After building out its new five-year strategic plan, Moama’s executive committee has begun questioning where the future of the club lies and part of those discussions naturally moved to whether it was time to move on from the Murray league.
The executive committee has created a ‘‘working party’’ comprised of key figures from within the club and local sporting identities to determine if a league switch is the right move.
This working party has had meetings with two other competitions, Bendigo Football Netball League and Goulburn Valley Football Netball League, with representatives from both associations touring Moama’s facilities.
Moama’s newly-elected president Scott Slater emphasised that while the club had been inquiring about the move and evaluating its options, that was the extent of it so far, and no timeline or commitment been made to anyone.
“The working party has sat with both competitions’ boards and we have kept the Murray league in consultation the whole time to make sure they understand that we are just doing information sessions with the other leagues,” he said.
“We haven’t committed to anyone; the Murray league would be the first to know if we had.
“Both leagues have been open for discussions, they both came and toured our facilities, and they were impressed with our structure and the way we go about things.
“We made it clear that we weren’t thinking about 2025, we were looking to further in the future, whether that is the following year, three, or five years down the track, we haven’t gotten to that stage yet.”
Slater highlighted the reasoning for the potential switch centred around retaining the youth footballers and netballers at the club.
The Murray league only has an under-17 competition while the GVL and BFNL have under-18 competitions, Slater said, emphasising that the extra year in a junior competition was where Moama was losing players.
“Both the Bendigo and Goulburn Valley leagues have under-18s competitions, while the Murray league only goes to under-17, so we are finding we are losing players to other clubs who want that extra year to challenge themselves in the juniors,” he said.
“For us, it is about how we can retain our local talent and for them to be able to play the best possible standard of football and netball at our club.
“When a player decides to leave the club to play elsewhere, you don’t just lose them, you lose the family and possible future committee members.
“However, we want to make sure a possible move will be advantageous for the whole club and isn’t just a football or netball decision.”
While a move from the Murray league is still seemingly a few seasons away, if it happens, local football and netball fans will be licking their lips at the possibility of having two teams in the GVL and a new rivalry forming between the Magpies and the defending champion, Echuca.
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