A POTENTIAL restructure of competitions in the region will be the cornerstone of a looming AFL Central Victoria commission review.

Even if there is no football-netball competitions played in the region this year, commission chairman Nicholas Rolfe is determined to ensure 2020 isn't a waste by using it as an opportunity to plan the future direction of league structures.

Rolfe says that future direction needs to start by re-establishing a clear-cut premier competition in the region, which he believes the Bendigo league is currently lacking due to the inability for all clubs to field full complements of teams, the predictable nature of the senior competition and the disparity of results that last year saw the top-five teams beat the bottom-five teams by an average of 99 points.

Over the past seven seasons 40 of the 42 senior finals have been won by either Strathfieldsaye, Eaglehawk, Golden Square and Eaglehawk - the other two were won by Gisborne - but Rolfe's biggest bane with the Bendigo league is the inability for all 10 clubs to field the full quota of three football and five netball teams.

Last year Castlemaine was without an A Grade netball side, Kyneton had no under-17 netball and Maryborough was without under-18 football and A Reserve netball.

Two years ago the under-18 competition was impacted by neither Castlemaine or Maryborough having teams.

Rolfe believes the way forward for football-netball in the region is under a divisional structure and that a starting point for clubs being part of the top tier is their capacity to ensure they can field all teams.

"Every geographical area by definition has one competition which is better than the others," Rolfe said this week.

"Therefore, you can't have the premier competition prejudiced by a number of clubs which can't have a full complement of sides, which is the situation at the moment.

"I think it reflects badly on the league and the commission and is just not a good look and something needs to be done about it.

"I would have thought that if I was involved with Eaglehawk I'd be much happier playing Lockington or Leitchville-Gunbower for example at Eaglehawk then I would be playing Castlemaine or Maryborough because those clubs have a full complement of football and netball teams.

"Ultimately, it affects football overall in the sense that clubs rely on support on and off field. If you know that you're playing a club that hasn't got a full complement, you've got the problem that your players aren't getting a game every week and that you don't necessarily get the same amount of people through the gate, which then flows on throughout."

Rolfe believes it's time to draw a line in the sand and act on feedback derived from last year's review into the underage competitions of the Bendigo, Heathcote District, Loddon Valley and North Central leagues.

While the review recommended no age group changes for this year, the review stated: "Many clubs expressed concern with the current structure of football within the region.

"All senior football and netball competition structures should promote the sustainability of clubs, while factoring in the following - competitive balance; meet the growth or decline of population within the region; provide all clubs the opportunity to find their competitive and sustainable level; and promote competition equalisation."

Rolfe believes that the establishment of a divisional structure headlined by a strong and highly regarded premier competition would have a positive flow-on effect.

"If you've got a cracking premier competition it has an overall flow-on effect because good players come here wanting to play and then you have players disseminating back through the ranks," Rolfe said.

"Everyone has to agree on it conceptually going forward... some leagues will have the view of why should we mess up our league to sustain the premier competition."

As well as the competitive issues that have plagued the Bendigo league in recent years in terms of the competition having been dominated by Strathfieldsaye, Eaglehawk, Golden Square and Sandhurst - the only clubs to have won senior flags since 2007 - Rolfe also notes the Heathcote District league had four consecutive Leitchville-Gunbower v North Bendigo grand finals between 2015 and 2018 and seven of the Loddon Valley league's flags in the 2010s were won by Bridgewater.

The AFLCV region's four senior leagues are made up of 36 senior clubs across the four competitions, which range from Gisborne to Sea Lake - a span of 300 kms.

Sea Lake Nandaly is part of the North Central league, which has the extra component of hockey to its football and netball competitions.

"Because they are such a particular league with particular wants and needs, we wouldn't necessarily seek to involve them... because of the hockey we don't think it would be fair to them. But it's all open for discussion," Rolfe said.

Under a divisional structure, not only could it pose geographical issues in terms of travel distances given it's a region concept, but there's also the factoring of netball given a club that may have a division one standard senior football side may not have a division one A Grade netball team or vice versa.

