At the top of the list is the entry of a new team.
Rugby union club Alhambra-Union have opted to enter a team in the league and that brings with it some growing pains.
Their arrival lifts the competition from four teams to five. The down side of that expansion is there will be a bye each round. That is always awkward.
AU join the Kia Toa Tigers, South Pacific Raiders, Waitaki Warriors and Otago University in what is an abbreviated season.
The entire competition will be wrapped up in under a month and it had to pruned because of the other major change — the Otago Whalers have been promoted from the second-tier National Championship to the National Premiership.
The Whalers made it all the way to the final of the National Championship last season but were dispatched 48-10 by the Auckland Vulcans.
It appeared promotion would have to wait another year, but New Zealand Rugby League has opted to expand the premiership and the Whalers have accepted an invitation to compete in the top grade.
It is a big opportunity for Otago Rugby League to show what it is capable of. And to make the most of the opportunity, the club season has been trimmed to allow the Whalers adequate time to prepare.
The Whalers have a preseason game against Southland on August 26, so the club competition will wind up a week earlier.
It gets under way today with AU making their debut against the Warriors and Otago University will take on the Tigers. Both games are at The Oval.
The Raiders, who won the title with a monster 58-16 win against University last season, have a bye first up.
They open their campaign against the Warriors next weekend.
There are also two mid-week games to further compress the competition.
AU should be pretty competitive. Whalers prop Israel Otunuku was instrumental in getting the crew together which includes talent like Tonga Nau.
Former Otago rugby centre Aleki Morris has joined the Raiders and will link up with the likes of Tofatuimoana Solia, who was in rampaging form in the club final last season, and the mercurial Mackenzie Haugh is a starter again this season.
University is looking a little depleted and much of their play will centre around Troy Anstiss. Veteran prop Ricky Allan has moved to Australia and will be a big loss.
The Tigers will lean on the likes of prop Hagan Free to get some go-forward, while the Warriors also play in Aoraki competition later in the year and could be a sleeper this season.
Otago rugby league history buff Carey Clements said while it was the first time Alhambra-Union had entered a team in the Otago rugby league club competition, other rugby clubs had done the same in the past.
"Kaikorai played in the competition between 1924 and 1927 and again in 2010, while Harbour and Pirates have also had teams in the past," he wrote in an email to the Otago Daily Times.
