Glen Innes Elks coach Sam Price admitted he isn't sure how the side will fare in this year's New England Rugby Union third grade competition but is excited to find out.
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The Elks will are set to start their 2019 campaign at home against Armidale Blues but who will line up for them is yet to be decided.
"It will be a bit of a headache, the first round being on the same weekend as the cricket grand final, a few of the boys are actually in that," Price said.
"I am unsure how many numbers we will have this weekend."
Price said despite the initial headache of choosing a round one side, there are plenty of people eager to suit up for the Elks this season.
He said they won't be heading into round one with a specific game plan, it will be more about blowing out the cobwebs.
"We haven't had a lot of opportunity to train set pieces, we haven't had a full team to training as of yet in terms of full forwards and full backs but we have had good numbers," Price said.
"We are just going to look to play to our game, control the ball in the forwards and we have a bit of speed out wide.
"Being the first game of the season I am unsure how it is going to go and how it is going to look, a few new faces this year.
"It will probably take us a couple of weeks to get settled and see how we are going to play.
"Last year we did well just controlling the ball, holding it and punching it up in the forwards and trying to suck some players in to give our backs some space."
Last season's focus for the Elks was to re-build the club and create an environment where all involved enjoyed every aspect of the sport.
This year they are hoping to continue where they left off and continue to build.
Price said they won't be focused on results, particularly in round one.
"We will take every game with a grain of salt this year really," he said.
"It will be hard this week just knowing that a couple of blokes are in the cricket grand final.
"It will just be an opportunity to have a hit out and the boys to have a run together.
"We are just in that rebuilding stage so we are more interested in keeping the players every year rather and building that club culture back up rather than going out and winning every game.
"I would love to win every game but making sure everyone is enjoying themselves and everyone is more important to us."
The game commences at 3pm on Saturday at the rugby park.