Marong and Maiden Gully YCW apply to leave Loddon Valley league for new home

Two clubs have announced they are looking to move to a new competition. One of the leagues talks about what the move might mean.

The Loddon Valley league is confident if two of its clubs leave it can survive in the long term.

The competition faces the prospect of having a seven-team competition next year after both Marong and Maiden Gully YCW submitted applications to join the Heathcote District league.

Both clubs will now have their application looked at by the Heathcote District league and if approved, it will go back to Loddon Valley committee and clubs for their approval.

If they don’t, it will be decided by AFL Central Victoria.

Maiden Gully last year had their application rejected by AFL Central Victoria to make the move.

Marong’s Brandyn Grenfell and his teammates could be playing in a new competition next year. Picture Yuri Kouzmin

“We haven’t got a position at the moment because we haven’t spoken to our member clubs,” Loddon Valley league chairman Simon Touhey said.

“Our member clubs are the ones who decide the direction the Loddon Valley wants to go, as part of the constitution.

“At the end of the day the Loddon Valley clubs will look at the viability of their own clubs to see what suits best for the direction we take.”

Touhey defended the competition, saying it’s in a strong position despite two clubs trying to leave.

He said the under-18s competition, which has five teams in it, including one composite team, has had plenty of success, getting juniors into seniors.

“It’s true country football,” Touhey said.

“I could name, in the last two years, maybe 10 of those kids, have played senior football while playing under-18 football this year and last year from those four clubs.”

Heathcote District league chairman Peter Cole said a decision would be made by their clubs as to whether both Marong and Maiden Gully would be welcome to join.

Cole added ultimately the decision, if approved, would be out of their hands as Loddon Valley and AFL Central Victoria decide what happens.

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For the Eagles it is the second year in a row the club has applied to make the move after being rejected by AFL Central Victoria for having ‘insufficient merit’ last year.

Marong, who considered the shift last year but didn’t officially submit an entry, have now decided to pursue the move.

“The Marong Football Netball Club committee would like to advise of the proposed move to the Heathcote District Football Netball League for season 2024,” a club statement said.

“Our initial interest for 2023 was put on hold to explore the new AFL Central Victoria initiative to improve and expand the existing under-18s in our league and surrounding districts.

“We appreciate the attempt made to rebuild the under-18s competition but unfortunately the CVFL will not continue in 2024, leaving us with limited options for junior growth going forward.

“The club has taken the first step to put forward our desire to move and have submitted a letter of intent to the HDFNL to open discussions.”

Out of the nine Loddon Valley league clubs only four provide a full under-18 team to the CVFL with Marong, Inglewood, Pyramid Hills and Bridgewater involved.

The Bears Lagoon Serpentine, Calivil United and Mitiamo Football Netball Clubs formed one team, the East Loddon Rams, to make it a five-team competition.

Heathcote has all nine of their teams providing an under-18 team.

This, combined with Marong dominating in the seniors, with the team unbeaten in 22 matches, prompted the move.

Maiden Gully YCW have also made the move to leave to further their junior numbers and attract talent to the club.

They feel being in the Loddon Valley league is not going to help the growth of their club.

“It’s imperative for the future sustainability of the club that we cater for the growth of the club,” Maiden Gully YCW president Chris Garlick said.

“In Maiden Gully we’ve got excessive growth and we’ve got to provide competition for our players so they can hang around at the club for years to come.

“We’ve got 14 or 15 junior football teams coming through.

“We need good sustainable competitions for them to come through.”

Garlick revealed the club did not provide an under-18 team due to a lack of interest from players and parents to play in Loddon.

The Loddon Valley Football Netball League could be down to seven clubs next season. Picture: Loddon Valley Football Netball League.

They firmly believe a move to Heathcote will provide a better platform for their players to play and provide a better environment for their seniors to improve, despite only winning two games in the Loddon league this year.

“We’re under no illusions we’re not at the top of the ladder in the footy however we look at Marong’s model and they've got some junior kids back from years gone by that really helped them out,” Garlick said.

“In five years time if we have a proper pathway for our kids that we will have those players come on board.

“The other thing we’ve found with recruitment in the last couple of years and the last year in particular, when we were hopeful of getting to Heathcote, we spoke to quite a few players that were happy to play on that side of town (Heathcote) but the travel to the Loddon Valley clubs was too far.

“We know we’ll recruit well and be quite competitive in the Heathcote league with our footy.”

Garlick said the netball teams would also benefit from the move.

Based near Bendigo, on the west side, Maiden Gully would face three fellow Bendigo teams and be closer to others, compared to the teams they play in the Loddon Valley league.

Garlick said the decision was made to keep the club going not only this year but in future years.

He added change was needed to their competitions in the area and his club was trying to get on the front foot.

“Our mandates from a club point of view is to look at the sustainability of our club and manage that going forward,” Garlick said.

“Over the past 10-15 years under the guidance and review from AFL Central Victoria there’s always been the concern about some of the outer lying leagues but no change has been made.

“Unfortunately we feel we are in a position where we have to push to make the change for the sustainability of our club.

“Things have got to change in football, everyone knows it, and this is the option we see as the vital next step to look after our club.”

It is now up to the Heathcote District league to accept their applications.

If they do, Loddon Valley has the chance to appeal the decision, which would then leave AFL Central Victoria to make a decision on what happens.