There is still one team across Group 11 and Group 10 yet to nominate for the 2022 Peter McDonald Premiership.
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Five of the six Group 11 clubs nominated for the western-wide title race, Nyngan begrudgingly so, at Sunday's annual general meeting, with the Wellington Cowboys the notable team not to make the move so far.
The Jets will now field one senior side and a league team in the 2022 Castlereagh League season.
The Group 10 AGM was held the weekend prior and all seven clubs from that competition - Orange CYMS, Orange Hawks, Bathurst Panthers, Bathurst St Pats, Mudgee Dragons, Lithgow Workies and Cowra Magpies - nominated to be part of the game's new era in the region.
Cowboys president Darren Ah See confirmed his club may put itself forward for the competition yet, despite stating only last week his club wouldn't be taking part.
"From the (Group 11) general meeting two weeks ago where we only had two clubs keen, the position of the other three clubs has changed," Ah See said.
"I'll take it back to the committee because our stance was not to play, but it was supporting the information we had from the general meeting.
"Now all Group 11 clubs will participate, we'll go back and review it."
Should the Cowboys remain against the new premiership, the option would be to stay in a Group 11 competition which will only feature league tag and reserve grade in 2022.
The Peter McDonald Premiership competition is for first grade and under 18s teams and will have the top eight clubs clubs from the Group 11 conference and a Group 10 conference playing in finals.
"There's still some grey areas but if we don't play in it we'll be having four byes due to the games we're not playing in the Peter McDonald Premiership and have no grand finals," Ah See said.
"It would be a token-istic competition. Our previous commitment was supporting the other clubs who had not committed, but now they have we'll review it and see what the committee wants."
Trevor Waterhouse, speaking for Nyngan in the absence of club president Glen Neill, pointed at issues like travel and sponsors battling in a post-pandemic climate as problems for next year and while the Tigers did belatedly nominate, he made it clear to the Group 11 board he wanted his objection noted.
For Jones and Skinner, the meeting was much of what they expected as the Tigers and Cowboys have both been outspoken in recent times.
But having 12 of the region's 13 premier clubs nominate for the competition leaves NSWRL feeling positive about the future.
Everything we're trying to do, we're doing with a firm belief that change and variety will stimulate the competition.
- NSWRL's Evan Jones
"We're really close to our final product," Jones said.
"We'e worked so hard for over 12 months to get here and we believe by the middle of December we'll have our final fixture list and we'll be able to start promoting the 2022 season."
While Jones and Skinner can understand clubs have wanted more information during the process, the majority of clubs they have dealt with have been "overwhelmingly" in support of the plan.
"Change is difficult and there's always resistance to it," Jones said.
"That's been our greatest obstacle, overcoming that resistance and helping people understand that by trying something we're trying to promote the game and improve it.
"There's no benefit to NSWRL or us as individuals for the competition to fail or be unsuccessful. Everything we're trying to do, we're doing with a firm belief that change and variety will stimulate the competition."
With a path forward almost set in stone, the expectation is soon the potential level of competition and the new rivalries which will be established will become a hot topic of conversation around the western area.
"There's always been that debate about what's the stronger comp, Group 10 or Group 11?" Jones added.
"We've got an opportunity to test that in our region now. It's a long-standing point of contention in our groups and it drives interest between the two and now we'll ultimately have the irrefutable evidence which is the best club and what group they reside in.
"It's something that, we believe, will excite and stimulate competition in the western region and I know it's something that's being looked at closely across the rest of the state."
A proposed schedule for the new competition was released earlier this month and clubs have until December 3 to provide feedback. The final draw will be confirmed shortly after that.
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