Kyabram will have seven teams starting from under 15 level downwards competing in a new northern Victorian junior league this season.
Amalgamations of the Shepparton, Goulburn Campaspe and Seymour junior leagues have formed the new league, which will be known as the Goulburn Murray Junior Football League.
The new league has come out of the AFL’s Goulburn Murray Junior Football Future Directions Project, which was first initiated in 2018.
The amalgamations will bring the three leagues under one governance .
Goulburn Junior League Advisory Group member Mark Lambourn said the merger was made due to the concern of a lack of competitive balance in the three competitions.
Three divisions of the new league will be formed, with the major focus on creating competitive games and less on winning.
Kyabram will have just the one team — a combination of the Kyabram and St Augustine’s players — competing in the Under 15 division.
St Augustine’s Junior Football Club president Damien Miller said numbers for both these teams were light on and the merger of the two teams had been made for this season only and would be known as St Augustine’s.
But Kyabram and St Augustine’s will both field teams and keep their identity in the Under 13, Under 11 and Under 9 competitions.