Ballarat league chief executive officer Rod Ward confirmed to The Advertiser yesterday he had prepared a submission that - if endorsed by the league’s board next Monday night, as expected - will be presented to Gisborne on Tuesday morning.

Gisborne has been a power of the Bendigo Football League since joining from the Riddell District Football League in 2000.

The club has been consistently strong in all grades of football since entering the BFL, particularly in the seniors, winning four premierships and playing in every grand final between 2002 and 2007.

Ballarat has tried three times in the past - 1998, 1999 and 2003 - to lure the Bulldogs, but been unsuccessful in each attempt.

Ward says the Ballarat league has been approached by a “third party” about the possibility of Gisborne becoming the competition’s newest club next year.

Gisborne president Graeme Love yesterday made it clear he had not approached the Ballarat league, or authorised anyone else to do so on behalf of the Bulldogs.

Ballarat’s expression of interest in poaching Gisborne comes in the week after the league was upstaged by Bendigo in their inter-league clash last Saturday.

“We’re exploring our possibilities; we were approached, so we’ve looked at the options,” Ward said.

“We were approached by a third party . . . a person who has connections with the Gisborne Football-Netball Club and asked us if we would be interested in approaching them.

“We went back to our board, had a chat and said, `nothing ventured, nothing gained’.

“Ballarat formally approached Gisborne in 1998, 1999 and then again in 2003 and on each occasion we were told by Gisborne they weren’t interested, so we left it at that and haven’t approached them since the last time.”

Ward yesterday finalised a submission selling the advantages to Gisborne of affiliating with the Ballarat Football League.

“I will present it to the Ballarat Football League board for endorsement this Monday night, and if it is endorsed, or a revised version is, I will then present it to Gisborne at 9am on Tuesday,” Ward said.

“First and foremost in our submission in selling the advantages of Ballarat is we believe there will be an over 50 per cent reduction in travel for Gisborne.

“The second point is financial. When you compare Bendigo’s affiliation costs to our own, we think there will be a saving in the vicinity of $12,000.

“We have a 16-round home and away season, rather than 18, so there’s a saving of two match payments, which based on the VCFL average could be in the vicinity of $8000.