The days of old footballers running clubs are almost over and there is a new wave of women stepping up.

"Women's league tag matches have created a lot of interest in the towns, a lot more than I anticipated. The girls are quite competitive and striving to be the leading teams," McDermott said.

"The big bonus is that women are getting involved in the clubs, trying to organise social events, with the groups, clubs, local community. One or two of them are taking on secretary jobs, registrars, and are very professional.

"Not old footballers trying to make the best of the computer system these days, the ladies of country NSW are getting involved."

The Group 11 secretary was in Wellington to talk with local officials about their progress, and said he encourages junior league and more women to shape the future of the game.

"This year we have a lady president at Parkes and it has increased participation numbers, hopefully that will show in the gate takings during the year and help clubs financially and socially," McDermott said.

"It's not a male sport like it used be, it's inclusive of everybody involved. We want the whole family getting involved in our sport.

"A lot of people would have just kept on playing the old game of the rugby league club forever. It's a changing world and we have to adapt to the environment."

McDermott believes communities are important in Group 11's way forward. The sudden exit of Cobar, because of the downward spiral of mining in the town, hurt the sport as well.

"It's very important local clubs and teams have a strong connection to the community," he said.

"At times they suffer the impact of a rural downturn on the communities - the perfect example is Cobar. We made a decision to have 12 months break. We need to encourage clubs to get involved in their communities and work for their lifeblood, the towns.

"For teams coming into towns in the area brings crowds of a couple of thousand at times, they buy at the local petrol station, buy things at the shops, hopefully that will help some of the towns.''

Cobar's demise and also the rural economy, especially in smaller towns, does affect the player numbers, committees and confidence in supporting the sport, McDermott said, but he believes this season has begun well.

"We want a strong competition," he said.

"Unfortunately some of the smaller communities are struggling and that does have an impact on rugby league and from a group perspective we are trying to build a strong rugby league."

The focus will be on Tamworth this weekend when Country Origin plays City Origin and Country Rugby League is pushing for more NRL games to be centred in places like Dubbo, Parkes and Orange.

Group 11 is also wanting the executives in the top tiers of the game to not just recognise the bush is the heart of the sport, but also inject into it financially to help make bush footy more sustainable in the long term.

"They all keep acknowledging we are the grassroots of the sport and they keep promising, promising but nothing has come forward so far," McDermott said.

"We're certainly putting our hands up and negotiating hard. We are battling and we're doing the job.

"We are volunteers doing a thankless job at times but you see the games on Sunday and it's great and it's a clear message we need support.

"They have acknowledged that now but we need some outcomes from it.''