In a draft fixture seen by The Courier, the annual bye round has been shifted from its regular date to the first week of mid-year school holidays, with no football and netball to be played on Saturday, July 1.

This means there will be action on the Queen’s birthday weekend – usually a competition-wide bye in the Central Highlands league – with games scheduled for round nine on Saturday, June 10. The Queen’s birthday public holiday is booked for Monday, June 12.

CHFL administrator Diane Ryan said it was felt in discussions during the 2016 season that the bye could be better positioned.

“It’s just to avoid too many byes early on and give the grounds and players a rest when it’s the wetter and colder part of the season,” Ryan said.

As it stands, there will be breaks in the 2017 season between rounds two and three because of Easter and also rounds five and six due to the statewide country championships. A bye for the Queen’s birthday would have meant another break between rounds eight and nine, but this has been shifted to between rounds 11 and 12.

Ryan said the league will not be altering its fixture to offer a bye when Ballarat hosts its first AFL game for premiership points – between the Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide – on Saturday, August 19. This is the opening round of the Central Highlands football and netball finals series.

Springbank and Buninyong are set to kick-off the new season with a rematch of this year’s grand final.

The Tigers made it back-to-back senior premierships when they defeated the Bombers by 29 points in last month’s decider.

Springbank and Buninyong headline the opening round of the year, which is penciled in for Saturday, April 1.

Learmonth v Ballan, Bungaree v Dunnstown, Hepburn v Waubra, Newlyn v Daylesford, Smythesdale v Beaufort, Carngham-Linton v Rokewood-Corindhap, Clunes v Skipton and Gordon v Creswick are the other round one games in the draft fixture, which is set to be ratified on November 30.