The top four sides from both the Group 10 and Group 11 pools at the end of the regular season will qualify for finals footy, regardless of where they finish in the overall ladder.

This means that, for example, a Group 10 team that finishes ninth overall, but are the fourth best Group 10 team at season's end will qualify for the finals ahead of a Group 11 team which finished eighth overall, but fifth best among Group 11 sides.

Tim Del Guzzo from NSW Rugby League confirmed the news on Tuesday, and said keeping traditional trophies alive played a part in the decision.

"We didn't want to do away with both of the groups altogether," he said.

"Maybe at some point it will merge altogether, but we wanted to give out that traditional silverware and keep the legacy of both competitions alive. There will be a premier in each group so we keep the traditional silverware and keep the traditions in both groups going."

At the conclusion of round nine, the four Group 10 teams that would qualify for the finals if the season ended were Mudgee (first), Orange CYMS (second), Bathurst Panthers (third) and Orange Hawks (fourth). In Group 11, the four sides would be Dubbo CYMS (first), Forbes Magpies (second), Parkes Spacemen (third) and Dubbo Macquarie (fourth). Coincidentally, these are also the top eight teams in the combined ladder.

Once the eight teams are locked in, the Group 10 team which finished top of their respective ladder (Mudgee currently), would host the side which finished second in Group 11 (Forbes currently). That reverse crossover would apply for the other 1 (Dubbo CYMS) v 2 (Orange CYMS) match, with the winners of each to go straight through to the semi-finals.

The 3 v 4 matchups would also be crossover games, with the higher seed to play host and the loser of the game to be eliminated.

As it currently stands, Panthers would be the team which would least benefit from this format as opposed to if it was a combined top eight. That is because in a combined format akin to the NRL, the Bathurst side would travel to take on Mudgee in a non-elimination game, instead of hosting Macquarie in a win-or-go-home clash. The team which would currently benefit the most would be Forbes, who despite sitting fifth overall, would not be at risk of elimination in the first game, because they finished second on the Group 11 ladder. From there, it would essentially be an NRL-style format, where the winners of the 3v4 matchups, take on the losers from the 1v2.

"The most obvious (other) format was the straight top eight, but wanting to keep the legacy of both groups was a big consideration," Del Guzzo added.

"Plus, it's the first year and we'll see how it goes. An overall top eight is something we can look at in the future, especially given the evenness of the competition, but we would like to lock in (the format chosen for 2022), we think it's a good idea.

"Obviously we're not going to say everything is set in stone, but we want to try and keep it if we can."

Then comes the big question; who gets grand final hosting rights?

As it stands, if both premiers from each Group made the decider, it would be the team who finished ahead in the overall ladder (Mudgee) that would host the match. But if Panthers (third in Group 10 and fourth overall), were to take on Forbes (second in Group 11 and fifth overall), it would be the Magpies to host the match as they finished higher in their group. This essentially places a larger emphasis on finishing higher in your group standings.

This structure would be the same for the under 18s competition, while league tag and reserve grade would stick to playing a traditional 1v2, 3v4 against their own groups, with the winners of Group 10 and Group 11 to then face off against each other.

Clubs are expected to be officially notified on Thursday.

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