A strong pre-season from the Phantoms has been put on hold with the SIRU season not able to start until the beginning of June.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Rugby Australia's decision to extend their ban all rugby activity until June 1 has thrown another curveball to the competition, which was supposed to start last weekend.
Club president, John Hill, was positive about the way the club was heading before all activities had to be suspended in March.
"We were looking pretty good," Hill said.
"We had nominated a first and a third grade team this year, and that was to allow our juniors who are coming up from under 16s last year to enter senior rugby and do that with a bit of guidance from some of the older guys at the club who were looking to come back and be apart of the club again.
"As far as first grade goes the numbers were looking pretty good, and I think the Diannas were looking at about 20-odd who were coming to training on a regular basis, so it was looking pretty good."
The Phantoms president said the players were doing their own personal training to ensure they are able to keep some level of fitness if the season were to get underway.
As for how the season could be structured, Southern Inland clubs have been provided with three different scenarios on how the season may progress.
With Hay coming into the first and women's draws this seasons 18 games are required for a full draw.
President Warwick Grant said it remains an option on the table for clubs.
"If we got to start in June we could fit in two (full) rounds by taking out byes, if it is July we were looking at having one round and after it's about whether we can get in any football at all," Grant said.
"If we get down to the end, we were looking at playing a knockout competition just so people could get a bit of footy, but it is all up to when we can get back on the field."
The clubs were all connected in a video chat, and Grant was pleased with their response to the current climate.
"The clubs want to get back on the field as soon as possible, but they are realistic," Grant said. "They realise we have to get over the pandemic before we can get to anything like that."
Hill was also happy with the numbers at the junior level after only a couple of training runs.
"The ones who are really keen and are missing out are the juniors," he said.
"There has been a lot of interest around the juniors and trying to get some gala days up and running but at this stage that has all been put on hold.
"It was only early days. Most of the juniors don't kick off until Term two, but initial numbers that we had were looking very good."
RELATED