BFNL, HDFNL, LVFNL clubs to meet with commission to discuss future

THE future structure of football in the region will be discussed on Sunday when the AFL Central Victoria commission meets with three of its leagues.

The AFLCV commission has invited representatives from each of the 28 clubs in the Bendigo, Heathcote District and Loddon Valley football netball leagues to look at the way forward in the region.

Sunday's meeting comes at a time when three clubs - Marong, Maiden Gully YCW and Cohuna Kangas - are looking to switch leagues and join Heathcote District, while the Loddon Valley league is this year being run without an under-18 competition.

"What we've asked for from each club is for a couple of members of their executive to come along on Sunday," AFLCV regional manager Craig Armstead said on Friday.

"The commission is hosting Sunday and is interested in hearing from the clubs about the future of senior and third tier football in the Greater Bendigo area and what does it look like over the next three to five years.

"The commission is keen to hear from the clubs on how they are all travelling and potential structures of leagues moving forward.

"Those three leagues all have seniors, reserves and under-18s... is that right or wrong, how many clubs should we have in our leagues, the geographics of our leagues and so forth.

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"It will be the commission putting questions to our clubs and looking to get feedback on how they think our leagues should look moving forward."

Three years ago AFLCV had mooted a competition structure review involving the Bendigo, Heathcote District, Loddon Valley and North Central leagues.

That was during 2020 when the leagues were presented with a proposed Central Victorian Football Netball League structure featuring four "sectional" competitions, womens and juniors.

That proposal followed a response to a 2019 review into underage competitions in the region, which stated: "Many clubs expressed concern with the current structure of football within the region."

However, the handbrake was put on the 2020 proposal given the uncertainty in relation to COVID, which ultimately wiped out the entire football-netball season in the region that year and brought the 2021 season to an early end the following year.

Three years on, though, the topic of how the region's football-netball structure looks in the future is back in the spotlight.

Among the questions that will be posed to the clubs on Sunday is for feedback around a future divisional-based structure for competitions in the region.

"It will be part of the discussions... is a divisional structure a good or bad concept and how could it work," Armstead said.

"Is there a premier league and how would it work in the more district areas given we have clubs that are outside of Bendigo with much smaller population bases and how do we support them because club sustainability is certainly a strong theme through this.

"The flow-on discussions then could be is there a divisional model based on promotion and relegation, or could it be based around clubs competing in divisions based on the complement of teams they have available.

"But Sunday is not about us saying here's how it's going to look in the future and where do you want to fit, it's about saying that if we're going to start look at evolving towards that model then what do you think?

"The commission will put forward a range of questions and is keen to hear the clubs responses about what they think so that if we were to form divisional structures in the future, what could that actually look like."

From a competitive point of view across the three leagues since the introduction of AFL Victoria's player points and salary cap system in 2016 - measures aimed to try to help equalise competitions - the average margin across games in the BFNL, HDFNL and LVFNL ranges from 59.5 points to 66.2 points.

In the Bendigo league the quartet of Strathfieldsaye, Eaglehawk, Golden Square and Sandhurst have won 26 of the 30 senior finals contested since 2016, while Gisborne and South Bendigo are the only other clubs to have won a senior final through that time.

Almost a quarter of the BFNL's 602 games played since 2016 have been decided by margins of more than 100 points in what's a competition where Kyneton hasn't won a final since 1997, Castlemaine hasn't won one since 2004, Kangaroo Flat since 2009 and Maryborough since 2010.

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Seven of the Heathcote District league's clubs have won at least one senior final since 2016, while there has also been five different teams finish on the bottom of the ladder through the period.

Those five teams include Leitchville-Gunbower and Lockington-Bamawm United, which have also won premierships in the same timeframe since 2016, while 2017 wooden-spooner Mount Pleasant played off in last year's grand final.

And in the Loddon Valley league, while it is a league synonymous with dynasties - think Calivil United's six flags in a row from 2003 to 2008 and Bridgewater's seven on the trot from 2010 to 2016 - the competition's past five premierships have been won by five different clubs: Bridgewater (2016), Calivil United (2017), Newbridge (2018), Mitiamo (2019) and Marong (2022).

However, the lack of an under-18 competition this year and two clubs actively seeking to leave - Marong and Maiden Gully YCW - are clear challenges confronting the LVFNL.

"We understand that we need to look at change and Sunday is a chance for the first step to see what that change could look like," Armstead said.

"I think it would be an evolutionary more than a revolutionary change.

"If you were to ask the commission in three to five years time, do we think the competitions will look the same as they are today, I think they'd be quite strong in the view that it needs to be different.

"This started back in 2019 and 2020 in terms of the process of what could change look like and was put on hold through COVID, so this is reigniting that and looking to take all the clubs with us through the process.

"The other question that we will probably look at briefly on Sunday and broader afterwards is are there other clubs outside of our current footprint that could be relevant?

"I think it's a question to ask the clubs of do they want to support the commission to go looking at other clubs where if we were to run a different model in the future would it help or detract.

"It's not a case of saying, here are four clubs, do you think we should go and knock on their doors, it's the concept of if we are going to improve, do we think there are clubs just outside our current footprint that could help us?"

Games played: 602.

Average margin: 66.2 points.

Games decided by kick or less: 41 (6.8%).

Games decided by over 100 points: 149 (24.7%).

Finals won: Strathfieldsaye (8), Eaglehawk (8), Golden Square (5), Sandhurst (5), Gisborne (3), South Bendigo (1).

Flags won*: Strathfieldsaye (2), Eaglehawk (1), Gisborne (1), Sandhurst (1).

Finished last*: Maryborough (3), Castlemaine (2).

Total wins: Strathfieldsaye (102), Golden Square (91), Eaglehawk (87), Sandhurst (87), Gisborne (68), Kyneton (56), South Bendigo (55), Kangaroo Flat (32), Castlemaine (14), Maryborough (9).

.............................................

Games played: 502.

Average margin: 59.5 points.

Games decided by kick or less: 37 (7.3%).

Games decided by over 100 points: 95 (18.9%).

Finals won: Leitchville-Gunbower (7) North Bendigo (7), Colbinabbin (6), Mount Pleasant (4), Huntly (3), LBU (2), White Hills (1).

Flags won*: Leitchville-Gunbower (2), North Bendigo (2), LBU (1).

Finished last*: Elmore (1), Huntly (1), Leitchville-Gunbower (1), LBU (1), Mount Pleasant (1).

Total wins: North Bendigo (94), Colbinabbin (74), Leitchville-Gunbower (65), LBU (64), Mount Pleasant (53), White Hills (50), Huntly (46), Heathcote (28), Elmore (25).

.............................................

Games played: 502.

Average margin: 63.0 points.

Games decided by kick or less: 42 (8.3%).

Games decided by over 100 points: 81 (16.1%).

Finals won: Mitiamo (9), Bridgewater (7), Calivil United (3), Newbridge (3), Pyramid Hill (3), Maiden Gully YCW (2), Marong (2), BL-Serpentine (1).

Flags won*: Bridgewater (1), Calivil United (1), Marong (1), Mitiamo (1), Newbridge (1).

Finished last*:Inglewood (3), BL-Serpentine (1), Calivil United (1).

Total wins: Mitiamo (79), Bridgewater (75), Pyramid Hill (74), Marong (64), Newbridge (51), BL-Serpentine (50), Calivil United (49), Maiden Gully YCW (42), Inglewood (17).

* - doesn't include shortened 2021 season.

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