The vote, to be held on Wednesday night, will decide if Maiden Gully YCW Eagles and Marong will join the competition in 2023.
Both clubs are located west of Bendigo and currently compete in the Loddon Valley Football Netball League.
It will be up to the current HDFNL clubs to decide whether to accept the two new teams into the league, with a majority of 75 per cent needed to okay the requests.
A successful vote on Wednesday night doesn’t guarantee the move, with clearance still needed from the Loddon Valley league and AFL Central Victoria for it to go ahead.
Nine clubs currently compete in the HDFNL — Leitchville Gunbower, Lockington-Bamawm United, Colbinabbin, Huntly, North Bendigo, Elmore, Heathcote, Mount Pleasant and White Hills.
LBU president Andrew Cochrane said his club would vote in favour of the two sides joining the league.
“I am all for them joining the league at this stage,” Cochrane said.
“The more teams in the league, the stronger you are as a league.
“I’m more than happy for them to come over. As long as they are financially sound and competitive and have their junior structures in order, it should be all good.”
Leitchville Gunbower president Rob Gundry said the Bombers were also supportive of welcoming the new clubs.
“We are all for it,” Gundry said.
“It definitely makes the league stronger to have two more clubs in there. It’s only a good thing from a league perspective.
“The way country footy is going with other leagues struggling for numbers, for us to be gaining clubs puts the league in a really good position.”
While in favour of the new additions, Gundry said he had some apprehension around the impact two new clubs near Bendigo could have on the junior set-up.
“We are a country club and the league is moving more metropolitan. I don’t know how that is going to affect us, LBU or Elmore down the track, we just haven’t got the junior numbers that these Bendigo clubs have got,” he said.
“It’s going to be hard for us to compete against them from a junior numbers point of view. But it is what it is, we just have to work around that.”
Under the current set-up in the HDFNL, clubs play each other twice during the 18-round regular season.
The departures of two of its clubs could have a a huge impact on the Loddon Valley league. If Maiden Gully YCW and Marong both depart, it would leave the LVFNL with just seven clubs next season.
Maiden Gully YCW was formed in 2017 when Youth Christian Workers Sporting and Social Club and Maiden Gully Junior Football Club merged. YCW won four senior premierships, most recently claiming back-to-back flags in 2001-02.
Marong joined the Loddon Valley league in 1989 and has won one senior football premiership and two A-grade netball flags.
Marong’s football sides all sit in the top two in the seniors, reserves and under-18s this season, while its four senior netball sides are all in the top half of the ladder.
Three of MGYCW’s four senior netball sides are in first place on the ladder, and although its senior and reserves football sides currently sit in the bottom third, the club has a reputation for its strong junior program.
According to the 2020 WorkSafe AFL Victoria Community Championship Rankings, the HDFNL ranked 16th in the state, while the Loddon Valley league ranked second-last at 29th.
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