Parking blues hopefully not a sign of things to come: hot takes from Group Nine

The sparkling new fence has caused parking chaos in each of their home games with access to the ground now severely limited.

There were plenty of cars not so legally parked in the vicinity on Sunday and I'm sure the local residents nearby are just thrilled with how their usually quiet streets get transformed into makeshift carparks come game day.

Group Nine may need a couple of plan Bs with Albury now just one win behind Southcity.

The threat of a big hike in the council's insurance premium is the reason behind the fence with concerns raised over children in the car park.

Hopefully it's only a short term fix for the Thunder and a better solution can be found as while it was a perfect day to watch footy, there's little place to hide if the weather turns bad.

Hopefully it doesn't spread to other Group Nine venues, like Twickenham, Anzac Park or Harris Park, where people parking around the fence just adds to the atmosphere and comfort for spectators.

There was plenty of chat around Chase Bernard when his impending mid-season arrival was announced in February.

Unfortunately for the Diesels Ben Shea didn't return from France with him, but two games in Bernard certainly hasn't disappointed.

It's been a tough start to the season but his arrival could be the spark the Diesels to turn competitive first halves into full games.

Junee coach Daniel Foley has certainly been impressed.

He's a machine," Foley said.

"He definitely brings some energy in the middle and he's a very good ball runner with a nice offload and he brings a bit of a different dynamic to our team.

"He will be one to watch for the rest of the year."

As too have a number of opponents.

The NRLW is coming to town with Canberra hosting reigning premiers Newcastle at Equex Centre on Saturday.

The region has taken a big step in women's footy with the introduction of the nines this year however a 2pm Saturday kick-off right in the middle of the footy season doesn't feel like the right fit.

With the game only officially confirmed on June 12, that's less than three weeks ago, you can't expect draws to change so drastically.

As such there's two Group Nine games at the same time, not to mention the host of juniors in action at that time.

The region deserves to have top line talent visit and people certainly responded in the past with crowds flocking to Equex Centre for NRL games in the city, but you can't help it might be a much smaller reception this time around and affect similar ventures in the future.

I certainly hope I'm wrong.

And one a little further afar.

Jake Dooley wasted little time making an impact after his mid-season move back to Parkes from Kangaroos.

In his first game back for the Spacemen, just two days after being cleared, the former Roos fullback was sent off for his involvement in a fight.

He also received a one-game ban for his troubles.