Active COVID cases continue to grow in the western region and Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders said on Monday it would be "incredibly optimistc" to think the current lockdown would end next Sunday as originally announced.

With that in mind, Walsh confirmed the Group 11 board would be looking at a vast array of options at a meeting planned for next Sunday night.

The final round of the Group 11 season was scheduled to be played last Sunday but all play was abandoned and it's all but certain the same will be happening to the first week of finals matches scheduled for this coming weekend.

Walsh and the Group 11 board is currently looking at its options and have asked Dubbo Regional Council for the availability of grounds moving forward should they need to extend the entire season.

Changing the finals format - currently featuring the top five sides in each grade playing over four weeks - is another option which will be looked at should play be able to resume.

The sides which finished in the lower spots being excluded from finals is also likely to be discussed, but Walsh confirmed the entire board would decide any course of action.

"I think you'd be very optimistic to say we're going to get back into it in the format that we usually do," Walsh said.

"We would consider modifying it. You've got to consider all things but in the end, you've got to be guided by NSW Rugby League (NSWRL).

"As long as grounds are available anything is possible. But if the numbers keep going up and up, it's less positive."

It's not as simple as putting on matches as soon as any lockdown ends, either.

"You would need to give the teams at least two weeks of training," Walsh added.

"You couldn't expect them to have no training and then go straight into a semi-finals series."

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Walsh is also a NSWRL director and will attend a regular monthly meeting of the governing body on Wednesday morning.

Regional competitions aren't currently on the agenda for that meeting but, like most things in the current climate, that could change between now and then.

NSWRL had earlier announced on Monday its had been forced to completely abandon competitions in Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Illawarra, and Group 7 for the 2021 season.

The uncertainty around COVID-19 made it near impossible to push through and complete those league's respective seasons.

Factors considered included a lack of return to play guidelines, insufficient time to complete a worthwhile premiership and to not encroach on the summer sports.

"It has become increasingly clear that with rising infection rates there can be, understandably, no NSW government-sanctioned roadmap out of the lockdown for sport at the moment," NSWRL chief executive David Trodden said.

"It is equally clear that it will not be possible for this to happen insufficient time to complete our season.

The cancelled final round of Group 11 last weekend resulted in Dubbo CYMS finishing top of the ladder in three of the four grades.

CYMS, Wellington, Macquarie, Nyngan, and Parkes were the top five sides bound for finals in first grade.

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