Westmeadows and Roxburgh Park are two of the clubs interested in fielding a third senior side in the Essendon District Football League next season.
With increased player numbers at both clubs they, and four premier division sides – Greenvale, Strathmore, Keilor and Aberfeldie – have spoken to the EDFL about a third team.
Westmeadows president Andrew Brown said the division 1 side was confident it could field a team if the competition went ahead.
“We’re not fully committed at this stage,” he said last week.
“We have pretty strong numbers and only so many spots in our teams and we’ve had to tell players they’d be missing out on games.
“It’s [a third team] an idea we floated at club level and contacted the EDFL and they said other clubs were interested.”
The Tigers have started seeking people interested in off-field roles, including coaching. Brown said the club wanted to make a decision on a third side some time this month.
Roxburgh Park president Ron McGill said his side was 50-50 on having a third senior side.
The Magpies finished runner-up in division 2 in 2014.
“We have registered our interest and we have plenty of senior numbers,” he said.
“We had about 55-60 players last season and up to 15 missing out on games some weeks.
“We have kids coming through from under-18s who we want to get games into. That’s our club policy.
“The club is waiting to see what numbers we have for this season and we’ll go from there.
“We won’t know until February whether we will have a [third] team and [the EDFL] knows this and understands.”
McGill said the club’s inclusion could also depend on being able to get lights at its ground, so matches could possibly be played on Friday nights.
Both club presidents said they had been in constant contact with the league about the issue.
Tara Murray
