CSU and Orange Emus may come from the opposite end of the Central West Rugby Union power spectrum but the battling Bathurst club has found a major ally after being handed what seems a tough draw for this year’s premiership.

The students, along with Emus and Parkes, have been forced to play an extra match after the draw was released this week, and CSU in particular are ill-equipped to handle any bigger playing workload than absolutely necessary.

With eight clubs given two byes – as well as the two general byes – it would seem like an automatic choice to ensure that the students, who have to cope with university holidays robbing them of players each season, had the maximum possible weeks off.

Emus first grade assistant coach Andrew Logan slammed the draw on Wednesday afternoon, labelling it “farcical”, and issued the CWRU board a vehement ‘please explain’ in the process.

CWRU released the much-anticipated draw on Tuesday afternoon following months of proposals and feedback relating to the competition, and Logan didn’t hold back regarding the fixtures list, or CWRU’s process developing it.

In an attempt to compensate the three clubs, their respective worst results from rounds one to 11 will be dismissed, leaving each team with 17 official results prior to the semi-finals.

“It think the whole thing is a comedy, it’s not a level playing field. I’m calling upon the board to give the competition’s stakeholders some transparency, and explain how they possibly came up with [the draw],” Logan fired.

“If they were to trot that kind of draw out in any semi-professional or professional competition, like Super Rugby or the Shute Shield, they’d get laughed at.

“I don’t see why our competition should be exempt from that, it’s ridiculous. After the special meeting held about three months ago, where Emus, (Bathurst) Bulldogs and Orange City opposed a lot of what [CWRU] were proposing, there was no consultation with clubs, they’ve just published it with no explanation.

“It’s disgraceful ... it’s not just about Emus, it’s about Parkes and CSU as well, I don’t understand how three clubs can possibly be given such a raw deal.”

On top of having to play one more game than the other clubs, Logan is filthy that the Emus, Parkes and the students also have, by far, the toughest runs into the semi-finals respectively.

“You look at it, Emus, CSU and Parkes play nine, eight and 10 games consecutively leading into finals, so on top of getting one less break than the rest of the clubs and playing an extra game, we’ve been given that hideous sequence of games before the finals,” Logan said.

“Winning this competition, and doing well, in as much about injury management as it is anything else. I mean, we’ll deal it, we have to.

“On top of all that, with the worst result not counting, what’s to stop teams throwing games?

“Obviously, Emus would never even consider doing it and no doubt no other clubs would either, but the fact is it opens up the possibility of teams throwing certain games, or colluding as well.

“(Even the possibility) of that directly attacks the integrity of the competition, and the sport.”