Excitement was buzzing in the lead-up to the new season but when the Group 11 secretary went and picked them up in the last few days, he did so knowing it was unlikely they would be worn this year.

Uncertainty is rife in bush footy circles, with recent announcements from the Prime Minister only creating more doubt.

Last Friday the national cabinet released a three-step road map for relaxing restrictions put in place to stop the spread of coronavirus.

It was then up to the premiers to decide when they would be implemented, with NSW to enter stage one at the end of this week.

Step one allows for outdoor sport and training, up to 10 people, consistent with the AIS Framework for Rebooting Sport.

The second stage has a maximum of 20, while the final step allows for community sport to be considered, again in line with the AIS.

That final step also allows all venues to operate with gatherings up to 100 people.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison believes stage three would not be enacted until July, which has a number of rugby league officials in regional areas concerned.

Like almost every other competition around the state, Group 11 will almost certainly not go ahead should crowds in excess of 100 not be allowed to attend games.

It is believed Group 11 clubs agreed at recent meetings a crowd limit of 500 would be acceptable, but that remains well above the current guidelines.

"Like we've said, if there's no crowds there will be no play," Loxley said.

"It's got to be viable and we've said from the start we don't want to play and then debt to wreck one, some, or all clubs ahead of next year."

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The timeframe and guidelines have created conjecture in other competitions in the state, with Group 9 chairman Peter McDermott admitting after Friday he had no idea if play would go ahead this year.

"I thought that might have been enough to say this is all too hard," McDermott said of the three-stage plan.

"If we are looking at 100 on the third one, and then two or three weeks to improve that, you would be into the end of July by my calculations. Who knows? And that is the problem and the magical question I wish someone had the answers so we could know whether to go forward or if we don't."

It is believed clubs in the Illawarra competition have been told having players play for free this year is the only way to move forward while Newcastle Rugby League stated previously no grades will go ahead should crowd restrictions be put in place.

Loxley and Group 11 president Bob Walsh haven't put any measures in place here and the pair have been singing from the same hymn sheet, with crowds the key but all options on the table as they push to have some kind of product on the field this year.

The picture, while murky now, is expected to become clearer on June 1 when the NSWRL board, of which Walsh is a part of, meets.

The restart date - training from July 1 and play from July 18 - is subject to the relevant advice from government and health authorities at that time, the AIS framework and the approval of the NSWRL board after that meeting.

Regardless of what comes out of that meeting, Loxley wants players in his competition to know soon after what the year holds.

"Given training can start from July 1 and play from the 18^th I think we need a decision in mid-June," Loxley said.

"It's before they can start training but the players will want to know."

A number of club representatives went into last week's Group 11 in favour of not playing at all this year.

While everyone came out of the meeting on the same page and aiming to play some kind of competition this year, Loxley knows it will be very different to previous seasons.

"I can't see all four teams from all seven clubs playing. That's just me," he said.

"But it's out of our hands now. The NSWRL board will have a say, the premier will have a say, the PM will have a say and if the ducks land upright we'll have a competition.

"But it will be up to the clubs here to decide because they're the ones who are financially impacted."