The decision by North Coast Football and Football Mid North Coast to call full-time on the Coastal Premier League has been met with a varying degree of responses from clubs.
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Seven clubs in total - six from FMNC and only one from NCF - nominated to form the 10-team competition in 2023, which was three short of the numbers required for it to continue.
It left competition administrators with no alternative but to end the competition after three years.
Macleay Valley Rangers coach Jason Coleman believes the decision is "absolutely ridiculous", while Port United assistant coach Tony Raymond says there are pros and cons when it comes to the demise of the CPL.
Forster-based club Southern United have already expressed an interest in nominating to join a Newcastle competition.
Coleman said the decision to cancel the competition is not the right move for the area as it will not grow the code at a time when football should benefit from Australia's FIFA World Cup success.
"We just got the bloody thing (CPL) going and I just think it's rubbish to cancel it," he said.
"They (North Coast Football) wanted [the competition] reduced to 10 teams and they got it and now they pull the pin.
"How can anyone justify going back to [a competition] where teams beat others 10-0? No-one's going to get anything out of that. It's just garbage."
Coffs Coast Tigers were the only club from the North Coast Football area who had nominated to keep the Coastal Premier League going in 2023.
"I think they were probably going to get sick of playing the same teams over and over," Coleman said.
"Some of the other clubs live in a little world of their own up there."
Raymond said United were looking forward to having "another go" at the CPL, but they did have concerns about the long-term viability of the region's top-flight football tournament.
"If players aren't committed to doing the travel, we would have had to seek other arrangements [as a club]," he said.
"The players will be relieved that they now know what's going on and not waiting until next year, so it could see more players come back because they don't have to travel to Coffs Harbour."
With a portion of players falling in the 30-year-old and over age bracket, spending time with family became a main factor around all clubs where players were away for most of their weekends.
"A lot are 30-year-old's with families so it may work in clubs' favour where strong players might come back and the competition on the Mid North Coast can be a strong competition again," Raymond said.
United had mixed emotions surrounding the demise of the CPL.
"From a logistics side of things we're not disappointed, but from a football quality it is a bit disappointing," he said.
"We would still be good enough to play against those stronger Coffs Harbour teams and show them we can be competitive against them, but we're not going to have that opportunity anymore."
Southern United's bid to join Newcastle is under consideration as their players wish to challenge themselves against high-quality opponents.
President John Mansour told the Great Lakes Advocate the Ospreys would be competitive in a Newcastle division.
"We might be playing in an entry-level tier, like a zone Newcastle Premier League, which is a promotion and relegation competition," he said.
"That's maybe where we'll start, but there is another division that we're looking at. We're not done yet."
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