By Russell Bennett
Drouin’s hopes of joining the West Gippsland Football Netball Competition from next season have been dealt a massive blow with the AFL Gippsland commission last week rejecting their application to make the switch from the Gippsland League.
The Hawks must now rely on a successful appeal to AFL Victoria in order to make the move.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Gazette, AFL Gippsland region general manager Travis Switzer praised the Hawks’ handling of their application.
“At the end of the day, it was a really good submission from them and they’d done a lot of work and handled themselves very well throughout the process and been very upfront and transparent,” he said about the initial bid to AFL Gippsland.
“They presented a really strong case and it wasn’t an easy decision but it was fairly unanimous (against Drouin making the move) and the feedback we’d had from clubs played a part in that.”
Switzer said the current WGFNC clubs were “very concerned about a town the size of Drouin having a side in the competition” given that some of the existing clubs are “small villages”.
“There’s the potential for Drouin to continue to grow as well – it’s the fourth biggest town (in the Gippsland League), and it’s almost the third because it’s almost the same size as Moe now,” he said.
“We know they’re really struggling at the moment, we know they’ve got a lot of work to do, but we can still see enough positives that we think they can be a very valuable asset to the Gippsland League and we just feel they’re more suited there in terms of moving forward in that competition.”
Switzer acknowledged that the sustainability of the Hawks was a concern, but was quick to add that “we’ve also got the sustainability of all our other clubs to consider”.
“A lot of the West Gippy clubs’ feedback, too, was that it’s the first year of a new competition and things are really positive at the moment but let’s see if we can bed it down – it’s only been a year,” Switzer said.
“They’d like to see it continue as is for a while and see how it goes.”
Switzer said clubs across the Gippsland League were also “fairly unanimous” in their views against Drouin making the switch.
“There’s probably one club who supported their application but the rest of the clubs felt that Drouin had enough recent success to be able to keep going in the Gippsland League,” Switzer said.
Drouin is one of the most successful netball clubs in the Gippsland League. A separate entity to the football club, they’ve played in 23 finals since 2010 and won six A Grade flags since 2005.
The Hawks’ senior football side finished fifth on the ladder last season and defeated local rival Warragul in an elimination final.
“They’ve played in two grand finals in this decade,” Switzer said.
“That’s not to say that they haven’t got their challenges. We’re very empathetic and we’re not walking away saying ‘here you go, you’re in the Gippsland League – tough luck’.”
Switzer said there is “a level of angst” from Drouin about the AFL Gippsland decision, but added: “We think we need to help them put together a really strong and sustainable plan for the club, off the field, which could then help set them up on the field.
“Whether they appeal and go to West Gippsland, or stay in Gippsland – the whole town needs to get behind this club and they need some more help.
“Let’s try and get some things in place so that next year we’re not back in the same position.”
Switzer said AFL Gippsland had offered to pay for strategic planning sessions tailored to the Hawks.
“We’re also happy to facilitate that ourselves – we’ve got some staff who can do that – but it might be good to get someone independent with some skills in that area,” he said.
“It’s not a cheap exercise, but we think there’s a lot of really good ideas on the table. Footy clubs, now, in the Gippsland League are businesses and we’d like to put together a bit of a plan around how they’re going to be able to move forward.
“They’ve got some great ideas around a new development program – a junior program – which they’ve applied to our Gippsland League for some funding, which we’ll fund.
“We’re offering, and our commissioners are offering, to be part of any planning meetings or any committee meetings moving forward. We’re offering to help them, potentially, with fundraising ideas and sponsorship ideas.
“If they do appeal, we’ll wait until that decision is handed down (but) I think we’re in a better position now to get a bit of surety about where they’re going to be and we can get in there and help them. We can’t run their club for them, but we’re offering to really get in and get our hands dirty with them and support them as much as we can.”
There have been plenty of rumblings in recent months about clubs from other leagues – such as the South East Football Netball League (SEFNL) – looking to join the WGFNC. Switzer, however, said: “I don’t see that we’d be encouraging too much change in the near future, anyway”.
“We’ll still look at things on a case-by-case (basis) – we’ll always do that – but we’re pretty comfortable with the clubs that are in there at the moment,” he said.
“We’re definitely not out there looking to bring new teams in – we’re not doing that. I think it’s a bit of a feather in the cap for the clubs in that competition at the moment that there’s so much interest and there have been four or five clubs showing a little bit of interest in coming in.”
