Melba could be back online in time for next year's junior rugby league season, while the ACT government's investigating a total of 13 dryland grounds that could return to use around the capital.

Campbell, Chifley, Evatt 1, Farrer, Kaleen 4, Lyons, Macgregor, Masson Street Throwing Field, Spence, Torrens, Waramanga and Weston are the other 12 fields under consideration after they were all shut down during the droughts in the mid-2000s.

The government is under pressure to find more space for sports as the city's population grows and individual codes clambour for access to existing venues. Some new fields are planned - in particular at Stromlo and Throsby.

But there's also 32 sportsgrounds out of use around Canberra, known as dryland ovals.

The Canberra Times visited every one to see

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