On Thursday morning, it was announced that the Bendigo Football Netball League had penned a two-year interleague deal with the O&M.
It closes the chapter on a back-and-forth tussle for the Ash-Wilson Trophy that dates back to 1954, the first documented meeting between the two organisations.
The fortunes have favoured the black and gold in recent years, with the O&M taking three out of four victories on the football field between 2022-2025.
Whether the GVL has an alternative interleague opponent lined up for the next two years is yet to be confirmed, with operations manager Brad Noonan noting the league was only informed of the decision last week.
“We really don’t know at the moment; we only found out last week so it hasn’t been long to get our ducks in a row, so to speak. We’re just working through things at the moment,” he said.
“We’ve informed all our clubs and we’ll start talking with them to see how they feel about. It’s just a bit of a work in progress at the moment.”
Noonan said the GVL had full intentions of fielding sides for interleague competition in 2026 following its clash with the O&M back in May.
However, in light of the O&M’s decision to partner with the BFNL, a reassessment will be conducted.
“We’ll talk to the clubs and see what they wish to do,” Noonan said.
“If they want it to continue, we’ll see what we can source out with other leagues, but we’ll have to find out from the clubs what they wish to do.
“It’s all news to us as well so we’re just starting to figure things out.”
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