The Magpies have been on an extensive recruiting drive since mid-December after a shortage of numbers forced the club to put its future in the Bendigo Football-Netball League on the agenda.

As the mid-February deadline the BFNL board set for the Magpies to have the player numbers to field a full quota of teams approaches, Maryborough is confident it will be part of the BFNL in 2014.

AFLCV operations manager Justin Abrams will meet with the Magpies on Friday to discuss their player registration numbers, with a resolution on the issue looming next week.

While the Magpies have been forced to deal with the short-term issue of recruiting players for 2014, AFLCV Commission chairman Collin Brady says it's also vital a priority is placed on the long-term future of the club.

"We understand that we need to be looking at longer-term solutions, rather than just some of the shorter-term ones," Brady said on Thursday.

"We need to look at what are the things that are getting in the way of Maryborough being strong and viable.

"They are an absolutely important part of the BFNL and the region. They are playing in a premier league and provide great pathways for the kids in the local area.

"But they have been struggling for a little while now.

"So our approach is we want to look at seeing how we can strengthen their capacity... we've got to work out what are the areas they need help in.

"We're going to be working with the neighbouring commission (AFL Goldfields) to see if there's any systemic issues over that way that need to be taken into consideration.

"At the moment, it's too early to say there's one problem and one solution, so we need to sit down with them, go through all the issues and work out what's in our control that we can do something about.

"You look on their walls in their clubrooms. They have photos of absolute champions throughout the generations, so there's a lot at stake."