WHILE Group 10 clubs are eager to see a July 18 kick-off for their season 2020 competition, Bathurst Panthers captain-coach Doug Hewitt hopes that a proper preparation is considered as well.
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Following on from New South Wales Rugby League revealing their July target to commence competitions, Group 10 has proposed a draw of one full round of games for season 2020.
It would mean clubs play each other once before a regular five-team finals series is conducted beginning September 5.
Group 10's proposal, which will be discussed with clubs on Monday night, also includes a pre-season training period of just over two weeks. It would commence July 1.
Ideally Hewitt, who's Panthers are aiming for a third consecutive Group 10 premier league title, would like more time to train before starting the season proper.
"Footy is pretty big around here but you've got your family to think about and work to think about, so if you go in underdone and get a silly injury and sit on the sideline for a couple of weeks - that's not what you want," Hewitt said.
"When it [coronavirus pandemic] happened I said we'd at least need four weeks to get everyone back together and that was aiming at the comp starting in May. Now we're looking at another month off before we can get back to training.
"You'd think they'd give us at least three weeks to train - hopefully anyway. It's not just that ball work thing, it's that little bit of fitness.
If you go in underdone and get a silly injury and sit on the sideline for a couple of weeks - that's not what you want
- Doug Hewitt
"You put yourself in silly positions if you're underdone, buggered out on the field and you've got a big bloke running at you."
However, while the proposed pre-season period is shorter that Hewitt would like, both he and his players are keen to start their 2020 bid.
The delayed kick off due to the coronavirus has not impacted their desire, Hewitt saying Panthers will 'bust' themselves to extend their successful run.
"I think the more time we have to train the better, but then we sort of want to play as soon as possible too. If that means we can't train quite as long but get to play earlier, I'd say the boys would be more than keen for that," he admitted.
"To have hope we might be playing again is good, I'm pretty pumped."
Before rugby league was suspended in response to the virus, Hewitt was happy with how Panthers' pre-season had unfolded.
While they were eliminated in the opening round of the annual knockout his club hosts, more importantly the fitness levels of his squad was good.
He is disappointed to not have been able to build on that, but feels his Panthers will still have a good base from which to work if given the green light to resume training in July.
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"We got a fair bit done it our pre-season actually, we ripped in and it's probably the fittest we've looked for a while, so what happened was a bit devastating," he said.
"But I don't think we'll have too many problems getting back to where we were.
"We have that good senior group, the Seager boys, Jack Siejka, Starlo [Josh Starling] and Jez Gordon, them boys know how to handle themselves and will be ready straight up for the challenge.
"The way all the boys are a lot of them do their own stuff, they do their own running and stuff like that whether footy is on or off, so I'm pretty lucky like that."
