Marrar president John Carroll has called on Farrer League clubs to come together in opposition to the AFL's proposed restructure.
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Carroll threw his wholehearted support behind Greg Verdon's comments in The Daily Advertiser on Monday, where the former Southern NSW AFL chairman blasted the proposed changes, warning it could be the demise of the proud competition.
Carroll went a step further, suggesting the removal of the Farrer League to an AFL Riverina Community Division One competition, and the associated changes, will 'kill us'.
The Bombers president believes it is time for the Farrer League clubs to stand up and be counted.
"We need to get all clubs to respond to this and say what's the benefit of it? At the end of the day, it will be the death of footy. You're going to kill the Farrer League to start with," Carroll said.
"Verdo's 100 per cent right. Greg's been around footy for long enough, he's been in high positions with footy and he's definitely hit the nail on the head. There's a lot of proud clubs in that league and they've all had their time at the top. Some clubs go up and some clubs go down but that's footy, you have your successful seasons.
"Leave the leagues alone. The clubs are run well. If these changes go ahead, the community clubs won't have any players left. How are we going to have our seniors play on a Saturday at one venue, and our seconds could be playing somewhere else on the same day? No way known. It will kill us.
"Now it's up to the clubs to decide how they want to go about this. If we're not happy then why are we letting this happen? We need to say 'well this is what we want to do'.
"If the league aren't going to be open to suggestions, we as clubs, need to get together outside of them and work out what we want to do. And not be dictated to by the AFL."
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Marrar had previously indicated they will apply to enter the AFL Riverina Premier Division next season, and Carroll says that may not necessarily change.
He stated the Bombers' first preference is for the Farrer League to remain in its current shape, but would then look to the premier league out of fear of what will become of the 'community' competition.
Northern Jets are now in the same boat. They are considering applying for the premier competition amid concerns about the community league.
East Wagga-Kooringal and North Wagga are also pushing ahead with plans to apply for the top competition.
"We're still looking at that avenue," Carroll said.
"We need to be proactive and go into the premier league but it's not our preferred option. We're happy with how everything's going. But if we didn't look like we're being proactive, we'd lose our players."
Carroll is confident just about all of the Farrer League clubs would prefer the competition remain in its current form.
"As clubs in the Farrer League, we have to be seen to be going forward otherwise we're going to lose all our players," he said.
"I've spoken to a lot of clubs within the two leagues, just in general conversation...but there's no one I've heard say anything any good about splitting the leagues up and making the changes."
Carroll's comments are timely as all club delegates will come together on Sunday for AFL Riverina's annual general meeting.
The process, including the Burgess review and proposed changes, is being led by AFL Riverina, with the support of AFL NSW-ACT.
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