HENWOOD Park stalwart Ryan McKenzie believes Wagga clubs would have no issues moving games to out-of-town venues should ground availability become an issue in an extended season.
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Football Wagga has circulated a survey to clubs to gauge their opinion on several issues as they look to start the season in July, should the coronavirus crisis ease in time.
The survey requests feedback on a preferred season structure, whether finals should be played, the possibility of midweek games, what should happen with registrations and whether Wagga clubs would play games in other towns should the cricket season affect ground availability.
Football Wagga has asked Wagga Cricket about sharing the fields they both use at Wagga's Rawlings Park.
Should an agreement not be reached, Wagga teams could play some late season games in other towns who don't share their fields with summer sports.
Lights will soon be up and running on three more grounds at Rawlings Park, which opens the door for midweek games to be played.
"If we can get on board with the other clubs in different areas like Cootamundra or Griffith who could house some of the Wagga teams, I don't believe travel will be an issue," McKenzie said.
"We're looking to get as much out of the season as possible, and if the costs do remain the same we want to get as much bang for our buck as possible."
Some participants have raised the prospect of playing a home and away schedule without finals, but McKenzie believes most players would prefer to play finals.
"We still want to try and have some type of finals series, time permitting," McKenzie said.
"There's a bit of a consensus from some players I've spoken to that we're really keen to at least play each team once.
"There's no chance of the bias there would be if you can only get through say 80 per cent of games, and you have an easier run than others."
McKenzie added insurance and registration fees may have to be negotiated for a reduced season and said midweek games could be accommodated if they were played between Wagga teams in place of a training session.
Hanwood coach Anthony Agresta said the Griffith club, who have exclusive access to their main field, wouldn't have any issue preparing their facilities for Wagga teams.
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"I don't think it would be a problem. You want to help out in any way we can and if we can get other teams on the field we'd make that happen," Agresta said.
Agresta is as keen as anyone for soccer to return, but concedes there's plenty of hurdles to overcome.
"You've still got to tread very carefully and while we'd all love for football to kick off again, there's still that underlying factor that we have to be careful going forward," he said.
"You look at the NRL trying to get going and they're having enough trouble as it is, and they have full time professional doctors and medical staff.
"For an amateur club it's a big thing and whether you still have the same amount of volunteers to keep going, that's going to be one of the biggest issues going forward.
"From a players' point of view it's nice to get out and play, but a lot of it is for the social aspect. (For instance) if there's still going to be all that protocol, we probably won't be able to get on a bus and travel together.
"It makes you think if it's just going to be a shortened season is it really worth it?