"We're number one, obviously."
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Mayor Mathew Dickerson may have said it with a laugh, but he's serious about Dubbo Regional Council's ability to host elite sporting events.
The spotlight is about to be on Dubbo again, with roughly 9000 junior touch footy players and their families converging on the city for the Junior State Cup Northern Conference carnival.
The three-day event is expected to generate more than $4 million for the local economy.
More than 200 teams will compete in more than 700 matches at the Lady Cutler ovals from Friday through to Sunday.
It was only less than two months ago the same fields were hosting Cricket NSW junior carnivals while next month the NSW Bowls State Championships will also be staged at Dubbo.
That two-week competition will create history as the state titles have never previously been played west of the Blue Mountains.
"Dubbo is certainly well regarded when you talk to people like (NSW Touch general manager) Dean Russell or when you talk to people from Cricket NSW, for example," Dickerson said.
"Dubbo is very good in terms of hosting these events. They know we've got the facilities, they know we've got the accessibility and that's one of the most important things, having so many grounds together.
"Dubbo certainly is well regarded and obviously I'm going to be biased and I would say we're number one."
![NSW Touch general manager and mayor Mathew Dickerson (centre) with State Cup sponsors and organisers and Dubbo junior players. Picture by Nick Guthrie NSW Touch general manager and mayor Mathew Dickerson (centre) with State Cup sponsors and organisers and Dubbo junior players. Picture by Nick Guthrie](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/dCXpDgwTEgA52iNCe5aWtJ/8c62fbe1-08a9-4939-a4ee-b11933e27545.jpg/r34_341_3592_2551_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Dubbo came to the State Cup's rescue last year after original host Port Macquarie was ruled out due to flooding.
The success of the event at Dubbo, combined with a strong proposal when hosting when to tender again, resulted in the carnival staying in the western area for the next three years.
The Northern Conference includes teams from the Western NSW, Sydney Metropolitan, Northern NSW, Central Coast, Mid North Coast and North Coast.
"We're in a competitive environment and we've got to make sure that we can compete against all areas across the state and I think we do very well for that," Dickerson added.
As he has said before, Dickerson rang the praises of junior events like the touch carnival and the impact it can have for the region and the local economy.
While Apex Oval has hosted major events like NRL matches in the past, the mayor reiterated his stance that junior carnivals can be far more valuable.
"An NRL game is one night and it's very expensive for us to get an event like that," he said.
"You have other sporting events, especially sporting events that go over multiple days, involving multiple competitors. Junior events are fantastic because junior events need parents to come along and often siblings come along.
"You get more people and then with something like the bowls (state championships), it will have a whole range of age groups and it's here for almost two weeks.
"Those type of events just keep rolling along, keep putting money into our economy and all of those events just keep Dubbo doing what it does so well in terms of driving that economy and then also opening up the entire region.
"When someone comes here to Dubbo for an event, they might discover some of the other areas that are around the region, so we play that role as the gateway to the west."
![Officials and junior players at the Lady Cutler ovals. Picture by Nick Guthrie Officials and junior players at the Lady Cutler ovals. Picture by Nick Guthrie](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/dCXpDgwTEgA52iNCe5aWtJ/f6596a8c-1c7a-4d69-952b-69e6215e27d7.jpg/r17_529_3652_2330_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Dubbo Touch Association was praised for its role in the event.
As well as contributing financially, association volunteers have also been doing their bit in setting up and getting the Lady Cutler complex to an elite level in terms of playing surface, facilities and purely how it looks for live-streamed matches.
NSW Touch's Russell also heaped praise on Dubbo for its ability to host the event and said the fields were looking "immaculate".
"I remember many of the comments last year while walking around and talking to various players and officials. They were blown away by the quality by the standard of what we had to offer here," Dickerson said.
The first matches of the carnival are at 8am on Friday.