Group 4: Terry Psarakis steps down as Group 4 chairman

The long-time servant of Tamworth sport, who has sat on more committees during his decades-long sporting career than most, was elected during 2020 after COVID-19 had already forced a stop to that year's competition.

And as of Sunday's Group 4 AGM, after more than three seasons in the role, Psarakis confirmed that he has officially stepped down.

"I'm comfortable with my decision," he said.

"They're in good hands, it's a good committee ... I've got no mixed feelings whatsoever, I'm happy."

Psarakis knew for some time that 2023 would be his last year at the head of Group 4, having made his intent clear to the Leader upon receiving his OAM in June.

The Group 4 committee has not yet elected a new chairman, which Psarakis said was not unusual.

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"We had two members from Narrabri put their hands up [for positions on the committee], Mark Lyon and John Rumsby," he said.

"They've got to have a meeting now to choose the chairman. Sometimes it happens at the AGM, but because there's a few new fellas involved, they'll have a meeting fairly shortly and decide then."

Over the last three years, Group 4 has recovered from the financial instability incurred by the pandemic and begun once again to thrive.

When asked what achievements he was proudest of during his tenure, Psarakis said the first was getting Wests Entertainment Group back on board as a major sponsor.

"I was on the [Wests] board at the time when we cut sponsorship to rugby league and the Wests Lions [in 2016], because of issues that happened two years in a row in the grand final," he said.

"It was a very hard decision to make ... so to come back in 2019 or 2020, to get them back on was really great."

The second, and arguably biggest, highlight of Psarakis' stint was the 2020 WEG 9s.

The October competition was Group 4's solution to provide a footy fix in lieu of that year's cancelled competitions.

It featured four teams who selected their players on a draft system, which was played over four weeks.

"That went well," Psarakis said.

"We tried to mix it all up so players who normally played with certain others, did. Wests came back on board, we got four new sponsors, and it was a good start."

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