Contest eyes July return

THERE will be 14 weeks of rugby union action to look forward to in 2020 as the Townsville and District competition eyes a return to the field.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on Sunday that stage two of the state’s road map out of the pandemic would be moved up to begin on June 1, allowing for groups of 20 people to begin training for their imminent seasons.

But the TDRU are not rushing a comeback to the paddock – ultimately a statewide decision will be made by the Queensland Rugby Union.

Townsville director of rugby Terry Shiells said the target for a return to competition was July 12 with the senior grand finals taking place in the second week of October.

Juniors would finish just prior to the September school holidays.

Shiells said this design would mean one full round would be missed, but even in a typical season 14 rounds was often enough to get a gauge on who would feature come finals.

He put his coaching hat on and said, regardless of the game’s hiatus, rivals to his Teachers West side would have to work hard to make them relinquish their stranglehold of the competition.

“Fourteen games is plenty and it’s what we need to get out of this year is getting people out there playing sport,” Shiells said. “We talked about how important the finals are to play, so at the moment it’s important for the community to get back to playing.

“It’s nearly getting to the area where you’re getting used to not training, any longer and it’d be hard to go back.

“The draw will take a fair bit of readjustment, but our biggest focus is getting back to training.”

While the news of a return was welcomed, Shiells said the TDRU would meet this week to discuss how the season could go ahead within COVID-19 guidelines.

Many of the matches in a normal year are played out of Mike Carney Toyota Park, however the pandemic’s road map rules will not allow for more than 100 people in a venue even at stage three.

What this means for the more regional centres in the competition – such as Charters Towers and Burdekin, which often draws large crowds to watch the juniors and seniors – still needs to be determined. the

Among the decisions to clarify is how the clubs make the trip into Townsville for away games within the bus and public transport regulations.

But Shiells said they had options at their disposal.

“If it’s 100 people we’ll have space between games, if not we’ll have to play some games in other places.

“We’ve got facilities at the sports reserve, at Warrina Park, the Murray Complex, Ignatius Park and JCU – there’s plenty of opportunities.”