AFL Central Victoria will have a new region general manager for the 2022 season with Carol Cathcart tendering her resignation.

Cathcart has held the position since early in 2017 having previously been the manager of the Bendigo Football-Netball League.

Although she has announced her looming departure, Cathcart will continue in the position until December.

Cathcart moving on follows an arduous two years for football-netball, which has been severely impacted and disrupted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that forced the cancellation of the entire 2020 season and all of the region's 2021 seasons being called off without any finals being played.

"It has been a challenging two years, but we have fantastic staff at AFL Central Victoria and have always been trying to do what is best for volunteers, leagues and clubs," Cathcart said on Friday.

"We can't please everyone, but we have always tried to do the best we can and while it has been a challenge, I have always loved a challenge, which is what the past two years have been in trying to manage our way through it.

"One of the things I'm really proud of is we have got through to where we are now and we're still in a strong financial position, which sets us up to go into the future.

"I can leave knowing I've got great staff in place here, we have a really cohesive team that is supported by the commission and someone new can now come in and continue to improve the programs and the work we do to support our football and netball communities, help our volunteers and grow our sports."

While she is finishing up in her role as the head of AFLCV, Cathcart will retain her sporting links in Bendigo.

"I'll be doing a lot more with netball. I'm working in the specialist sport program at ADP (Athlete Development Program), so I'll do a bit more of that and I'm on the board of Netball Victoria, so I've got a few involvements with netball that will keep me busy," Cathcart said.

"I love developing coaches and athletes and netball is a passion and this will now give me time to do that."

Cathcart took over as AFLCV region general manager from Paul Hamilton.

"The role has really grown since I've been in it. When I took over we were in a position where we had the four senior leagues - Bendigo, Heathcote District, Loddon Valley and North Central - the juniors and we managed the umpires," Cathcart said.

"Since then we've really grown with the development of our women's competition that we started with AFL Goulburn Murray because there wasn't enough teams.

"After one season though we'd set up the Central Victorian Women's competition and that has really grown, which is exciting.

"The Bendigo Junior Football League and our clubs have grown female football where it has gone from just being under-12s and under-18s to there now being a full pathway with under-12s, under-14s, under-16s, under-18s and senior women.

"There's obviously things we need to continue to work on; we've got population declines in some areas and growth in other areas, but that's no different to what has been happening for years and we need to evolve.

"I'm really proud that we're in a strong financial position, we've got a strong women's program, we've started our netball academy, we're now administering the Central Murray and Golden Rivers leagues and the Bendigo-Strathdale Netball Association, so we've really grown as a business through the time I've been here.

"But the time has now come for someone else to come in, look at what we're doing to give new views and help the commission achieve their vision."

Cathcart said one of her key priorities throughout her stint in the role was to develop and foster strong relationships with all the region's leagues and clubs.

"I've worked really hard to try to do that and my approach has always been the more we can do in our office for our volunteers, the better so the community club can be a place to be enjoyed," Cathcart said.

"Ideally what I'd like to be able to say is that every one of our clubs in our region is strong and sustainable and while that's not always the case, it's something we're always working towards achieving.

"We haven't quite got there with all our clubs yet and it's something we need to continue building on.

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