Take Kangaroo Flat for example, which has only played in one senior BFNL finals series since 2002, but its A Grade netball team has won four premierships since 2009, or over the past three years Strathfieldsaye's senior football team has won 54 games, but its A Grade netballers just 13.

Rolfe also believes a divisional structure could have the potential to assist clubs that are constantly struggling for reserves numbers if the lowest tiered division for football featured seniors and underage only.

"One of the great problems with country football in some areas is they can't sustain a seconds competition. And therefore, what you could look to create is a competition where you don't have to have seconds."

Rolfe also believes that graded under-age competitions across the region featuring teams of similar standard should be considered by clubs.

"You could have a non-aligned graded thirds competition, which is what the Amateurs have," Rolfe said.

"Just because your senior side is in A Grade doesn't mean your underage side is in the equivalent division. They don't play at the same ground, so there's no traditional firsts, seconds and thirds all at the same ground on the one day.

"But in terms of increasing numbers it's found that it can work and you might have a situation where the thirds is played on a Friday night after an under-12s games perhaps.

"One of the aspects they found when they did it in Geelong was for the clubs who had thirds teams that got belted every week, when they were put in a graded competition their numbers improved because they started winning games."

Rolfe expects a terms of reference for the re-structure review to be drawn up at the commission's June 15 meeting and that if there are no competitions played in the region this year it would allow for the discussions with AFLCV and its clubs to be ramped up.

"If there's no competition our staff would have the time to devote to it conceptually, philosophically and operationally that other wise they would have had to devote to the operation of the leagues if they were playing.

"Country people tend to be very conservative, but the definition of insanity according to Einstein is someone who keeps doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, which is what we do.

"Conceptually, it's a huge shift if you've never been exposed to it (promotion/relegation), but if you had you might not be exposed to some of the problems that are there now."

Average margin: 59 pts

Average margin since player points/salary cap introduced in 2016: 64 pts

Who have won finals: Golden Square (16), Eaglehawk (13), Strathfieldsaye (13), Sandhurst (10), Gisborne (5), South Bendigo (2), Maryborough (1).

Who have won flags: Golden Square (4), Strathfieldsaye (4), Eaglehawk (1), Sandhurst (1).

Who have finished bottom: Castlemaine (4), Maryborough (3), Kangaroo Flat (1), Kyneton (1), South Bendigo (1).

Average margin: 56 pts

Average margin since player points/salary cap introduced in 2016: 64 pts

Who have won finals: North Bendigo (16), LBU (11), Leitchville-Gunbower (9), Colbinabbin (6), Heathcote (6), Huntly (5), Mount Pleasant (3), Elmore (2), White Hills (2).

Who have won flags: LBU (4), North Bendigo (3), Leitchville-Gunbower (2), Heathcote (1).

Who have finished bottom: Elmore (3), Huntly (3), Heathcote (1), Leitchville-Gunbower (1), LBU (1), Mount Pleasant (1).

Average margin: 53 pts

Average margin since player points/salary cap introduced in 2016: 46 pts

Who have won finals: Bridgewater (17), Mitiamo (14), Pyramid Hill (8), BL-Serpentine (6), Calivil United (5), Newbridge (5), Maiden Gully YCW (3), Marong (2),

Who have won flags: Bridgewater (7), Calivil United (1), Mitiamo (1), Newbridge (1).

Who have finished bottom: Inglewood (8), BL-Serpentine (2).

Average margin: 47 pts

Average margin since player points/salary cap introduced in 2016: 46 pts

Who have won finals: Wedderburn (9), Wycheproof-Narraport (8), Charlton (6), St Arnaud (5), Birchip-Watchem (4), Sea Lake Nandaly (4), Boort (3), Donald (1).

Who have won flags: Wedderburn (4), Wycheproof-Narraport (3), Charlton (1), Sea Lake Nandaly (1), St Arnaud (1),

Who have finished bottom: Boort (4), Birchip-Watchem (2), St Arnaud (2), Donald (1), Wedderburn (1).

NOTE - Sea Lake Nandaly joined league in 2016.

If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Bendigo Advertiser, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thankyou very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Bendigo's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.