Clunes president Christine Hill says the club is backing AFL Goldfields’ initial recommendations for it to be moved out of the Central Highlands league and into a new competition.
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Under the AFL Goldfields’ senior competition review draft recommendations, the Magpies were one of the clubs named to form part of a new Goldfields District Football Netball League.
The proposal had Clunes lining up alongside current Central Highlands clubs Creswick, Carngham-Linton, Rokewood-Corindhap, Learmonth, Newlyn, Skipton and Smythesdale, as well as the Maryborough Castlemaine District’s Trentham and Lexton.
In 2015, Clunes members voted on whether or not the Magpies should pursue a move to the Maryborough Castlemaine District league, but eventually settled on remaining in the Central Highlands competition.
Hill said members were much more united about the direction the club should take this time around.
“It really did split the club (the 2015 vote), but it couldn’t have been a better approach to it (this time),” Hill said.
“Everyone was fully in support of a change and whether that be a new league or whether it be splitting the league, we were fully in support of that.
“Our first preference was for the new league.”
Hill said the current size of the 18-club Central Highlands league and the task of climbing from the bottom end of the ladder to even making finals was a concern for Magpies members.
“If we had have been put with 10 really strong teams, it still wouldn’t have bothered us. Just to have a smaller league, that’s what we were wanting,” she said.
The AFL Goldfields working party assigned to handle the review is set to meet again next week to continue discussing the feedback from clubs which followed the release of the draft recommendations during August.
Final recommendations will be announced at the end of October.
