ONE team is gone after more than a decade, another returns after a two-year absence and the July 18 season openers feature a grand final rematch - that is how the 2020 women's Premier League Hockey competition shapes up.
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With Wednesday's announcement from NSW Sports Minster Geoff Lee that senior community sport can return from July 1, Hockey NSW in turn advised its members that those still wishing to hold competitions could go ahead.
It was the approval that Premier League Hockey secretary Michelle Stevenson was waiting to hear.
While the men's competition was abandoned in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it meant the 11-week season planned for the women was green lighted for a July 18 start.
"It is good news, yes. We are moving forward and hopefully we will all be training soon now we are working on our [return to play] plans," Stevenson said.
"We are looking at one full round and then a full finals series - semi-finals, finals, grand final. We'll just be doing whoever wins the major semi-final and is first into the grand final gets to host the grand final.
"We start on the 18th and we finish on the 19th of September, no-one wants to go into the summer sport season."
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This year's women's competition features eight teams as it did in 2019, but there has been a change.
Lithgow Zig Zag was forced to fold due to a lack of numbers, though a number of those who wore the black, white and blue have moved to other clubs.
It looked as if that would mean a bye would need to be included in the draw for one side each week, but the void was filled by Parkes.
Parkes last contested the women's Premier League Hockey competition in 2017. That season the side only won one of its 13 games, but five of those defeats were by a one-goal margin.
The year prior to that Parkes had reached the minor semi-final final, finishing in fifth spot. They were a side notoriously hard to beat on home turf and this season they will get four-round games there.
Balancing the home and away matches was one of the challenges Stevenson faced when doing the draw. But the balance she struck was one all clubs - Bathurst City, Souths, St Pat's, Orange CYMS, Ex-Services, Confederates, Parkes and defending premiers Lithgow Panthers - signed off on.
"Parkes basically took Lithgow Zig Zag's spot, so it worked out fine. Draw-wise we pretty much just had to change names," Stevenson said.
"Two Orange teams [CYMS and Ex-Services] have got five games at home and everyone else has four games at home. So basically Lithgow and Parkes have four home games, so half the games they'll have at home and half the games they'll travel."
The opening round will feature a grand final rematch between Panthers and CYMS and a Bathurst derby as City and Souths square off. Parkes will travel to Orange to face Confederates while Ex-Services host St Pat's.
