Bumper derby weekend planned as Blowes Clothing Cup draw revealed

The schedule for this year's competition has been released, with Central West Rugby CEO Matt Tink saying a lot of work went into getting the draw just right.

"We looked at a couple of options to start the season which would have been quite entertaining given how last season finished, but with the balancing out of home and away games and a couple of club requests we weren't really able to do it," he said.

"We've gone for what's the easiest option and all the clubs were happy with that."

One of those options would have seen the top two finishers from last year's season - Emus and Cowra - do battle in round one, but a scheduling clash with the Shute Shield put an end to that dream. Instead Cowra and Emus will once again face off in the final round, but Tink assured people that "was just how the cards fell."

The season will kick off on April 23, with the 15^th and final round scheduled for August 13. If all goes to plan the finals series will start the following week with the grand final expected to be played on September 3.

City and Emus won't butt-heads until May 14 in round four, but Tink says there is something special planned for the derby.

"That weekend is probably early enough in the year that we can host a few of the games on the Friday night, and what I mean by that is with the derbies, we try and ensure that it's all of Orange City verses all of Orange Emus from under 12s all the way through to first grade," he said.

"With that many games to be held, it's sometimes a bit easier to knock over a few on a Friday night. It's still warm enough for a few night games and over the past couple of years, clubs have been able to do that quite successfully. It makes for a great weekend of rugby."

Teams will play each other three times throughout the year, with home and away matches flipping after five rounds, and again after 10. For example, this means the opening round matches where Dubbo host City, Emus host Bathurst and Cowra host Forbes, will be duplicated in round 11, but round six will see City, Bathurst and Forbes host the matchups.

There will also be two general byes. The first comes on the long weekend on June 11 which also coincides with the Country Championships, with the other scheduled for July 23 where a possible test match between Australia and England in Sydney may take place.

"The thought behind that bye, it was raised by the clubs two years ago that in the Blowes Cup, there's simply no easy games," Tink added.

"It's really physical football every week and towards the back end of the season, before clubs make a run to the finals, it was decided that the clubs would like an extra week off to refresh and recharge."

While Tink didn't reveal if there were any games in particular that caught his fancy, he noted just how pleased he would be to get a full season in.

"We're just pretty excited that hopefully we'll have a season that's not affected by COVID," he said.

"We're hoping for that, but in terms of matchups, we think they're all pretty exciting.

"After the first five rounds you'll probably get an indication of who's who this year. It is a grind and we're just looking forward to it kicking off."

Bathurst, Dubbo and Emus will play eight home games this season after playing seven in 2021, while Cowra, Forbes and City will get seven home games in 2022, having had eight the year before.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: