Magpies on the move?

Dalyston Football Netball Club have begun to explore a potential move to the Ellinbank and District Football Netball League.

The Magpies have tabled a special general meeting with members for next Tuesday night where they will vote on a resolution to explore a move.

If supported, the club will begin the process of lodging relevant forms and documentation with AFL Victoria and the West Gippsland Football Netball Competition. The Magpies will present their case to members explaining the rationale behind the proposed move, including travel, financials and player points.

Should the move succeed, the South Gippsland-based club would be quite the outlier in the EDFNL, being more than half an hour's drive away from their closest clubs.

West Gippsland already has lost a club to the EDFNL in recent years after Bunyip successfully returned to the league before the 2025 season following years of struggle on the football field.

The Magpies will require approval from the EDFNL's member clubs to enter the league, and given clubs rejected Bunyip's first attempt to return to a league they were once a part of, it's difficult to see them giving their blessing to a club more than an hour away from Warragul.

It's not the first time the more southern WGFNC clubs have explored moves to the EDFNL - Korumburra Bena and Kilcunda Bass did the same in 2022 to no avail.
Dalyston have featured in the WGFNC's finals just once in 2017, which was the first year of the competition's existence.

Since then their senior football side has struggled, winning more than four games in a season just once in 2023.
The Magpies at least offer a full contingent of junior sides, something that some other West Gippsland clubs cannot.

The club's A and B grade netball sides are both in contention for top six though their other teams, particularly their juniors, have had far less luck.