Kurri Kurri president Daryl Chapman said the club simply didn't have the players to challenge in the top tier of Newcastle Rugby League's amateur competitions for 2020.
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One week out from kick off, the Bulldogs have dropped back to tier two of the men's open grade with Chapman saying Jordy Mitchell and Zeb Dunstan were the only regular members of last year's main squad left for the rescheduled season.
Chapman said Bulldogs captain-coach Mitch Cullen will still oversee proceedings at Kurri Sportsground but wasn't expected to play regular minutes.
"We lost a couple of first graders and a couple of younger under 19s weren't too eager about playing in the top tier," Chapman said.
"We went through the list and we just weren't going to be competitive."
Newcastle RL, who cancelled their main premiership last month because of the coronavirus crisis, released an updated draw on Saturday for the now six-team competition.
This weekend's opening round still has Cessnock hosting Maitland and Lakes at home to Wests but Souths, who had the bye, now meet Central at St John Oval.
Kurri's move follows on from fellow club Macquarie, who chose not to field any senior men's sides for 2020.
Wests, Souths, Central, Lakes, Cessnock and Maitland all have two each.
Meanwhile, 2019 Rebels representative player of the year Alex Langbridge has been named Maitland's captain for their NSW Rugby League President's Cup campaign.
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