The Vikings, who have been operating since 1957, had to forfeit a game earlier this season because of a lack of numbers.

The club is also for the first time only fielding a first grade side in the IDRU competition much to the annoyance of coach Andrew Barrett.

"it is extremely disappointing. It has never been this bad. The most number of players we've had this season is 20, which really isn't enough for one team for the whole season," he said.

"Because other clubs have two teams, we are running out against 23 players every week."

Read more: De La Salle confident of downing 'big scalp' Collegians

Barrett added there were also other teams in the competition struggling with lack of players week in week out.

'Player numbers are significantly down across the board. Some clubs are suffering more than others, we would be one of those," he said.

"Two years of COVID and a lack of junior players coming through has probably been the cause for us to only be able to field one team this year and obviously forfeit one game already.

"As I said, this has been extremely disappointing for all involved."

Barrett urged the IRDU to intervene and come up with a plan to address the worrying issue of lack of players coming through the ranks.

"Unfortunately we need a long term strategic plan from the IDRU because it is not just one club, it is all clubs, and realistically this problem is not going to be solved overnight, it needs to be a three to five to 10-year plan and it needs to be a coordinated effort across all clubs, not just one or two," he said.

"The integrity of the competition needs to be protected and as such a coordinated competition-wide approach is required to come up with suitable solutions."

Barrett said the issue hadn't been helped by the record amount of player transfers between clubs.

"More than I've seen in recent years clubs are just taking players from other clubs, as opposed to recruiting from outside the area or from juniors," he said.

"This s not a dig at any one club, that is just the reality of the situation that the player pool is getting smaller and smaller, and you either recruit from other clubs or you don't recruit at all at the moment because the player pool is not getting any bigger."

Read more: Alex Volkanovski to test Holloway's 'legendary' chin early and often

Barrett said realistically his Vikings team only had eight genuine first graders, with the rest of the squad second grade players at best.

This, as a result hampered the club's ability to always play for a win.

"Look we are competitive but for us really it is all about survival at the moment, not winning," Barrett said.

"I've got a responsibility to look after my players. I can't expect them to play well against genuine first grade outfits week in week out. We haven't got enough players, let alone first-grade quality players to do anything else but participate. That's a real shame, but it is what it is.

"Hopefully we can rectify this problem sooner rather than later."

Barring any washouts, there will be five Illawarra Rugby matches on Saturday with University to host Campbelltown, Tech Waratahs to play Shamrocks at Saunders Oval, Bowral is at home to Kiama, Vikings will host Avondale and Shoalhaven will play Camden.

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Illawarra Mercury website.

Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.