GDFNL president Neville Whitley says interleague will only return with the support of the competition’s clubs.
The Raiders last took to the field in 2019 in a long-awaited meeting with the Bellarine at Queens Park, with the Sharks running out 39-point winners.
Whitley, who is entering his 41st season as president, says the GDFNL has been approached by the Colac and District League about a potential mid-season match-up.
The long-serving leader believes there is an appetite for representative football, especially among younger players.
“There was a bit of a feeling that, yes, let’s look at it and do some costings and all the rest of it,” Whitley said.
“It’s not definite yet, but I think some of the clubs would be interested.
“I’m not sure about the coaches, whether they want their best players playing. That’s the issue we’ve had in the past.
“But if the young guys want to have a go at it, if it’s an underage, or age limited, then it’s probably has a fair bit of merit.”
BEYOND THE BOUNDARY: MARCH 26 – JACOB SAMMUT, RON PILGRIM, DAMIAN MCMAHON, ED WILSON
Colac and District has proposed playing on the King’s Birthday public holiday on Monday, June 9, with Winchelsea’s Eastern Reserve flagged as the likely venue.
The GDFNL has a league-wide bye that weekend, while the CDFNL plays a full round of matches on the Saturday.
“We’d prefer the Sunday, but if that’s the way it’s going to be, well, so be it,” Whitley said.
“There’s no big issue with that.”
Whitley says cost is also a factor, with AFL Victoria no longer covering expenses as it has previously done.
“It has been discussed on a smaller scale whether we should do it or not because there’s a lot of costs involved because we used to get reimbursed a bit by AFL Vic, but they’ve withdrawn that sponsorship” he said.
“But it’s something we can go down and see whether it’s still available.”
X: @krockfootball
