Reports suggested the Greens would be seeking to join the Border-based competition for the 2018 season, but it has yet to be considered by the league’s committee.

Murray president Chris Treffers has been in contact with Tumbarumba since the announcement on Friday and admits their potential move to the Border is still very much a hypothetical.

“It was brought up at a meeting and they discussed options of what they could do and where they’re headed,” Treffers said.

“It was more speculation at their meeting that they were looking at Murray Cup and that was where it was left.

“I only spoke with their president yesterday (Saturday) and it’s still extremely early days.”

Treffers said Narrandera finds itself in a similar position since it departed Group 20 and essentially has nowhere else to go.

The added travel factor appears to be the major stumbling block if teams outside the region were accepted.

“The Murray Cup is more of a social competition than a highly-competitive competition and we have a certain application process much the same as other competitions would,” Treffers said.

“One thing with ours is we would prefer not to travel more than an hour from Albury-Wodonga.

“A lot of the players in our comp play in it because it’s a local comp and they don’t have to travel that far.

“It would defeat the purpose of having it because if we started having other teams coming in that we have to travel two or three hours away to play, we would start losing our current teams.

“We’ve got teams in Wangaratta and Corowa as well, so that’s a lot of time to spend on travel.”

However, a major aspect to be considered is the expansion of rugby league.

“If a team expresses interest to join the competition, it needs to be looked at and taken seriously,” Treffers said.

“It’s not something that is ruled out because they’re too far away, we need to look at the pros and cons and have a serious discussion with the teams interested.

“We’re hoping for a few others as well and we’re still not ruling them out, but they’re a lot further down the track than Tumbarumba and Narrandera are.

“I wouldn’t want to see them not playing at all.”

The Wodonga Wombats will join the competition in 2018 alongside Wodonga Storm, CSU Mud Dogs, Murray River Warriors, North Eastern Knights and Corowa Cougars.