North Tamworth Bears will be ready to go if the July 25/26 restart date for Group 4 is a goer.
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That's the message from both club president Jody Cooper and first grade coach Brad McManus. However they are both realistic as to what the coronavirus can throw up.
They will only play if health authorities and the NSWRL deem it safe to do so.
And it will only be with crowds, Cooper added.
"If we can't have crowds then there's not much point in playing," Cooper said.
"All the clubs derive a lot of their income from gates and it does cost around $700 a game for the refs as well. We'd be better off giving this year a miss and working on next year."
He said the club has talked to all its players and they are all training individually but the club is also concerned for the safety of its players.
"It's all right for the NRL to be considering a return because they do have all the safety aspects, they have doctors and medical staff available to ensure their safety," he said.
"We don't have that out here. I'm a bit like Dooga (Gunnedah club president David McCann) if it can't be done properly then we shouldn't it at all."
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The Bears are different to most Group 4 clubs in that they own their own ground (Jack Woolaston Oval). While they derive great income from that ground through the annual Country Music Festival campers they also have to outlay large amounts to make the ground playable.
"We had to pay around $20,000 this year just for the upkeep of the ground as well as the rates and electricity doesn't stop," Cooper added.
First grade coach Brad McManus, who returns for another stint after acting as Scott Blanch's assistant the last couple of seasons said his players "are ready to go".
"When they put an exact date we'll hit the ground running," the Clayton Cup winning coach said.
"The boys have been training individually and keeping pretty fit. We will be right to go whenever."
McManus has lost premiership winning stars Shane Wadwell and Kieran Fisher and notes they will be big losses however Blanch returns in a playing capacity and it will be around the outstanding five-eighth that McManus will build a new look side.
That will include "four or five Fijians" who have moved to Tamworth to work in the local abattoir.
"They look pretty handy too," McManus said.
