A new league, a revamped draw and a player ratings system were all discussed when local Ballarat Football League sides Melton, Melton South and Sunbury met last week.
The talks were an attempt to work through some of the issues facing the league’s eastern-based teams, including travel and recruiting concerns.
Melton South president Peter Earl said a lot of positives came out of the meeting.
The clubs will hold another meeting early next month and invite clubs from the BFL, Riddell District Football League and potentially other country and metropolitan leagues to further work through their options.
“We met on Tuesday night [but] Darley and Bacchus Marsh were unable to be there. They had prior commitments,” Earl said.
“We’ll definitely not be leaving the Ballarat League in 2015 and it may never happen but the next meeting will be between the clubs and we’ll sit down and give them our thoughts.
“It’s an informal meeting, where we’ll all have a bit of a say and talk about the pluses and the minuses of all our options.
“Then we’ll get a meeting with Rod Ward [AFL Goldfields regional manager].”
Earl said he thought a revamped draw, which would see less travelling to Ballarat for eastern-based sides, was the most likely outcome.
Sunbury Lions president Phil Lithgow is expecting a resolution for the 2016 or 2017 season.
“It’s still a long road and it’s premature to decide at this stage what will happen,” he said.
“We will take time to speak to each club and align our interests.
“[There] will be conversation after conversation over the next 12 months.
“The 2016-17 session is when things will likely happen, depending on what comes out of the next few weeks.”
