Western Premier League officially confirmed to return in 2020

Clubs and associations met in early February and were given until February 13 to finalise their commitment to play in the revived competition this season.

It's been confirmed the nine clubs that were in attendance at that meeting earlier this month would make up the competition.

Those nine teams include local team Panorama and Bathurst District Football men's premier league champions Lithgow Workmen's Club, as well as Barnstoneworth (from Orange), Orange Waratahs, Dubbo Bulls, South Dubbo Wanderers, Macquarie United (from Dubbo), Orana Spurs (from Dubbo) and the newly formed Parkes Cobras.

Western NSW Football manager Andrew Fearnley said the revived competition will help boost the level of football across the region.

"The response has been positive from the clubs, associations and the media for something different in terms of rivalry and competition," he said.

"To have teams from Bathurst, Dubbo, Parkes playing each other is healthy for our sport and creates good interest for those clubs that can participate."

Work is currently underway to construct a season draw, which will see each team playing every team once home and away.

That means the competition will last for 18 rounds and each team will play 16 games, having two byes throughout the season.

A top six play-off series has also been locked in, but whether that will follow the current A-League system - which is a straight knockout - or an older A-League system - which gave the top two teams a second chance remains - remains undecided.

"We're still looking at different top six models, but the current A-League one is a potential one," Fearnley said.

"There'll be a debate around the second chance for the top two and other formats out there, which there are a couple.

"It's definitely a top six but we just haven't sorted out how finals will work yet."

Clubs are keen on games to be played on Saturday, but that may change depending on ground and referee availability.

"A majority of clubs want to play Saturday, but it'll really be a matter of accommodating with available grounds and making sure we have referees availability to cover games," Fearnley said.

"However, there is a distinct preference for clubs to play as many games on Saturday as possible.

"We'll try to accommodate that as much as possible."

Fearnley said the competition will start on the first weekend of April, the weekend before Easter.

The Western NSW Football Challenge Cup will act as the perfect pre-season tournament for all WPL clubs and provide all teams, players and fans the first real chance to see how their rivals are stacking up before the start of the 2020 season.

The cup will be held a week before the WPL kicks-off on March 28-29, which is expected to attract all WPL clubs, with any other first grade teams across the region free to enter.

While it's still early days, the WPL will be hoping to expand beyond 2020, hoping to introduce a women's competition.

"Moving forward, we'd ideally like to have a women's competition of some variety," Fearnley said.

"But I think small steps is better than biting off more than anyone can chew to start with.

"We'll certainly see how 2020 goes and see what works and what needs to change going forward but there's certainly intent to have a women's competition alongside the men's in the future."

A committee for the WPL will be formed in the coming weeks.

Bathurst side Abercrombie had previously shown interest in participating in revived WPL, but did not enter a team by the cut-off.

The previous iteration of the competition fell apart at the end of 2012 when Westside Panthers, Barnstoneworth and Dubbo Bulls all pulled out in quick succession, leaving just three teams in the competition.

Dubbo Bulls were the last champions, after two goals from Nelson Flick and another from Scott Fox was enough to defeat Orange Waratahs 3-1 in the 2012 decider.