West Wyalong Knockout organiser Peter Williams is holding out hope his prestigious pre-season knockout will continue to be a success, despite clubs battling to fit the rich tournament in to their already packed trial schedules.
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A pre-season staple for a lot of Group 10, Group 11 and Group Nine clubs over the course of nearly 50 years, only eight nominations have been received for next month’s lucrative knockout.
It is in stark contrast to recent years, where all of the 16 places have been filled by late December or early January.
Williams is hoping to attract some more clubs for the event on February 22 and 23.
“It’s unfortunate that there is not as much (interest) as usual,” Williams said.
He believes Group Nine’s new pre-season nines tournament has had a big impact on nominations.
“(That’s) what has hurt us,” Williams said.
“Some of them have pulled out because of that. It’s really hindered us a bit.”
Group Nine clubs have gone in large numbers West Wyalong in recent years.
Six clubs have been nominated in the past two editions while there were seven in 2016 and eight in 2015.
Former winners Albury and Gundagai haven’t been for two years running, but both clubs cited the early date for the change.
At this stage Brothers, Southcity and Temora will represent Group Nine at West Wyalong.
Bathurst Panthers and Oberon represented Group 10 in last year’s tournament, while Forbes has also been a strong supporter of the knockout in recent years.
Oberon lost last year’s final to Shellharbour.
With $15,000 up for grabs there are still plenty of strong entries however Group 10 premiers Panthers are another club who won’t be back this year.
Panthers will play a competition game as the curtain-raiser to the NRL game between Penrith and Melbourne in March and captain-coach Doug Hewitt decided against adding another early fixture to their workload.
In another change the women’s league tag knockout won’t be played this year.
