Wagga club won’t field first-grade side in 2023 Group 9 comp
Wagga Brothers will not field a first-grade side in the 2023 Group 9 competition.
In a statement sent to media outlets on Friday afternoon, Wagga Brothers president Zac Wilson explained why his club will not field a first-grade side, although he believes this will be an ‘isolated’ situation, with the Wagga club aiming to field a first-grade side in 2024.
“As a result of significant player movements away from our club, we have provided the Group 9 Board with a proposal for our club to not field a Group 9 First Grade team for the 2023 season,” Wilson said.
“We strongly believe that this will be isolated to the 2023 season, and we will continue to do everything we can to rectify this situation for the 2024 season.”
While not approved by the Group 9 board at the time of publishing, Brothers plan to field three grades in the 2023 Group 9 competitions, similar to what Junee did in 2021 and 2022 when the Diesels fielded reserve-grade, League-Tag, under 18s, and under 16s teams.
“Our proposal to the Board is to allow our club to field three teams in Group 9 competitions this year, including Reserve Grade, Ladies Leaguetag and Under 18s,” the statement read.
“The Board will consider our proposal in due course and a decision will be made shortly.”
Wilson and his committee thanked everyone involved for their support in making what was a tough decision for the proud Group 9 club.
“The Wagga Brothers Seniors Executive would like to thank the continued support of all our current players, past committee members, sponsors, volunteers, supporters and the Wagga Brothers Juniors club in making this decision and putting this proposal forward to the Board,” the statement read.
“We are a club with a strong history in Group 9 and a proud record of recent club achievements including many Ladies Leaguetag premierships and our Under 16s team winning the 2022 premiership.”
While disappointed for the club and competition, Group 9 vice-chairman, Bernie Delaney said the Board supported Brothers and their plans for 2023.
Still, Delaney stressed that the Wagga club will need to meet ‘certain expectations’, such as a ‘recovery plan’ and ‘maintaining three teams as a minimum’, along with a financial commitment of $25,000 to be paid to Group 9 this season, which will be returned to the club when they do make a successful return to the first-grade competition.
“They still have a few things to work through, but we’ll meet with clubs, and I dare say we will have an announcement by the end of the week,” Delaney said.
Delaney, Chairman Andrew Hinchcliffe, and the Board will meet with Group 9 club representative this week, and hear out any support or objections, but he stressed that any decision surrounding Brothers and their fate will come down to the Group 9 Board and not rival clubs.