This latest application was put forward by the Maiden Gully Junior Football Club to enter the BFNL under-18s this year.

A previous bid that was submitted by the Maiden Gully YCW senior club was rejected by the AFLCV commission in November.

The Maiden Gully YCW senior club, which plays in the Loddon Valley league, and Maiden Gully junior club, which fields teams in the Bendigo Junior Football League, operate as two independent entities.

In both instances the BFNL had welcomed Maiden Gully into its under-18 competition this year, but both times the BFNL's acceptance was appealed by the LVFNL, with both appeals subsequently upheld by the AFLCV commission.

Maiden Gully YCW hasn't fielded an under-18 team since 2021.

The Eagles withdrew their under-18 team from the LVFNL in 2022 on the basis it wasn't serving the development of their players and had unsuccessfully applied to enter into both the BFNL and HDFNL under-18s that year.

Since then top-age under-16 players coming out of the Maiden Gully Junior Football Club have had to move to alternate clubs across the region to play under-18 football.

The BFNL had been optimistic of the Maiden Gully junior club's application being approved by the commission, but AFLCV this week confirmed it had again upheld the appeal of the LVFNL.

"Having considered all information and evidence presented, the AFL Central Victoria Commission have made the decision to uphold the appeal of the LVFNL," the commission wrote in its response to the LVFNL and BFNL.

"The successful appeal therefore denies the establishment of a new MGLFC (Maiden Gully Lions Football Club) Under 18 football team to participate in the BFNL for season 2024."

Similarly to the rejection of the application from the Maiden Gully YCW senior club in November, BFNL chair Carol McKinstry was again left disappointed by the lack of reasoning provided by AFLCV in its response to the junior club's submission.

"This is a bit like groundhog day for us," McKinstry said.

"We are requesting an urgent meeting with the commission and also requesting the justification for their decision to uphold the appeal.

"One of the big problems is they (AFLCV) have really been dragging their feet on this. Maiden Gully juniors sent in this application and we approved it back in December and sent it through (to AFLCV).

"Yes, the hub closed down (through the Christmas-New Year period), but returned on January 15 and here we are now on February 21.

"It has been long and protracted and the longer it has been going on the more likely that Maiden Gully players would be going elsewhere."

Maiden Gully Junior Football Club president Mick Sheahan echoed the sentiments of McKinstry in terms of frustrations around the timeframe of the process and lack of reasoning behind the AFLCV decision to uphold the LVFNL appeal.

"Frustrating and disappointing is how I would describe the process in general," Sheahan said.

"Excluding the senior club, which has already been through the process, this has taken over three months to get a decision that in our view should be something that is quite easy and seamless.

"The timeline on this has just been ridiculous and hasn't allowed us to provide players or families with any clarity on what is happening.

"So there's disappointment in the length of the process, and we're also going to be seeking clarification from AFLCV on the reasoning why they have upheld the appeal given we put forward our reasoning and Loddon Valley has put forward its reasoning for appealing.

"What's happened is that because we haven't been able to provide any clarity our players have had to go out training at other clubs and there's a knock-on effect because if they do pick up a spot on an under-18 list elsewhere, which we're hopeful for, it means someone else doesn't get a spot on that list, so that means less players playing because of this decision."

Following confirmation that the LVFNL appeal had been upheld, chairman Simon Tuohey said the league's "support for Maiden Gully YCW to have an under-18 side in our competition has not changed."

Sheahan said both the Maiden Gully senior and junior clubs had previously approached the LVFNL about possibilities of fielding under-18 teams in both the BFNL and LVFNL this year.

"We put a submission through to the Loddon Valley with several options that we could try, but we never heard back from them," Sheahan answered when asked if Maiden Gully would consider entering back into the LVFNL under-18s this year.

"So at this point in time it's a no from us in terms of we've tried to have the communication lines open with AFLCV and the LVFNL and when we've put proposals through to the Loddon Valley around how we could work with them we've got no response from a senior and junior club perspective."