It has been revealed that Basketball Australia has called for a review of the SEABL competition, which has long been home to the Ballarat Miners and Ballarat Rush.

State-based leagues that culminate in a national play-off series appear a likely replacement.

Eddy said the BA board is willing to run SEABL in 2019 or clubs could elect to move to state models as soon as next season.

“It’s exciting and challenging at that same time,” Eddy said.

“Our challenge now is to say: if it is a Victorian competition, how does that look?”

Eddy said Basketball Victoria had been looking into developing a new state-based winter competition for some time.

“We don’t see any change in our profile, our presentation of our event, the quality of our teams,” he said.

“There is a strong push that local development gets high priority in terms of Australian-based players, but I certainly think that there’s a strong commitment also that we’ll keep the blend of Australian quality and imports.”

The Miners and Rush have long competed in the SEABL competition, which includes many Victorian clubs, but also some from other states.

Basketball Australia released a statement on Friday to detail some of the information from its recent scheduled meetings.

“In that meeting, the BA directors considered a proposal from a group of SEABL clubs that asked whether BA would support the SEABL returning to a management model where the league is managed by the clubs,” the statement, attributed to BA chief executive Anthony Moore, read.

“… clubs were informed that the BA board did not support the proposal for a self-managed league.

“The clubs were also advised that in considering their proposal, the BA board had asked for a review of the SEABL competition in the context of the Australian basketball pathway for athletes, coaches and officials including our state leagues and our two national leagues in NBL and WNBL championship.”

BA’s board is set to meet again on October 5.