The premiership was stalled in round 10 when snow and ice forced the closure of Oberon Sportsground and, after a rule change at the 2016 annual general meeting, the Group 10 board decided to postpone the remaining three games as well, despite those grounds in Mudgee, Bathurst and Orange still being accessible. 

With long distance trips on the card thanks to Oberon hosting Cowra and Mudgee welcoming Blayney – four clubs Zampairni says “couldn’t be further apart” - mid-week replays couldn’t be orchestrated and Group 10’s board met late last week to determine an outcome for what is now a cancelled round of fixtures.

Points between all the playing clubs, in all grades, have been split while Orange CYMS, a club scheduled a round 10 bye, didn’t receive any points.

But given round 10 is the start of the second round of fixtures, no sides will receive any points for byes for the rest of 2018.

“We tried our best to work it out so no one was disadvantaged,” Zamparini said.

“Everyone had different ideas but in the end it was the best for everyone to go the way we have, and I think the clubs have seen that too.”

Zamparini said the group wouldn’t back down from its stance and said if more poor weather affects the footy again in 2018, the board would look at bringing the competition to a stand still.

“We’ll look at each scenario and judge it on its merits,” he said.

“We did a pretty extensive ring around on the morning it snowed and we didn’t think it was safe enough for everyone to be travelling or playing.”

Group 10 will likely implement a catch-up round in its 2019 draw, a measure adopted in the past but overlooked in 2018.