Group 4 chairman Ray McCoy has labelled the restructure a stunning success, saying that realistically “you couldn’t have asked for more”.
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He said the main goal of the restructure was to strengthen the top grade and that had been achieved.
He did, however, acknowledge that the drastic move had not been perfect but that administrators would work to address shortcomings before the start of next season – chiefly “doing everything we possibly can” to ensure a club has all its teams playing on the same day at the same venue.
With two rounds left before the finals, McCoy said Group 4 now had a first-grade competition that offered a deeper level of intrigue and not the previous lopsided table.
He said: “At the end of the day the restructure was to get the quality players from second division back up into first division and grow the competition so that people were going to games and not knowing who was going to be the winner before the game commenced.”
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In first grade, four points separate first from third place (Kootingal-Moonbi and Gunnedah) and 12 points separate first from fifth (Narrabri) while one point separates fourth-placed Werris Creek and Narrabri.
“It’s very healthy, as far as that is concerned,” McCoy said, referring to the battle for the top-five spots.
Sixth-placed Dungowan have won three games this year, going close to victory in two more, and are four points behind the Blues.
Last-placed Boggabri are winless but their for-and-against percentage is minus 257. The for-and-against percentage for the bottom three sides last season – Collegian, South West and Wee Waa – ranged from minus 496 to minus 570 after the same number of rounds.
North Tamworth captain-coach Scott Blanch – speaking after North Tamworth’s win over the Magpies at Werris Creek last Saturday – bemoaned the club being fragmented that day.
“For our club today it’s probably not ideal,” he had said. “We’ve got four teams playing at three different venues, which is hard for our volunteers and our club, altogether. It probably stretches us and hurts us a little there.”
But Blanch said that “while there’s a few improvements that can be made for next year” to Group 4, the first-grade comp was “really good”.
Other negatives include Bendemeer’s early exit from first grade and the recent folding of Gunnedah and Narrabri’s reserve-grade sides.
