This year fans will see even more rugby league, as the addition of the Tathra Sea Eagles, Eden Tigers, and Snowy River Bears takes Group 16 up to a 10-team competition.

This would potentially mean an 18-game season, which is great for fans, but not so good for the players.

The most obvious downside for players is the extra stress on the body that comes with an extra six games, but the total travel times will also greatly increase.

Now, the 18-game schedule has by no means been locked in, and there are some whispers going around that the season may end up being closer to 14 games.

Having said that, I decided to take a look at the total travel each team will face in a hypothetical 18-game season. All the below figures are taken from google maps, and are measured from home ground to home ground.

Also, I realise these numbers won’t be accurate, because not every player is traveling from the same place, but for the sake of the article, let’s imagine every team gets on a coach together at their club’s home ground and takes the journey together.

Longest Road Trip: 288 kilometres to Jindabyne.

Shortest Road Trip: 28.7 kilometres to Moruya.

Total Road Trip: 1532.7 kilometres.

Let’s start in the north with the Batemans Bay Tigers. Batemans Bay are in a tough location where they’d have a number of kilometres under their belt no matter which competition they played in. I’d take a guess that the figure of 1532 wouldn’t be much different if they played in Group 7.

Batemans Bay has only two road trips of less than 100 kilometres, and three of more than 200 kilometres.

Longest Road Trip: 260 kilometres to Jindabyne.

Shortest Road Trip: 28.7 kilometres to Batemans Bay.

Total Road Trip: 1312.7 kilometres.

Moruya is in a similar boat to Batemans Bay, but those extra 30 kilometres help with the southern road trips. 

Moruya has two road trips of less than 100 kilometres (both less than 50), and three of more than 200 kilometres.

Longest Road Trip: 221 kilometres to Jindabyne.

Shortest Road Trip: 41 kilometres to Moruya.

Total Road Trip: 1075.2 kilometres.

Narooma is technically still in the Eurobodalla Shire, but being the halfway point between Batemans Bay and Bega helps keep their total road trip down.

Narooma has four road trips of less than 100 kilometres, and only one of more than 200 kilometres.

Longest Road Trip: 156 kilometres to Jindabyne.

Shortest Road Trip: 19.6 kilometres to Tathra.

Total Road Trip: 831.4 kilometres.

The first team with less than 1000 total kilometres, Bega benefits from being the geographical centre of Group 16. They’re also the only team whose longest road trip is less than 160 kilometres.

Bega has four road trips of less than 100 kilometres, and none of more than 200 kilometres.

Longest Road Trip: 176 kilometres to Jindabyne.

Shortest Road Trip: 19.6 kilometres to Bega.

Total Road Trip: 875.6 kilometres.

Tathra are almost in the same boat as Bega, with the only difference being the extra 20 kilometres each of the western teams will have to travel. Outside of those three, Tathra’s averages between the other clubs are generally a little less than Bega’s.

Tathra has four road trips of less than 100 kilometres, and none of more than 200 kilometres.

Longest Road Trip: 181 kilometres to Batemans Bay.

Shortest Road Trip: 19.4 kilometres to Eden.

Total Road Trip: 924.9 kilometres.

The last of the three teams to have less than 1000 kilometres of total travel, Merimbula Pambula benefits from having a more direct route out to Bombala and Cooma.

Merimbula-Pambula has four road trips of less than 100 kilometres, and none of more than 200 kilometres.

Longest Road Trip: 196 kilometres to Batemans Bay.

Shortest Road Trip: 19.4 kilometres to Pambula.

Total Road Trip: 1035.7 kilometres.

Eden are the unlucky bunch on the Sapphire Coast, as they’re far enough south to have annoyingly long road trips out west. This makes Eden the only Sapphire Coast squad to travel more than 1000 kilometres.

Eden has four road trips of less than 100 kilometres, and none of more than 200 kilometres.

Longest Road Trip: 241 kilometres to Batemans Bay.

Shortest Road Trip: 62 kilometres to Jindabyne.

Total Road Trip: 1311.6 kilometres.

The first of the three western teams, Cooma’s total road trip was a lot shorter than I expected. Somewhat surprisingly, the Stallions only face three road trips of more than 150 kilometres. 

Cooma has two road trips of less than 100 kilometres, and two road trips of more than 200 kilometres.

Longest Road Trip: 239 kilometres to Batemans Bay.

Shortest Road Trip: 80.8 kilometres to Pambula.

Total Road Trip: 1225.8 kilometres.

Bombala is technically the most remote club in Group 16, as 80.8 kilometres is the longest ‘shortest road trip’ by almost 20 kilometres. Having said that, they’re relative closeness to the coast keeps their total road trip down.

Bombala has three road trips of less than 100 kilometres, and two of more than 200 kilometres.

Longest Road Trip: 288 kilometres to Batemans Bay.

Shortest Road Trip: 62.0 kilometres to Cooma.

Total Road Trip: 1625 kilometres.

You have to feel for the boys from Jindabyne. If it wasn’t for Cooma and Bombala, they wouldn’t have a single road trip of less than 150 kilometres. Their total road trip is almost 100 kilometres longer than the next club.

Snowy River has one road trip of less than 100 kilometres, and three of more than 200 kilometres.