THE Loddon Valley Football-Netball League's under-18 competition will proceed with five teams and a revamped model this year.

Due to a lack of numbers, three clubs - three-time defending premier Pyramid Hill, Newbridge and Bears Lagoon-Serpentine - have joined Mitiamo in being unable to field an under-18 side this season.

With those four teams to be absent, it leaves Bridgewater, Calivil United, Inglewood, Maiden Gully YCW and Marong as the five competing under-18 teams and the LVFNL board having had to devise a new structure for the competition.

The new format will ensure all teams get a minimum of 14 home and away games and will feature Friday night games at Maiden Gully.

Under the new structure, the fixture will be divided into "aligned" and "non-aligned" games.

An "aligned" game will feature two teams that have been scheduled to play as per the fixture on a Saturday, such as Marong and Calivil United in round one.

A "non-aligned" game will pit two teams against each other that don't have an opponent that week to play on the Friday night.

While a fixture hasn't been officially released by the league yet, for example, in round one Maiden Gully YCW (v Newbridge) and Inglewood (v Pyramid Hill) don't have a round one opponent, therefore could play each other.

All teams will play each other a minimum of three times throughout the home and away season.

Maiden Gully YCW has indicated it will be unable to play on a Friday night, therefore will have to travel to various grounds on a Saturday for "non-aligned" games.

"The clubs have done their hard work to try to get players and we want to be able to give them a competition... this is all about still ensuring participation for our juniors," LVFNL chair Simon Tuohey said on Thursday.

While they have entered into the competition, both Inglewood and Calivil United are still seeking more numbers.

Anyone interested in playing for either the Blues or Demons can get in touch with the clubs or league.

Meanwhile, Newbridge president Kristian Shevlin said there was a variety of reasons that forced the Maroons to last week withdraw their under-18 team for 2021, although, he's optimistic about a 2022 return.

"The kids just aren't around. The kids have decreased, but the number of teams hasn't," Shevlin said.

"At that age group of 17 to 18-year-olds, there's other things for them to do on a Saturday; they can work Saturday mornings, Melbourne is closer and public transport is better to get down there.

"If it was an under-16 competition we would have got a side up. We have plenty of kids around that age and we would have got a side up last year under the COVID format, but a lot of the kids were top-agers."

The Maroons had just six confirmed players for the season when they made the decision to withdraw from the under-18s.

Shevlin expects the majority of those six players will play under-16s in Bendigo.

"I think the league has done the right thing in getting this new format up, but there's no doubt this drop off in players is a huge issue," Shevlin said.

For the Bears, it will be their first year without an under-18 team since they withdrew in 2012-13.

"Being where we are, and a lot of other clubs are in the same boat, what we've found is a lot of juniors may have moved into town (Bendigo) and families have moved out of the area," president Greg Bailey said.

"One of the other things we've looked at is missing last year didn't help at all. Some of the kids have realised that they can work on a Saturday and get paid to do it instead of playing football.

"But I think the biggest thing for us is having players who have moved out of the area."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: