Dubbo Roos coach Beau Robinson says his club has been putting plenty of thought into their return to the field.
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The season is still some time away, but the Roos are headed out of isolation and back onto the paddock for their first real training sessions since the lockdown was imposed.
Like with other clubs, Robinson is certain that the difficult proposal of training without contact or a lot of the usual training drills or numbers won't be a barrier.
"The restrictions have got to be compliant with them so that's just how it is and what gets us back," Robinson said.
"We're excited about what we can do as opposed to worrying about what we can't do."
While the Roos proper pre-season was cut short, the club's been doing their best to manage fitness and enthusiasm levels while in lockdown and are hoping to build on their early success as they prepare to move forward into the unknown.
"It's just about pre-season, everything we did there is still to be built on," Robinson said.
"Usually, that's how we go about it and this won't be that much different."
"So long as we focus on replicating and building on what we did in the pre-season; stay focused on fitness, core skills, knowledge and all that stuff, we should be good."
Even though the club will be meeting in reduced numbers, with training groups still limited at 10 heads a group, Robinson is glad to have the camaraderie and team building opportunities opening back up.
"Everyone's excited to be back and meeting with each other, of course, I think people everywhere are feeling that way," Robinson said.
"It's been taxing on everyone mentally, some have struggled more than others, especially those that have been at home, but it's a problem with the general population more so than any one rugby club."
Adjusting to the limited numbers will be tricky, but Robinson thinks the group has adopted a good approach and is confident the rules will be comfortably complied with.
"The key is in the planning for this one, we're all over that, we've had good meetings with the coaches and the leaders, we're looking to have a fair bit of clarity for what that will look like and make sure we're complying with everything the council and government asks of us," Robinson said.
While there's still a lot of uncertainty over what exact form the season will take, the clarity at the moment has provided the Roos with a strong sense of enthusiasm.
"Going through that uncertainty over whether or not we'll have a season, even if people have dropped off, they'll be keen to get involved and get up to date," Robinson said.
"I don't think what's happening with the season impacts anyone more than anyone else, it is what it is, everyone'll get over it and move on, it's not going to disadvantage any one club more so than anyone else."
At the end of the day, Robinson and the Roos goal remains the same; reach the finals.
"Definitely, nothing's changed in terms of that, definitely not, we're still focused on the finals."
