The establishment of a new club – which will include a new board and new name – is part of the discussions taking place as efforts are being made to win back the licence North Ballarat lost during September.

Nevett said an important part of the process was to organise a meeting with AFL Victoria to seek clarity around potential rivals for a licence out of western Victoria.

“At that meeting, the first thing that we will be doing is asking them whether or not there are other players for the licence other than ourselves, because we can’t go ahead and make all the changes if it’s just going to be a waste of time,” Nevett said.

Nevett said the potential new VFL club would receive a percentage of profits from the North Ballarat Sports Club, but would also require significant sponsorship funding to operate.

A new name is definitely on the agenda, but Nevett felt the Roosters tag should probably stay.

“If we come back, we’ve got to be able to keep the history of the Roosters,” he told The Courier.

“It has got to go away from North Ballarat. It has to be seen that this is a club that’s actually representing more than just North Ballarat or Ballarat for that matter.”

After significant cash concerns in recent years, Nevett said North Ballarat was now in a strong financial position to run a VFL program.​

This comes after the City of Ballarat forked out more than $5 million to North Ballarat to acquire the Eureka Stadium precinct.

“That enabled us to clear our debt with the bank and enabled us to put something like $2.5 million or $3 million in the bank,” Nevett, who took over as chairman in February, said.

“And a year out of the VFL means there’s more money.

“And then there will be more money coming out of the compensation claim. That’s our view.”

Nevett said former chairman Peter Wilson had been involved in recent discussions after offering his support to the board in recent weeks.

He said he hoped Wilson could spearhead the board of a potential new VFL club.

If a new VFL club is to be created, Nevett hinted at potentially merging the boards of the North Ballarat Football Club and North Ballarat Sports Club, while keeping the existing North Ballarat Junior Football Netball Club set-up, which runs teams in the Ballarat league.