On Sunday, Central North voted convincingly in favour of an integrated competition for a two-year trial period from 2018.

Moree Bulls president, and Central North zone executive committee member, Paul King was at Sunday’s meeting and was one of 24 who voted in favour of the merger.

King said the biggest driver for the Moree Club is giving their players more games, particularly second grade.

“We’re in favour of the merger after looking at the detail and competition structures,” he said.

“For Moree, what we’re looking for is more continuity of games – other clubs haven’t got the players to provide second grade sides.”

The proposal is yet to get the green light, with New England set to vote on Tuesday evening. Based on talk on the grapevine, King believes it’s fairly likely New England will end up with the two-thirds majority vote needed for it to go ahead.

Should the integrated competition get the go-ahead, zones will need to decide on the competition structure, with two preferred options currently on the table.

The first is a conference system which would see the 14 teams split into two conferences of seven, where each of the seven would play each other twice and then play teams from the other conference one. That would then come down to a six-team final series.

The second option is for each team to play once, followed by a rivalry round at the end, with a six or eight team final series.

At this stage King said the Moree club prefers the two conference structure.

“It guarantees footy for our players and takes out some teams that maybe can’t or are struggling to field a reserve grade,” he said.

“It’s all about providing footy for these players.

“We had 74 registered senior players this year. We’ve got to give them a game to keep them interested.

“That was the biggest driver for us.”

King said he hopes the two conference structure might also give teams more home games.

In the last few years as part of the two-tier system, King said Moree has only had six or seven home games compared to eight or nine in the home and away competition.

“We’re hoping to get a few more home games than we have in the last couple of years,” he said.

“It’s a real struggle for clubs; [when you don’t have home games] it puts financial pressure on them.

“If the competition is set up properly it should get rid of those problems.

“The conference structure means more home games and more football.

“It’s about keeping the guys interested and on the paddock and keeping rugby alive.

“It’ll also add a new dimension playing teams we’ve never played before.”

Should New England vote yes, the integrated competition will be trialled for 2018 and 2019, with reviews each year.

Moree Bulls also held their annual general meeting recently, with King re-elected president.

He’ll be supported by Scott Antees as vice president, Nicole Youngberry as secretary and Adam O’Neill will replace outgoing treasurer Fraser Brown.