New Zealand Rugby League southern zone general manager Steve Martin said four teams had indicated they were ready and willing to compete in the competition.
The teams are Otago University, Kia Toa, Harbour Seals and South Pacific Raiders.
There were seven teams involved in a short spring competition last year and Martin said he was happy with picking up four teams to start the winter competition.
The last full club league competition was played in Dunedin in 2007 and Martin started the spring competition last year to gauge interest.
The new winter competition, which would be played at the Oval, was the next step.
"Getting four teams is a good start and will make a competition well worthwhile. The teams that we have got are well organised and have the numbers to compete," Martin said.
"You've got to walk before you can run. We have deliberately kept it to teams which we know have the players to put teams on the park."
Martin said once two full rounds of games were played between the Dunedin teams, another round would be played with Southland club sides.
There were six club sides in Southland, and that competition had added two more teams in the past couple of years.
At the end of the club season an Otago team would be selected and it would play in a South Island-wide competition also involving Southland, West Coast, Tasman, Canterbury A and Canterbury under-20.
A South Island team would be selected to play in the top New Zealand-wide division and it was possible for Dunedin players to make this team. However, Martin conceded it would be likely to be dominated by Canterbury players.
Martin said a secondary schools competition would be introduced in the third term as many young people were keen to play the game. The third term was the logical time to play the competition and schools in Dunedin had given their support.
The club season would kick off with a nines tournament at the Oval on April 2 and the full competition would start on April 9.
Martin said all funding had been put in place for the competition.
