The competition has used a three-week, four-team, home-and-away semi-final system to decide the grand finalists the past five seasons after starting with the five-team format in 2014.

First place have played fourth and second have taken on third in two-leg semi-finals. The only advantage for the higher-placed side was hosting the deciding, second leg.

After 2014, clubs wanted the change to a four-team system to ensure all semi-finalists had the reward of hosting a play-off match.

However, clubs have voted to return to a four-week system involving five sides where the higher-ranked team host single clashes and the top three finishers earn two bites at the cherry.

The premiers will enjoy the first week off when second plays third in a qualifying final and fourth take on fifth in an elimination match.

The second week features major and minor semi-finals, the third week the preliminary final and the fourth the championship decider.

The system offers far greater rewards for higher-placed sides, and it returns as the league reduces to a 10-team competition with 18 rounds, rather than 11 with 22 rounds including byes, following the Jets Youth's move to the NPL NSW competition in Sydney.

Northern NSW Football operations manager Liam Bentley said "clubs were all in favour" of the finals change, which has also occurred in the second-division Northern League One.

"We don't want any dead rubbers, that's happened a few times over the years, and this gives rewards to the teams finishing higher and a break to the minor premiers," Bentley said.

He said the reduction in rounds in the NPL also allowed for an extra spare weekend in the draw for catch-up games. Two spare weekends were introduced in 2019 and Bentley believed the move was a success.

"Four weeks have come off the length of the season, so we used the extra time for the finals and an extra catch-up round as well," he said.

"Financially it's better for the clubs to have games on the weekend and it's easier on volunteers to have all the games at once, rather than split games over Tuesday and Wednesday nights. It's a resource drain on volunteers and you don't get the same rewards at the gate."

In 2020, spare weekends will again be over Easter (April 11-12) and early August. The extra spare weekend will be July 4-5.

The change to 10 teams and 18 rounds also allows the competition to start two weeks later, which should help alleviate problems with heat in the early weeks. The season will start on March 22.

Another change is the move of the Northern League One grand finals to the same weekend as the NPL deciders. The second-tier games will be held on Saturday, September 12, and the NPL's the following day. Venue are yet to be determined.

Bentley said the draft draw should be with clubs by the end of the week for feedback, before a release in December.