Tamworth lockdown extension: what local sport codes are doing now

The announcement was a bitter blow with the news earlier in the week that the government was considering an LGA-by-LGA approach offering some hope.

But now the already slim possibility of completing their seasons is looking more impossible given they at best won't be able to resume competition until the weekend of September 18 and 19.

Here's how the situation stands at the moment.

The extension of the lockdown leaves Group 4 with two options due to a number of factors.

Chairman Terry Psarakis said the group didn't want to play into October while clubs would also need two weeks of training prior to recommencing the competition.

"If lockdown was closed on the day they say [September 10], the only available weekend would be last weekend in September," he said.

"We basically have two options. Cancel the season or have the grand final on the weekend of the 25th and 26th of September."

Psarakis said an email was sent out to the committee as soon as the news of the lockdown extension broke. He is now awaiting feedback from the board before a decision is made.

President Paul King said the executive will meet on Thursday night to "discuss the developments".

The zone had revised it's original procedure following last week's extension to this Saturday (August 28) by scrapping the final two rounds and proceeding with a two-week finals series.

The plan included a deadline of no later than September 18 for the first week of the finals and September 25 for the grand final.

King expects Thursday's announcement "will change things".

"We've had some guidance on return to play protocols (they received those on Thursday morning)," he said

"We need to address how those will impact."

The AFL North West competition management committee are set to meet on Wednesday next week.

The committee will discuss the finish to the season but competition manager Josh McKenzie said things weren't looking good.

"Considering we will be coming off at least five weeks with no training and will be running short on weekends, I think it is becoming more and more unlikely that we will be able to facilitate a finals series," he said.

Northern NSW Football Northern Inland Regional coordinator Toby McVey will have a zoom hook-up with NNSWF and the other six zone general managers on Friday morning to discuss what the lockdown extension means and the plan moving forward.

"It is likely that our regular season will be declared finished and we will aim to return to finish the finals series," he said.

He add that they are "still waiting for advice from the NSW government regarding community sport and if we will be allowed to return before our grand final deadlines".

The New England Rugby Union executive was scheduled to meet with club and referee representatives on Monday night after deferring a decision on the fate of the season until after Thursday's announcement.

But in wake of the extension and the likely ramifications of that, the discussions have been fast-tracked.

President David Clifton said on Thursday afternoon he had "circulated something" to the executive and was waiting for them to respond.

He expected to have a decision by tomorrow.