The Emus were without an under-18 team last year, but have lodged sides in all grades of Central Highlands Football League juniors.

Skipton president Andrew Bodman said the help of some youngsters from Redan had boosted the club's stocks.

A large number of players from the Ballarat Football Netball League have looked elsewhere for a game in 2020 given news that all grades of juniors had been abandoned in that competition. The CHFL announced on Wednesday night that it had reopened entries due to this reason. Team submissions were being taken up until 5pm on Friday.

"We've got 10 or a dozen of our own and then a group of a couple of ex-juniors that are able to come back to us and then the extended circle of friends - particularly a couple from Redan - have pumped our numbers up a bit," Bodman said.

"They're all desperately looking for somewhere to play and I'm sure other clubs are all fielding a lot of phone calls too."

Bodman said the bulk of the new signings had been via the COVID-19 permit, which means they will return to their original club at the conclusion of the 2020 season.

The Emus had initially said no to fielding any teams this year, but Bodman said that was very much a "qualified" decision and had quickly been changed. This led to the Emus being included in the junior fixtures that were released early this week.

"It's great that actually something could come of this season," he said.

"It's quite exciting. I know there's all sorts of restrictions on how it will be socially as a club, but to actually have potential of something (happening) is great.

"If circumstances change and the state government changes the rules, well so be it. But we are doing what we can to try give the boys a game of football and make something of interest for our own community."

Kiernan Molloy is coach of the Skipton under-18 team.

The Central Highlands Football League season is set to kick off on Saturday, July 11 with under-18s, under-15s and under-12s. Seniors and reserves competitions have been abandoned.

Following the closure of team entries on Friday, the league will work on an amended fixture for each division for release by Monday morning.