becoming clearer.

It was thought clubs would then know what competition they'd be able to begin planning for. As they say, time is money, and giving clubs time to prepare for a new competition was a courtesy they deserved.

At the end of July, the NSWRL again announced it was moving ahead with its Western Premiership, although the premiership and championship structure looked to have been abandoned.

The announcement offered up few answers and lots of questions.

Instead of a premiership and championship structure, Group 10 and Group 11 conferences were revealed with crossover fixtures throughout the season before the two groups are again brought together for a top eight finals system.

Not once throughout that announcement was it confirmed which clubs would take part in the new concept ... is NSWRL just assuming all Group 10 clubs and Group 11 teams will jump on board?

Are all clubs going to be forced to play in this combined Western Premiership, which has been dubbed the Peter McDonald Premiership in its inaugural year in 2022.

It's hard to fathom 'Ace', one of the region's finest administrators, leaving clubs out in the cold for this long.

The announcement in July had dates, sure. It had details on representative rounds. An indigenous all stars weekend was even scheduled for 2022. All great details to be known.

But not once has clubs across Western been told where they sit throughout the whole process. It's near negligent. And clubs have had enough.

"We are sort of still wondering how everything is going to work," Panthers president Dave Hotham said last week.

"It's hard to get excited about it at the moment because there is so much uncertainty with it," Hotham added.

Narromine boss Michael Burns said the Jets weren't interested in Group 10 at all.

"We'd love to stay in Group 11 but we don't really want any part of travelling to Orange, Mudgee, Lithgow or anyone else in Group 10," he said.

While Nyngan president Glen Neill admitted late last month he was "a bit confused" with the whole proposal ... he's clearly not alone.

Bob Walsh, a NSWRL board member and chairman of Group 11, last week said "I can't make any comment on what's going on because I don't know".

A lot of the clubs this column has spoken to are for change. A revised competition encompassing the best players from the whole region has plenty of positives to it, there's no doubt about that.

But how on earth are clubs supposed to back a concept they're yet to know if they'll be playing in.

The NSWRL was contacted to have its say, but opted not to go on the record. A draw, though, they say is expected this week. Time will tell.

As we all wait, Dubbo Macquarie begins pre-season training on Tuesday night, without knowing what sort of a competition they'll be running out to play in come round one. That's commitment. But it's not one shared by every club in the region - which was the goal in Trodden's initial press conference all the way back in March.

He said the new structure would "help all clubs by providing competitive balance".

"All clubs, big, small or otherwise will have a competition to play in," he added.

What that looks like though, and who's going be part of it, is anyone's guess. That's just one (not really) minor detail overlooked throughout this whole process. It's time to fix it.

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