COUNTRY footy in central Victoria in 2015 could start with up to four grand final replays being played at the QEO on the one day.
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A plan to start next season at the QEO with a gala day involving the Bendigo FNL, Heathcote District FL, Loddon Valley FNL and North Central FL grand final replays was discussed at a meeting of the leagues on Thursday.
“We’re investigating that idea at the moment… to see if we can make it work for everyone involved,’’ AFL Central Victoria regional operations manager Justin Abrams said.
“The commission has made it really clear that they’d like to do it.
“There’s some clubs that are for the idea, but other clubs are against the idea and would prefer to keep the opening round normal.
“Logistically, the sharing of gates and canteen money is an issue we’d have to look at.
“The idea has merit, but there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge before we could make it work.
"We’ll re-visit it over the next few weeks and see what happens.”
Abrams said the BFNL won’t start looking at its 2015 fixture until the completion of this year’s finals series.
With the AFL announcing on Thursday that the 2015 grand final would be played in October, the BFNL could move its grand final back one week to the last Saturday in September.
Traditionally, the BFNL grand final is played on the second last Saturday in September – the same day as the NCFL grand final.
“We won’t look at next year’s fixture until October, but moving the grand final is something we’d have to discuss with clubs,’’ Abrams said.
“A lot probably hinges on what we do with round one and which date we start the season on.
"We'll look at all the options and see which option best suits our clubs."