Bathurst Panthers' Doug Hewitt and St Pat's mentor Zac Merritt each believe the proposed Western Conference two-tier premiership and championship can benefit the region, though the former has his doubts about the timeline.

The current proposal will see Group 10 and 11's top teams put into a premiership bracket and the lower ranked sides into a championship pool, with promotion and relegation possible between the tiers.

Hewitt believes having the competition put into place in 2022, after a year with no premier league football, is a daunting prospect for his club to deal with.

"I said it needed to take a couple of years to get up and going first but they've brought it in straight away. In my opinion I think they're going to struggle," he said.

"I don't mind it in the long term, once everyone's back again, but I've lost a lot of players this year that don't want to travel around in Group 10 again after the year off so I don't know how they're going to go fielding sides to travel out to Group 11 grounds as well."

Hewitt said financials will also come into question with the expanded travel for matches and the bigger time commitments.

"They're going to have to get some form of compensation or sponsorships into these clubs, because if people are committing more hours to the game then they're going to want more money," he said.

"That's what's costing clubs at the moment. After the year off with COVID a lot of clubs lost money from pubs that were shut down, which is the major form of sponsorship in country rugby league.

"I have to take my hat off to them because they're trying, and there's a problem that needs to be fixed. I just don't know if that's the right way to go about it, doing this straight away."

Merritt has thrown his support behind the shake up to the game, believing something had to be done to keep the game thriving in the region.

"I'm all about it. We'll be able to see styles of footy that we haven't seen before. I think it freshens everyone up because they're not playing the same teams week in and week out," he said.

"These changes are all about trying to grow the game. If a team is going well and they're able to go up and play for a chance to move into that top grade then why not let them?

"I know there's been different views on it but I'm all for change. They've been talking about change for years and years, probably since I started playing first grade and it's finally about to happen.

Merritt believes the chance to take on champions from other NSW regions will inspire the premiership-tier winning team to represent their area with pride.

"I'm around that idea as well. Teams turn up and really want to win when they're representing their own area," he said.

"If you win and get to represent your area then you're playing to see who's the best team in the bush. I think that promotes the game more, and if you win then you're potentially drawing more players to that area."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: