The Northern Jets could be a shock applicant for a spot in the new AFL Riverina Premier Division next year.
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They're weighing up whether to apply for the top flight due to concerns about the impact of the community competition being 'tiered' to cater for clubs that don't have all grades.
The Riverina League and Farrer League will make way for a new AFL Riverina Premier Division and AFL Riverina Community Divisions.
The Northern Jets last year questioned the logic behind uprooting a strong and respected Farrer League to create second and third tier divisions.
President Simon Gaynor says those worries are strong enough to have the Jets reconsidering their future.
"I'd like to keep our club options open. We might go for the premier league just so we get that stability," Gaynor said.
"We want to improve our club. We want to keep it sustainable into the future...
"So we have to keep our options open.
"We'll have to discuss it as a committee. The committee will decide in the finish which way we go but there's a fair bit of support coming for a premier league push."
The Premier Division has strict eligibility criteria but the attraction for the Jets is clubs fielding all grades.
In contrast, the Farrer League will morph into a more flexibile competition of AFL Riverina Community Division One (seniors), Community Division Two (reserves) and Community Under 17.5s.
"I still worry about splitting the club, having some playing division two and some playing in division one, and the division two team having to go and play at a different venue, like Cootamundra," Gaynor said.
"It does worry me, and it worries me that other clubs might find an easy way out to not put sides in.
"They might think, 'we'll just play division two'.
"That's my concern. I don't want the club being split in two, or half the club having a bye some weeks."
Cootamundra's bid to join the Farrer League this year (in reserve grade only and with limited netball grades) wasn't just strongly rejected.
It also unearthed deep concerns among Farrer clubs about the impact of a tiered competition from 2023, particularly as the Blues were encouraged to postpone their application for 12 months.
Gaynor said it's incumbent on him to make sure the Jets consider their long term future carefully and a big attraction would be knowing their under 17.5s will play every week. That's something that doesn't happen in the Farrer League.
"We've got every grade," he said.
"We're pretty competitive in first grade and we might not be as competitive in that league but we could work on it.
"I don't want to go into a league that's splitting our club up. I can't just worry about first grade. We've got to worry about every grade getting a game.
"We've got great crowd support and we're going along pretty well. I just want to do the right thing by the club."
Clubs have until the end of June to file their applications.
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