Despite having 10 teams in the competition, Group 16 made the decision that 18 games is too much for semi-professional/amateur clubs.

"18 weeks would be very demanding on a club," Group 16 president Allan Wilton said. "The clubs voted for 14 games, and that was what best suited us for this year.

"We'll look at it again next year to see how the clubs handled the additional rounds, and then revisit the draw depending on how many teams we have in 2020."

The 10 clubs will be split into a 'North' and 'South' zone. Teams will play other teams in their zone twice, and teams from the other zone either once or twice.

The north zone includes Batemans Bay, Moruya, Narooma, Tathra, and Eden, while the south zone consists of Bega, Merimbula-Pambula, Bombala, Cooma, and Jindabyne.

"We made the draw like it is to minimise the amount of travel the clubs on the borders of our group have to face, particularly Jindabyne and Batemans Bay," Mr Wilton said. "Jumping from a seven-team competition to a 10-team competition places a fair bit of pressure on the teams, so we've gone with 14 weeks to make sure there are no unnecessary forfeits this year.

"We don't have the player numbers that some of the bigger groups in CRL have, so trying to avoid teams dropping off towards the end of the year was one of our major considerations."

The season will begin with a Saturday night blockbuster between Bombala and Cooma at Bombala on Saturday, April 6.

Round one will continue the next weekend with Batemans Bay v Tathra, Moruya v Narooma, Jindabyne v Merimbula-Pambula, and Eden v Bega.

The teams will then have a bye for the Easter weekend, before getting stuck into the main part of the schedule on the weekend of April 27 and 28.

There will be a bye for the Queen's Birthday weekend on June 8 and 9, and another bye on the weekend of July 20 and 21.

The finals series will start on August 10, with the grand final set to be played in September.

Round 1

Bombala v Cooma; Batemans Bay v Tathra; Moruya v Narooma; Jindabyne v Merimbula-Pambula; Eden v Bega.

Round 2

Eden v Narooma; Batemans Bay v Moruya; Bega v Cooma; Jindabyne v Bombala; Tathra v Merimbula-Pambula.

Round 3

Narooma v Batemans Bay; Tathra v Eden; Jindabyne v Cooma; Merimbula-Pambula v Bega; Bombala v Moruya.

Round 4

Moruya v Eden; Narooma v Tathra; Bombala v Bega; Cooma v Merimbula-Pambula; Batemans Bay v Jindabyne.

Round 5

Moruya v Tathra; Eden v Batemans Bay; Merimbula-Pambula v Bombala; Bega v Jindabyne; Cooma v Narooma.

Round 6

Merimbula-Pambula v Cooma; Jindabyne v Moruya; Tathra v Narooma; Bega v Eden; Batemans Bay v Bombala.

Round 7

Tathra v Batemans Bay; Narooma v Moruya; Bombala v Jindabyne; Bega v Merimbula-Pambula; Eden v Cooma.

Round 8

Merimbula-Pambula v Tathra; Eden v Moruya; Batemans Bay v Narooma; Bega v Bombala; Cooma v Jindabyne.

Round 9

Merimbula-Pambula v Moruya; Narooma v Jindabyne; Tathra v Bega; Bombala v Eden; Cooma v Batemans Bay.

Round 10

Batemans Bay v Merimbula-Pambula; Moruya v Bombala; Bega v Narooma; Jindabyne v Eden; Cooma v Tathra.

Round 11

Narooma v Cooma; Eden v Tathra; Moruya v Bega; Bombala v Merimbula-Pambula; Jindabyne v Batemans Bay.

Round 12

Merimbula-Pambula v Jindabyne; Tathra v Moruya; Narooma v Eden; Bega v Batemans Bay; Cooma v Bombala.

Round 13

Merimbula-Pambula v Narooma; Moruya v Cooma; Bombala v Tathra; Jindabyne v Bega; Batemans Bay v Eden.

Round 14

Eden v Merimbula-Pambula; Moruya v Batemans Bay; Narooma v Bombala; Cooma v Bega; Tathra v Jindabyne.