It has been a long pre-season for the Glen Innes Elks but now they are ready to get their season into gear.
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A new allegiance was formed with the Tenterfield Bumblebees before three trials were played and now the season is upon us.
They will take the field at Tenterfield's Federation Park against the Barbarians in third grade, women's and second grade to begin their season.
The Elks had slightly more numbers than one team and the Bees didn't have enough so the clubs combined for the New England Rugby Union season.
"We averaged throughout the trial games about 21 players so really without Tenterfield there was just no chance of fielding two teams," Elks president Tom Benton said.
"But still it is 21 fairly good players, we should be fairly competitive I think.
"The joining with Tenterfield is working out, I think it will go pretty well."
Benton said it will be good to just get back on the park officially with so many events in the lead up to the season.
"That is exactly right, everyone just wants to play a bit of a footy," he said.
"A lot goes into the preparation of the season so it will be good to put all the preparation behind you and do the thing that we are actually doing it all for."
The trials included the Tenterfield charity day, the Armidale Blues knockout tournament as well as a full game against the Blues.
Benton said that was beneficial, particularly the most recent game where they faced first graders which is a common occurrence in the competition where they only play two grades.
"The last one against the Blues was really good, just an actual game of footy, not a tournament day or anything like that," he said.
"And it is getting close to game time so there was a little bit of structure about the actual game."
The pre-season has also helped the Elks women. Most of the side is new to the game but have been building.
"They have been playing pretty well, it will be their first full game for a lot of the girls," Benton said.
"But they have been shaping up from zero experience to getting a bit under the belt.
"And the Baa Baas, I think they have a pretty good girls team so it might be a good test to measure themselves."