The future direction of AFL Riverina's competitions was put in front of the board on Wednesday night.
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The 'emerging recommendations' of David Burgess' review into the junior and senior competitions were tabled to the AFL Riverina board for the first time at a specially-convened meeting.
The review's working party met with AFL staff and the AFL Riverina board to discuss, debate and workshop the emerging recommendations.
The meeting marks a significant step in the review process, that began in August last year.
AFL NSW-ACT state manager for football, policy and major projects Sam Chadwick said the meeting with the AFL Riverina board was an important step in the process.
"The purpose of the workshop is for the AFL, league board and the review working group to discuss and test the emerging recommendations," Chadwick explained.
"We have embarked on a significant research and consultation process to understand the state of play and case for change. That said, we don't want to rush it. We need to identify if there is anything we need to explore further or whether there are any particular concerns with respect to the emerging recommendations including the rationale behind a proposed recommendation."
Subject to AFL Riverina board's in principle endorsement, the review working group will then decide an appropriate timeline to discuss the recommendations with clubs.
Chadwick and Burgess stressed they will meet with clubs face-to-face.
"We will meet with all clubs to obtain further feedback and test around both the recommendation itself, and if a recommendation is considered necessary and appropriate, the timeline for implementation," Chadwick said.
Chadwick believes the working party is 'on the right path'.
"The working party has had a lot of internal meetings and also tested at eye level with Michael Irons, as a representative of the board, to see whether we were generally heading in the right direction and so far it has been very promising," he said.
"The issues are complex, definitely, but we feel like we're on the right path in providing a framework for future growth and sustainability."
The working party has also 'factored in' the importance of netball in the emerging recommendations.
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