For better or for worse, change seems to be something those involved in governing the game are always craving.

And while here in Group 10 we're not quite in the realm of the National Rugby League and what seems like a weekly thought bubble on what rule or structure can be tweaked, the Western Rams region as a whole right now is in the midst of the sort of shift we're only likely to see once in a generation.

The inaugural Peter McDonald Premiership has genuinely had the eyes of the bush footy community on it in 2022.

A pilot season of sorts, this winter is the first we've had a competition pitting Group 10 and Group 11 clubs against one and other.

This region has been the first to experience change under the New South Wales Rugby League's 'One State' strategic plan launched in 2020. Others are set to follow.

But that Western-wide structure that was adopted after months and months of consultation and planning has only extended to first grade and under 18s premierships.

Really, organisers have only been dipping their toes in the water. Now it's time to take the plunge.

Debate has raged over the last couple of months as to whether or not more senior grades should be entered into the fold come next season.

League tag and reserve grade competitions are on the outer this season, remaining as stand-alone Group title races, but many are calling for both to be part of the fun come 2023 and beyond.

It's a fair call, particularly for the girls.

But those in charge of the Western Rams board must take it a step further.

Let's take a leaf out of the PVL playbook and shake things up a bit.

A women's tackle competition should be brought in for the 2023 season to run alongside the main Peter McDonald Premiership and western under 18s competition, as well as the introduction of reserve grade into the fold too.

The Western Women's Rugby League competition has grown exponentially in the half-a-decade it has been in operation. From a two-team competition, to one that now boasts sides across the whole division and with plenty of junior grades, the WWRL, like the WNRL at the very pinnacle of the women's game, has been a genuine success story.

Female participation in rugby league is where the game is growing fastest. That's not a secret.

But you have to think the game in Western Division has grown as much as it can while ever it is being played in summer, like the WWRL competition is now. A shift to winter has to be on the cards.

So it makes sense that the next step for a truly Western-wide competition would be to bring in a tackle competition for women as well to run alongside the boys' and men's grades already in action from April through to September.

There are a number of hurdles - no change is ever easy, we know that thanks to the process it took to implement the PMP too.

The WWRL has a number of clubs - The Vipers, Panorama Platypi, Midwest Brumbies and Wiradjuri Goannas - but none of them are direct mirrors of the historic, long-running Group 10 or Group 11 clubs.

While Woodbridge and Castlereagh Cougars draw on competitions that don't feed into either Group 10 or Group 11.

Really, it'd be a hefty change to make.

But just like the structural shift to bring Group 10 and Group 11 together in 2023, it would be a change that has the potential to set up a new competition for future generations.

Why now? The NRL is serious about its own expansion for the WNRL, with four more clubs to join the competition in 2023.

That means the opportunities for young girls to perhaps progress through the grades and have a crack at playing rugby league at the highest level are even greater - so why not give females from our patch the best chance possible to grab those chances?

But what about league tag? There's been limited growth at a senior level now in league tag for some time.

St Pat's has won over 50 games in a row and, although you'd have to say the gap has somewhat closed on the blue and whites and the next best clubs in Group 10, it hasn't closed enough. St Pat's would be at Winx-like odds to claim another premiership there.

While Blayney dropped its league tag side out of the competition in 2022 and Mudgee has done the same.

Further west Group 11's clubs all have a league tag side, the gulf between CYMS' team and the rest is large.

At some point we're going to get to a stage where the jump to a women's tackle competition run throughout winter has to happen.

Who's to say we've not reached that fork in the road now?

Regardless, a larger, combined Western competition looks on the cards for 2023. And with an enthralling finals series looming in August and September, there's plenty to look forward to.