Central Victorian football and netball leagues have been cleared to return to action this weekend.
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The state government announced on Monday that regional Victoria would be released from the COVID-19 lockdown three days early, paving the way for clubs to return to training from Tuesday and for games to resume this weekend.
Under the state government guidelines, only the minimum number of participants (players, coaches, referees, officials, and carers or parents) needed to train or compete are permitted to attend, subject to a density quotient of 1 person per 4 sqm.
Spectators are not permitted (excludes people necessary for events such as teachers, instructors, trainers, coaches, umpires, carers, parents and guardians).
The Bendigo Football Netball League board and Heathcote District Football Netball League board were scheduled to meet on Monday night to plan the remainder of their home and away seasons.
The Loddon Valley Football Netball League board will also meet this week, but league executive officer Laura Naughton confirmed competition would resume this weekend with the final round of the home and away season.
"At this stage we'll continue as planned with round 18 this weekend and then straight into the finals,'' Naughton said.
After missing out on a third-straight round of matches at the weekend, the BFNL fixture has three rounds remaining before the finals are scheduled to begin.
With Gisborne and Kyneton, in particular, having a high number of Melbourne-based players, the BFNL will also keep a close eye on what restrictions, if any, are maintained in the metropolitan area.
"It's fair to say this announcement was a bit unexpected, so we need a bit more time to work out what that means for this weekend,'' BFNL manager Cameron Tomlins said.
"I don't think anyone was expecting that announcement, so we'll have a discussion and go from there.
"There is an added curve ball around the availability of Melbourne-based players, officials and volunteers. It's a difficult one.
"On the flipside we know the majority of our players, officials and volunteers are based regionally as well. There's a lot of moving pieces on this one."
HDFNL boss Peter Cole said he expected the league would stick to its original plan, which would see round 16 abandoned and round 17 played this weekend.
"We'll have a talk to the clubs about it, but I would think we'll play the last two rounds of the home and away season over the next two weeks and then go into the finals,'' Cole said.
"To be honest, it's been a bit of a shock. Hopefully, this opens the door for us to maybe have some sort of decent crowd for the finals series."
The HDFNL will play all four weeks of its finals series at Huntly.
BFNL, HDFNL and LVFNL games for this Saturday should the competitions resume with an unchanged fixture:
BFNL - Maryborough v Gisborne, Kangaroo Flat v South Bendigo, Golden Square v Castlemaine, Sandhurst v Kyneton, Strathfieldsaye v Eaglehawk.
HDFNL - Leitchville-Gunbower v White Hills, Colbinabbin v Elmore, LBU v Heathcote, Huntly v North Bendigo.
LVFNL - Inglewood v MGYCW, Mitiamo v Bridgewater, Bears Lagoon-Serpentine v Pyramid Hill, Newbridge v Marong.
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