The club yesterday handed in its NPLV submission to Football Federation Victoria before the January 20 deadline.

“It has taken quite a bit of work but it is all now all complete and in the hands of the FFV,” Reds chairman Duncan Smith said.

“There were some big changes from the original submission that we submitted to the FFV back in September last year, with quite a few parts of the criteria changed and a few new parts added.”

Smith said FFV would consider the clubs’ youth development, finances and facilities with most weight, with coaching, operation and community support rated as of “medium” importance.

“I think that the FFV has it right in the criteria weightings. We will be putting a lot of work into our Youth Academy teams over the next few years and that is why I believe we have the best football director in Australia in Danny Milosevic here in Ballarat,” Smith said.

The new elite state-based competition looked as though it would not come to fruition this year, with an announcement late last year that it would not go ahead.

But the backflip follows an agreement between FFV and its clubs on a model to be applied and agreement to stop proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

The successful NPLV clubs are expected to be announced on Friday, February 7.