Sport
30 November, 2023
FOOTBALL LATEST: Eagles are wanted, says league boss
By CHRIS EARL LODDON Valley Football League wants Maiden Gully in its under 18 competition next season. League president Simon Tuohey on Tuesday said he would work tirelessly to have the Eagles in a potential seven-team junior competition. “As...
By CHRIS EARL
LODDON Valley Football League wants Maiden Gully in its under 18 competition next season.
League president Simon Tuohey on Tuesday said he would work tirelessly to have the Eagles in a potential seven-team junior competition.
“As a league, we will bend over backwards to make this happen,” Tuohey said following the league’s annual general meeting on Monday night.
The vow came just days after AFL Central Victoria commissioners rejected a bid by the Eagles to put their reformed under 18 team in the major Bendigo league.
Eagles’ president Chris Garlick said the club would not comment on the decision while it reviewed possible action.
But Maiden Gully has told Loddon Valley it will not field a team in the local league.
A change of heart by Maiden Gully would raise the number of Loddon Valley junior teams to seven in 2024.
Newbridge is reforming its young outfit and already has 11 players committed to don the Maroons jumper.
Pyramid Hill reformed this year and East Loddon Rams was established in 2022 for players aligned to Serpentine, Mitiamo and Calivil.
Tuohey said: “The league remains flexible and accommodating of clubs in managing the cyclic availability of junior players in country communities. We worked to form the Rams to make sure kids at those three clubs were not missing out on a game.”
Maiden Gully has stood out of under 18 football for two seasons although its failed bids to switch to the Heathcote league foe 2023 and then again for 2024 included a commitment to field a junior side.
The Eagles played in four consecutive Loddon Valley under 18 grand finals, winning the flag in 2019.
They have appointed under 18 coaches for next season and an all-club training run was scheduled for last night at its Marist Oval headquarters.
Neither Maiden Gully or Bendigo league are commenting on future plans that are believed include the whole club stepping up to the major league as early as 2025.
AFL Central Victoria started a new under 18 competition this year but attracted only five clubs - all from Loddon Valley.
The juniors will return under Loddon Valley’s umbrella for 2024. A seven-team competition would be the biggest since before COVID.