The Central Highlands Football League has revealed plans for its brand new 2020 fixture should the competition get the green light to resume after the current May 31 postponement date.
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CHFL president Doug Hobson told The Courier that a best-case scenario would see play start on Saturday, June 13 and a revamped draw could entail 14 rounds followed by a cutthroat two-week finals series.
Hobson said the start date in the middle of June would allow clubs a couple of weeks to train and prepare for the year ahead and that the end of the season would likely be pushed later into September.
The shortened finals series would mean only the top four teams made the play-offs, he said.
"If that date (June 13) does not eventuate because of a non-ability to start, we have got other plans and are able to form a shorter season if and when we are allowed to start playing football and netball," Hobson said.
"For me this year it's not so much about who gets into the grand final and wins, but a win for me is being able to play football and netball."
Hobson said the original 17-round fixture planned for 2020 would be shelved and rolled out next year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen the local football and netball seasons pushed back to a later starting date. This was a directive from AFL Victoria which was made public early last week.
READ MORE: COVID-19 halts football and netball leagues
Central Highlands action had been scheduled to begin on April 18, as had the Ballarat competition.
The CHFL has seniors, reserves, under-18 and under-15 competitions as well as an under-12 semi-formal league. The Central Highlands Netball League, which runs alongside the CHFL, has three open age and three competitive junior divisions.
Hobson said junior interleague matches had been scrapped for 2020, but said there was still some hope the popular under-12 lightning premiership day could be slotted into the calendar.
On Wednesday, it was announced that the AFL Goldfields Regional Administration Centre, which the Central Highlands league was affiliated to, was closing its doors.