Speaking at the venue on Tuesday while in Launceston to confirm the details of the Northern competition, chief executive Damian Smith stressed its importance ahead of the season.

"As much as it's frustrating to all of our members here, myself and our board, that we haven't been able to redevelop and reinvest in this particular facility," he said.

"That's our number one priority - to fix this venue. Through athletics, we both use this facility which is great, so it's a multi-purpose venue which we are hoping that the government and the council and relevant stakeholders get behind us to reinvest in."

Admitting that the Northern region has had some issues in the past few years with low participation numbers, Smith hopes an upgraded facility will be able to boost interest in the sport, with an ideal scenario being the chance to host Tassie Tigers matches.

"We are very lucky to have the likes of Kurt Budgeon, who was in our Tigers squad [playing in the Greater Northern League] and that's the aspiration we have about the redevelopment, is to play our Hockey One games here because we need more Kurt Budgeons coming out of here.

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"This particular region of Tasmania has developed some fantastic athletes for us - Tim Deavin, an ex-Kookaburra player, who was a fantastic player for our country - and we want to see more of them come out of this region.

"There's guys putting their hands up in the competitions here and we want them to be able to follow that pathway to the highest level."

With draft rosters handed out to clubs and coaches late last week, a finalised fixture is nearing for the Greater Northern League roster, which will see clubs play each other once before a finals series to decide a premier.

Smith said that all options were covered, including the thought of mid-week games, in order to return to the sport, but unfortunately, Devonport's women's GNL side won't be taking part this season.

"We are still working through a few others that are under a bit of pressure.

"It wasn't unusual this year to have that issue arise, it's challenging and on the North-West Coast, given the issues they had up there with COVID, there's been greater apprehension as to how we return to our sport."

The Southern-based Premier League competition resumed last weekend with limited on-field changes to game style.

Off-field, the competition had to comply with strict regulations for spectator numbers, which were at times tested by the appearance of Australian captain and international games record-holder Eddie Ockenden, who made a rare appearance for home side North-West Graduates.

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