The Australian Fleece Competition might be on the other side of the country but for WA's Clinton Blight, the competition is one of the biggest events on his calendar.
Mr Blight - the stud principal of Seymour Park Poll Merinos, Narrogin - runs around 8500 sheep in a mixed farming operation.
He has been exhibiting fleece in the competition for the past several years and has entered nine fleeces this time around.
"It's a really good competition because you get a lot of measurements done and a lot of measurements that are relevant to industry," he said.
"There's a lot of processing testing done as well as people's subjective measurements as well.
"At a lot of your ag shows, you get a judge looking at the fleeces and it's their opinion, whereas this has got a lot of test results that make up a lot of points."
He praised the event for its charity donations, and said receiving detailed feedback on each fleece was another big positive of the competition.
"When we first started showing we had a fair bit of learning to do and making sure we selected the right fleeces and work towards a fleece that suits the points system and suits what they're doing there," he said.
Exhibiting against the best in the country was a huge motivator, he said, and the competition was the most important event for his fleeces.
"You've got to get them pretty well perfect to even place - let alone win - any of the major sections," he said.
"Winning the reserve fleece a couple of years ago and then the champion medium wool fleece in the last one - a bit of success definitely drives that keenness to keep it going.
"The competition has become basically my major wool showing event."
He had also planned to show sheep this year before new COVID-19 cases were announced.
He encouraged more woolgrowers to get involved in the competition.
"If you're really passionate about wool it's a good way to learn more," he said.