Football community urged to 'be in it together' as season restart options are weighed up

This Sunday's scheduled final round has now been cancelled after the statewide lockdown was extended until 12.01am next Saturday.

AFL NSW-ACT's community football and competition manager - Southern NSW, Tom Walker, said no decisions have yet been made going forward, but they will be determined over the next few days.

The Goannas will now finish second and take on third-placed Wagga Tigers in a qualifying final - should circumstances allow the five-team finals system to be retained - with Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong finishing on top.

Coolamon and Collingullie-Glenfield Park are fourth and fifth respectively, with the cancellation of the last round denying Turvey Park a chance to make finals.

Rowe said his side would be prepared to play at short notice next weekend if required and said everything possible needed to be explored to retain the top five format, but everyone also needed to be ready to make concessions for the greater good.

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"There's going to be plenty of opinions and most of them are going to be fairly valid. There's not many things off the table I don't think," he said.

"As far as we're concerned we want to get back into it as soon as we possibly can, and something that resembles something as close as possible to a normal finals series.

"We're absolutely ready to go if called upon, if that's next weekend our team will absolutely be ready to go. We're of the understanding we won't have our Canberra guys, but footy is the most important thing and the fact footy is played is more important than anyone's backyard.

"We'd love it to be a top five with no shortcuts, but we understand there's no guarantees on anything at the moment. Over the next fortnight we'd like to see the best case scenario still be planned for, and only shortening finals series and reducing finals teams when we absolutely have to.

"We're genuinely not interested in our own backyard, we just want games to be played. Every footballer and netballer has put in so much work, we just want to play as soon as we can.

"We have to have that can do attitude and be in it together. If we get too caught up in our own backyards and we're not willing to make concessions, it will only end poorly.

"AFL Riverina has shown the last couple of years a fierce desire to play football and netball where possible. We've appreciated that as a club and we'll support most ideas even if it doesn't suit us best."

The Riverina and Farrer League finals series may now be held concurrently, which opens up the possibility of their respective grand finals being played on the same weekend.

Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong president Jason Hamblin suggested putting the league on hiatus to remove any guesswork could be considered, which would also allow players time to train and prepare.

"That was my thoughts, that's duty of care for your players. If it (lockdown) gets lifted next week, we would have no intentions of wanting to roll up next weekend," he said.

"Even though now we don't have to, I don't think it's fair on any other team to do it either.

"It's not just a matter of flicking a switch and going straight into training, there's still logistics to get it right.

"We've still got time on our hands, in a sense that we can play into the first or second week of October no dramas at all."

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