VICTORIAN - based clubs face a chaotic preparation for the Cricket Albury-Wodonga season with training being ruled out for at least six weeks.
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Several clubs including Wodonga and Belvoir were set to start in the next fortnight before being shut down by government coronavirus restrictions.
The Eagles are already facing the prospect of a pre-season without coach David Farrell who lives in Albury.
District club Baranduda has been hard hit with about 20 per cent of its senior players based in NSW.
"The border has hurt us a lot," Baranduda secretary Andrew Hird said.
"We have players on both sides of the river, I would say 70 per cent live in Victoria.
"It's not ideal.
"It's going to be a funny old season if it gets going."
The season is scheduled to start on October 10 with Victorian and NSW teams set to play in bubbles early in the season to avoid cross-border restrictions.
Clubs were officially notified by CAW earlier this week that training had been ruled out until further notice.
"All we can do is follow the guidelines and hope things start to improve," Belvoir president Brad Freake said.
"We were getting close to training but there isn't much we can do about it.
"There are bigger things than CAW.
"If all goes to plan, at least we will get a month of preparation in.
"Hopefully the boys can get out and do a bit by themselves."
Belvoir has representative players Farrell and Zac Simmonds living in Albury with the pair uncertain of their immediate cricketing futures.
Wodonga president Brad Andrews said coach Tom Johnson had hoped to start training soon.
"We were about to get into it but that won't be happening," Andrews said.
"It's going to be interesting because the restrictions are changing all of the time.
"I'm really not sure what it means in regards to our players living in NSW and Victoria, that's something we will look into further."
Howlong is exploring its options as the only NSW-based district side in CAW.