The Otago Riot will play this year after all.
It will play in a tournament with Canterbury and Wellington in Christchurch on Sunday, with the host putting its national trophy on the line.
The weekend-long national championships, usually held in December, have been dropped in favour of a national premiership, which will feature four teams made up of drafted players from across the country.
Otago was also scheduled to host Canterbury last month in its only game of the year, but the match was cancelled because the visitors had players unavailable.
However, a three-team tournament has been revived and will kick off at Northwood Park at 10am on Sunday.
The Riot will be without injured captain Logan Toomer, but New Zealand representatives Dan Benny and George Read will make the trip.
It is also hoped key player Ben Miller, who starred for the Otago sevens team at the Southern region qualifying tournament in Timaru at the weekend, will be available.
Canterbury and Wellington will play in the first match, and Otago will play Canterbury and Wellington at 11am and noon respectively.
The round-robin games will be played over 20min halves, while the final will be played over four 20min quarters.
While the top two teams will contest the final, the remaining team will play the Canterbury Barbarians in the Plate final.
Otago AFL president Michael Bruhn said he did not know what to expect from Wellington, but was expecting Canterbury to provide a formidable challenge.
