Group 10 clubs working towards fielding teams in four grades in a Western-wide competition in 2023

The Group 10 annual general meeting was held on Sunday morning in Bathurst, where all Group 10 clubs, except Blayney, nominated four grades for the 2023 season.

Group 10 president Linore Zamparini said all the clubs will do whatever they can to make sure they field four teams.

"Every club nominated, except for Blayney, to nominate four teams in 2023," he said.

"That would include playing four cross over games. It would be the same format we had this year for the Peter McDonald Premiership.

"All clubs are striving to commit themselves to those four teams, in that competition. That's the tact we're going with at the moment. All clubs are going all out to fulfil that."

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All Group 11 clubs had previously announced they wanted four grades in 2023 and went as far as threatening to ditch the western-wide concept if it wasn't approved.

All Group 10 clubs were in attendance on Sunday, that being Bathurst Panthers, St Pat's, Orange CYMS, Orange Hawks, Mudgee Dragons, Blayney Bears, Cowra Magpies and Lithgow Workies.

Zamparini said he's more than happy for a club to remain in a western-wide competition even if they can't field teams in all four grades.

Blayney only fielded a team in the Group 10 reserve grade competition last year while Mudgee didn't have the numbers to form a league tag side.

"We as a board are here to promote and foster rugby league. I can't see how you could do the club for being short on one team," he said.

"What about the three other teams? What do you do? Do you let them go?

"Our stance is that if a club can't field, let's say a league tag team or a reserve grade team, we're very happy to allow them to stay in the competition."

Zamparini said the Group 10 board will do whatever it can to help support its clubs, as it works towards a four-grade western-wide competition in 2023.

"At the moment, the clubs are going back and building their teams for next year," he said.

"They're not really going to know until January or February next year what kind of numbers they've got, but they're all pushing to have the four teams, at this stage.

"But even if they're down a team, we would never tell the club they can't compete."

Zamparini said the main reason some grades have shown apprehension in merging with Group 11 is with the travel involved.

"That's their hesitation and the biggest hesitation is reserve grade," he said.

"Reserve grade is reserve grade and we've even had trouble in them travelling from Lithgow to Cowra or Bathurst to Mudgee. Going those few extra kilometres does mean a lot.

"When the teams got into the competition this year, I think they released how little the travelling affected things.

"That might carry through to next year."

Zamparini is hopeful a draft draw for the Peter McDonald Premiership will be released by the end of November.

He said Group 10 has passed on the feedback it received from its clubs regarding last season's draw.

"Those minutes have been passed on NSWRL and Dave Skinner, to take into consideration those proposed changes," he said.

"Everyone is trying to work together to keep everyone as comfortable and as happy as they can."

Dates are yet to finalised for the Bathurst Panthers Knockout, while either Blayney or Cowra is expected to host a reserve grade knockout.

Zamparini admitted that there were challenges from the 2022 season and said there are likely to be more in 2023, but the board will do whatever it can to fix them.

"It was a work in progress, the team from last year and I believe that'll still be the case," he said.

"We couldn't get everything right the first time. But wherever we see major glitches, we'll fix them up.

"There'll be another board selected for Peter McDonald Premiership and that'll be made up of Group 10 and Group 11 committee moving forward."

The Group 10 board will feature Zamparini, Gary Goldsmith, Matt Lawson, Dennis Comerford, Wayne Boyd, Adam Hornby and Graeme Osborne, with positions yet to be finalised.

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