Blayney Bears president Adam Lowe says Woodbridge Cup 'an option' but preference is with Group 10

With Group 10's annual general meeting to be held on November 6, one of the big talking points will be whether league tag and reserve grade merge with Group 11 for a fully united four-grade competition.

Last season, Blayney only fielded a reserve grade side with some of their league tag players pulling on an Orange CYMS jersey.

Ideally for Lowe, the club will put forward teams in 18s, league tag and reserve grade, but it'll simply come down to numbers as its rebuild continues.

"We're hoping to (have a league tag side), we're in discussions with a few different people about league tag, ideally we'll chase up for an 18s side but again it's a numbers game," he said.

"If we can recruit well enough in the off season, there is the potential we'll be able to go in with three grades.

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"That's always our aim to have as many people playing as possible."

Overall, the discussion of a four-grade merger is one Lowe understands but his preference remains with Group 10.

"On our side of things, we wouldn't mind having another dig in Group 10 just so we can keep going with that rebuild process," he said.

"In the future it's going to be a thing and it'll happen eventually and probably be a good concept but for us personally right now it's not the ideal time for it to happen because we're trying to rebuild.

"We'll go on a bit further with it at the Group 10 meeting and see what the general consensus is."

Lowe added it'll be important to base the club's decision around what his players want.

"There's the process of deciding what happens and then going to our players and getting their side of things," he said.

"We haven't caught up with them too much at this stage but from the blokes I have talked to there's definitely interest to stay in Group 10."

If the Group's were to merge, there'd be chance Blayney have to complete a close to eight-hour round trip to Nyngan. Lowe agreed travel would be one tough component relating to a new format along with the structure they may have to work around if they can't form four grades.

"That (travel) would be one of the factors, the four grades would be our biggest thing - we'd probably be looking at having to relocate to Woodbridge, which is also an option," he said.

"It's not the end of the world if we go out there, there's always discussion around that change to the second division.

"People are on the rope a bit and don't know which way to go with it, we've had chats with a few people and we're still fairly committed to Group 10 if we can make it possible."

With Blayney finishing third in this season's reserve grade competition, the rebuilding campaign has been somewhat of a success after dropping out of the top grade in 2021.

Lowe said a focus on local players is building a solid foundation.

"Hopefully if we can stick to that for a while, we can get more local people coming back, that's our main goal, get the locals back and fill holes when we need to," he said.

"There's definitely people around but work and family commitments have a big impact on it."

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