By Tallon Smith

The other day, Narrandera Lizards Coach Shaun Lyons gave me a very nice compliment. He said, “I really like that in your coverage you are always positive.”

Well Shaun, I’m about to let you down so to speak. 

I like to think I am a very positive and enthusiastic person when it comes to my bush footy coverage, and I always love to create hype and excitement around competitions rather than despair. But I can’t do that any more. 

But I have to report the facts.

In the most important game of the weekend in terms of the finals make-up, second-placed Griffith Black & Whites soundly beat West Wyalong 44-12 at EW Moore Oval in Griffith. The win keeps Black & Whites just one win behind Leeton heading into a massive showdown this coming weekend, again at home.

The results get really ugly from here.

Darlington Point-Coleambally thrashed an undermanned Yanco-Wamoon side 66-8 in an equally brutal display of the Roosters’ power and also the inequality in the competition. Things were even worse in Leeton, where the Greens absolutely demolished Hay in a 60-0 mercy rule shutout. Both games were called off 15 minutes early.

But by far and away the worst game of the weekend, was actually the closest, and on-field, the best game of the weekend. Yenda defeated a gallant Tullibigeal-Lakes United side 16-10 in a great game of football, with both sides desperate to avoid the wooden spoon.

So what was the problem with this game? They played 20 minute halves! 

Now this is not in any way a knock on the blokes playing for some of these battling clubs, nor their hard-working volunteers; in fact it is the opposite.

My question is how did the league get to this stage, where three sides are dominating the competition, while the other five struggle to even play a complete match?

I am a Group 20 junior, and have ties to multiple clubs in the competition. 

I care deeply about the competition, and truth be told, the reason I started this website was to promote the competition (and others like it), and crucially, to stop any potential merger with Group 9.

But the collapse of Group 20 is inevitable and fast-approaching if this current trajectory is maintained.

Even my junior club, the mighty Griffith Waratah Tigers, have no senior teams in 2023. If that wasn’t a wake up call, I don’t know what is.

I feel for the volunteers, players and fans of the league. But the only way forward is for everyone to get on the same page, and work together to save the competition.

This includes stopping the buying of players from other clubs for increased sums of money and purchasing entire teams to win premierships and reducing the ridiculous payments that will eventually send every club broke and kill the competition. People need to realise it is not about money. This is country football, not the NRL. I think that sentence is something that all leagues statewide, not just Group 20, could take a long hard look at.

There’s no point winning a league where you’re the only team left because everyone else has folded due to overspending and a focus on buying players rather than developing juniors.

At the end of the day, I love bush footy, that is obvious. Otherwise I wouldn’t travel over 1000km on my winter University break to create articles and social media content for no monetary return.

But even I can say wholeheartedly the game is on its deathbed in many areas of the state.

I just hope the people that matter notice this before it is too late.

Group 20 Weekend Results

Leeton 60 defeated Hay 0

Darlington Point-Coleambally 66 defeated Yanco-Wamoon 8

Griffith Black & Whites 44 defeated West Wyalong 12

Yenda 16 defeated Tullibigeal-Lake Cargelligo 10

Cover Photo: Outside Yanco Sportsground on Sunday afternoon, prior to the clash between Yanco-Wamoon and DPC.