RICHARD Hicks, the newly elected chair of the Loddon Valley Football Netball League, says his revamped board’s main priority is the junior football program.
And in a bold bid to keep community football healthy, the league in the coming season will introduce an informal under-12s competition, with kids taking the field at half-time in the seniors.
“We hope every club will field a team. I’m sure most will have a crack,” Hicks says, acknowledging that it was “a start” in strengthening and maintaining family connections with local clubs.
The lack of junior pathways has seen the powerful Bendigo Football League attract many teenage players from the Loddon region who would otherwise turn out for their home clubs.
“Parents think their darlings are too young for under-18s. Most leagues have Auskick but we’re in competition with the Bendigo league, which has under-9s, under-10s and under-12s,” Hicks says who was elected league chief on Monday night. 
Something was needed to bridge the yawning gap between Auskick, which focused on primary school age children, and the Loddon Valley’s under 18 competition. So, the half-time junior football plan, which Hicks describes as “Auskick on the field”, will become a critical pathway.
He is hopeful the under 18 competition will be significantly boosted this season by the return of two clubs.
Maiden Gully, which has not fielded a junior boys’ side for the past two seasons, is expected to rejoin the competition, while Newbridge is also hopeful of re-establishing a team.
To help, the league will make the juniors a 16-a-side competition, placing less pressure on clubs to have large numbers of players.
For Hicks, it’s about making the league and its clubs sustainable.
He accepts that Marong and Maiden Gully, which have made attempts to change leagues in recent years, will eventually depart the Loddon Valley competition, although he says they will stay in the short term.
“The reality is that Marong and probably Maiden Gully will grow too big for the league,” Hicks says. “One day, they will be looking for better opportunities in the Bendigo league.
“It’s a growing competition, and we’re a declining one.” 
While that may sound ominous for the Loddon Valley league, Hicks is bullish about the future.

Another pillar of his new board will be to make the league an appealing pro