Gisborne has been a dominant force in the Bendigo league since 2000, but the Bulldogs’ tenure in the competition may be about to come to an end, with the club’s committee believing a move to the Ballarat Football League is the direction to take.

The Ballarat league believes such a move could make the Bulldogs as much as $35,000 better off per year, and allow them to re-establish their old Riddell District Football League rivalries with Sunbury, Darley, Melton and Melton South - clubs, along with Bacchus Marsh, that are all in close proximity to Gisborne.

“We met with Gisborne about a month ago and were of the opinion their concerns were minor, and that a lot of the inducements in the Ballarat bid were a bit wishy-washy and all subjective in terms of they may get better gates and initially, they may do less travelling,” Drum said yesterday.

“But what happens once the sweetheart deals are taken away... the Ballarat-based clubs are soon going to get sick of travelling to Gisborne every year, but not getting Gisborne travelling in return.

“Once it all returns back to a normal arrangement, our opinion is they won’t be in any better position than what they currently are.

“And they will be playing in mud every second week, as opposed to the good conditions we have most of the time in Bendigo.”

Drum took aim at the Ballarat Football League, describing it as starting a “poaching war” by offering “inducements on a temporary basis”.

“It’s a very poor approach from Ballarat’s point of view to run around and start a poaching war where you make a whole range of promises and lay out a whole range of inducements in order to cater to the wishes of the board room,” Drum said.

“It’s just no way in which to strategically run regional football in any way.

“So I think the VCFL really needs to step in and put in place some strategic decisions based around what is best for the entire region, not what is best for Ballarat or Bendigo or anyone else.