An opportunity to grow.
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That's what the Western Premier League (WPL) competition aims to do for the Lithgow Workmans Football Club, according to manager and Lithgow District Football Association (LDFA) president Jeff Kemp.
The WPL will see eight teams field from the Central West including four from Dubbo, one from Lithgow, Parkes, Bathurst and Orange.
According to competition regulations, only two teams per association are allowed, but due to a lack of numbers, an exception was made for Dubbo.
"Being the WPL a lot of travel is involved and because Dubbo nominated four teams it just means four trips there.
"Then again Dubbo will have to come here as well, so the best way to look at it is that people will come to our town and they've got the numbers, without Dubbo we'd have no competition," Kemp said.
"By travelling to each of the locations it'll help boost the economy especially in recent times of drought and bushfires," Kemp said.
With the WPL and the Bathurst District Football (BDF) competition set to commence in April just two weeks before Easter, the Lithgow Workmans side are already hard into preseason training
"We've started preseason quite early, we've got a lot of new faces and I think that comes off the bat of our grand final win last season," Kemp said.
The early training is providing club coach Jock Hunter a chance to see what players he has to field three teams - a first, second and third grade side into the BDF, and a talented first grade team solely for the WPL.
According to Kemp, players would be nominated for a certain grade and if they were too strong, they would be regraded.
"It'll be a skill level process plus travel might be a deciding factor for a few players.
"There might be players that don't want to do a lot of travelling and would rather just travel as far as Bathurst," he said.
"But this is what preseason is for, to see who we've got and how they go."
We're hopeful and excited about this new chapter, it's the only way to grow.
- LDFA president, Jeff Kemp.
With no dual-registration allowed, players won't be able to play down or full-time in both competitions however second and third grade BDF players can have a run in the WPL.
"We'll pick our 14 players for the WPL and then we can have as many play up that we want but they can only play up five times each.
"The sixth time they have to be registered with the WPL so that means they will drop out of the Bathurst competition and go into the Western Premier League," Kemp said.
Kemp said the ultimate goal for the club was to grow and make the finals in both competitions.
"We're hopeful and excited about this new chapter, it's the only way to grow," he said.
He said to have growth in football, is to play other associations.
"You can be as strong as you are in Bathurst but then you can't go any further, whereas if you start playing other associations that's where you're going to grow," he said.
Kemp said being in a small town with only 50 players in the club it was all about opening opportunities.
"There has been talk of scouts going around but this competition will definitely see doors open for our players," he said.
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