The Western Premier League will make its long-awaited return next month after the NSW Government announced senior sport could commence from July 1.
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The competition has been on hiatus for the past eight years but serious work was put in the off-season to revive the Central West's major football tournament.
However, the coronavirus pandemic had other ideas and the potential restart of the competition was put into doubt when all grassroot sport was cancelled in March.
But following the NSW Government's announcement, the tournament can finally get underway, with the weekend of July 11-12 in line to be the first round of the 2020 season.
After so many setbacks, there is no surprise Panorama president Beau Yates is finally keen to see the competition kick-off.
"There was group training on Wednesday night and the boys were very pumped to be back into it," he said.
"There's a great vibe down there and the boys are looking very keen and ready to rock and roll in three weeks' time.
"It's only a short preparation, so we've got to do all we can to get fit and ready for round one.
"We've lost a couple of players unfortunately but hopefully we can pick up a couple more and be ready to go."
Yates said it was great to hear the news come through on Wednesday morning that senior sport could return from July 1.
"We've been waiting since the announcement on the juniors last week for that news," he said.
"It's great. It's all kicking-off in July. We're excited and we're ready to go.
Football NSW regional development manager Andrew Fearnley told Australian Community Media on Wednesday that plans were always in place for a July 1 resumption date and he could now put that plan into action should clubs agree.
He said the season would aim to be 10 rounds, with two weeks of finals.
"The intent now is to have trial games on July 5 and then the first games on July 11 and 12," Fearnley said.
"Clubs are back training with restrictions, and the contact obviously doesn't begin until July 1 so that's why we want to get those trial games.
"It's what we planned for and it's worked out well."
Clubs are already back training with restrictions but Fearnley said the trial games are needed because contact training cannot start until July 1.
This year's competition is set to feature nine teams: Panorama, Barnstoneworth United and Waratahs from Orange, Lithgow Workmen's FC, Macquarie United, Orana Spurs and Bulls from Dubbo and the Parkes Cobras.
South Dubbo Wanderers had originally nominated for the competition at the start of the year but opted to withdraw during coronavirus lockdown in early April.
Technically speaking, Dubbo Bulls enter the season as three-time defending champions, having won the last three grand finals from 2010-2012.
The last grand final saw Bulls defeat hosts Waratahs 3-1 in the decider at Orange's Jack Brabham Park, with a double from Nelson Flick and another by Scott Fox securing the result for the Dubbo side.
