Column | Complex Peter McDonald Premiership draw a sign of things to come for new Western competition

But this new Peter McDonald Premiership is anything but the ordinary.

The 2022 draw - well, version 64 (or close to it) - was disseminated to clubs on Monday with 16 weeks of rugby league kicking off at the start of April.

Come the middle of August, we'll be down to a top eight finals series and what will surely be some of the best footy we've seen in the Rams region in a while.

The potential is there, it always has been. There's so many great clubs in Western division. So much history, too. And the players are eager for the challenge, to create their own slice of history.

But with that potential comes plenty of flags - red ones. And we saw some of them throughout this process to create a draw over the last couple of months.

The initial launch of the competition was in March last year and after a consultation period that extended into July, a draft draw was to be released then.

It didn't happen. Which is understandable.

You can only image the amount of scrunched up paper on the floor at NSWRL western regional manager Evan Jones' place as he tried to navigate that process.

I don't know about you, but I'm picturing that scene out of the Hangover where Allan's counting cards. Slick hair, sharp suit, lots and lots of numbers flying through his head ... just a few less laughs.

But that battle surely signals the complexities a competition of this size will face just about every week of its existence.

There's 13 clubs set to tackle the new Peter McDonald Premiership. Group 10 clubs and Group 11 sides, all with very, very different needs and wants. We've seen that already.

Although some of the omissions in the original draw were almost laughable - who's not popping two St Pat's and Panthers Bathurst derbies in there? - there were always going to be clubs left wanting more from their section of the schedule.

There was no home-and-away clashes for Cowra and Panthers, which is integral to both. The Chad Nealon Shield is an important one for both clubs. While some of the crossover games doubled up, which was odd too.

Those misses have been fixed. However, there's still some glaring omissions.

The Dubbo CYMS versus Orange CYMS game at Wade Park was slated as a round one blockbuster in the initial draft of the draw, but it's now nowhere to be seen.

Jones called some of the challenges those putting the draw together faced as "insurmountable".

"It's been a long and tricky process," he added.

With both CYMS clubs happy to tackle the challenge of a joint competition, regardless of who they play, while others took a little more arm-twisting, it's easy to see why a game like that was put on the backburner for 2022.

Offering up Daniel Mortimer the chance to play tough rugby league against western's best and getting him on board is not an insurmountable. Getting up close and personal with Glen Neill, the Nyngan Tigers boss, and convincing him to get on the black and gold bus and head to Lithgow .... yeah, well, what's beyond insurmountable?

Jones said organisers have learned from that initial draw, and will take those learnings into 2023 and beyond - you'd hope that means a round one CYMS-CYMS clash come April next year. We'll have to wait and see.

Still, these issues have reared their heads even before a ball has been kicked. And they should serve as a warning for those in charge.

Go through the history books of both Group 10 and Group 11 and you'll see over time both competitions are forced to tackle plenty of variables over the course of a season.

Putting COVID-19 over in a corner so we don't have to ever think about it again, the last two years, even though shorter, have still dished up a few curve balls administrators have had to work through.

There's judicial matters. Ground control. Referees. Teams battling for numbers. Clubs looking to jump ship (anyone else think Mudgee might make a play for Ron Massey Cup now they're in both Group 10 and Group 11?) and, of course ... the footy itself; fingers crossed we see plenty of close, entertaining games and none of the blow-outs we endured throughout 2020 or 2021, in Group 10 anyway.

While a headache for those forced to make the tough calls, those variables will make the Peter McDonald Premiership virtually box office footy in 2022.

Can Nyngan fire in an away game in Orange? How will the Dragons go when they finally get a crack at some of these Group 11 sides? Parkes hosts St Pat's in week one - reckon Forbes premiership winner Zac Merritt's looking forward to that one? While Wellington and Panthers face-off in a season-opener at Carrington Park - the Cowboys are one of the most enigmatic clubs in bush footy, that game could be anything.

While there's also three designated Indigenous Rounds from week 11 through to week 13, giving clubs the chance to celebrate the great influence aboriginal players and their communities have had on the game. Big tick there.

Group 11 clubs have been given a week off when the NRL rolls in Dubbo on May 21, while Macquarie and Mudgee will face-off as a curtain-raiser for an NRL game at Glen Willow on April 9. Tick and tick.

Pat's and Panthers' ANZAC Day game remains, while the time-honoured, and surely one of the games of the season, the Parkes-Forbes clash on the June long weekend is on the draw too. Sign us up.

There's flaws. There's no doubting that. But the 2022 draw kicks plenty of goals too.

And when we finally get to see a ball kicked this season, this year of rugby league will surely be one of the best we've been able to witness in a century of the game in country NSW.

What's that one from Tom Keneally again? Blow that whistle, ref.

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