![\"Merrivale](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/f58b059d36c007a8753bc19593a254199806bd4e.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cThroughout regions, we just lack support from a development point of view, and we can do better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole premise around developing the RACs was that we got more support\u2026 so we all supported it on that basis that these people would be out there, helping clubs, [and] helping leagues develop and continue that, but that\u2019s just diminished.\u201d<\/p>\n
Incoming AFL Barwon chair Ashley West \u2013 who will replace long-time chair Michelle Gerdtz in February \u2013 said the decision to move away from the RAC model \u201cwas the right move for us\u201d.<\/p>\n
AFL Barwon recorded an operating loss of $170,000 in their 2024 annual report.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the growth that we\u2019ve had, in particular in our area, it\u2019s made the role of the region manager really stretched,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got over 25,000 participants across all football and netball competitions, and then the requirements from AFL Victoria, so one person for managing both of those things became really hard for somebody to do that role.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Merrivale and Allansford in action in the WDFNL. The two sides finished atop the ladder in 2025.Credit: Vicky Hughson<\/p>\n
West said the administrative change would allow for them to focus more on the \u201coperations side of competition\u201d, especially the netball divisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a really big netball centre down here as well \u2013 probably half of our 25,000 are netball participants, and when we\u2019re being administered from an AFL perspective, obviously that doesn\u2019t take into consideration a lot of the requirements from a netball point of view,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Goulburn Valley Football Netball League chair Peter Foott had mixed feelings about the abolition of the RAC model.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it brings new opportunity, we can reset and change financial models,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a fan of the regional administration centre anyway but if the AFL chooses to do this, then there\u2019s not a lot we can do about it.<\/p>\n
![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/67b47190e748a3ff77dc234ad26b27763481846e.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Former Hawthorn skipper Jarryd Roughead and former Western Bulldogs counterpart Bob Murphy played a one-off game for Inverloch Kongwak in the West Gippsland competition in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur bigger problem is being able to get people to sit on boards,\u201d he continued. \u201cSo [that] brings the risk back to the league \u2013 how are we going to employ people? So we\u2019ve got to have some thoughts around how we model that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foott \u2013 who was the former board chair of Goulburn Murray AFL \u2013 also said that burnout was a \u201cbig factor\u201d in sports administration across football clubs in Victoria.<\/p>\n
He said the GVFNL still has 12 months to go on its contract with the regional model and confirmed clubs would be brought up to date on the announcement at a meeting later this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess it\u2019s about how we turn Goulburn Valley Football league into more of a business model than being a football league,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n