Milne, 29, went to Nullawarre Primary School before completing his secondary schooling at Brauer College and Ballarat Grammar.

He goes Under the Auld Pump with TIM AULD.

Mat, we'll talk about your sporting highlight soon but where did your footy career begin?

I played junior footy with Nirranda. Jake Harkness and Jim McKenzie were my junior coaches. We didn't win any premierships.

I went on to play school footy with Brauer College and with North Warrnambool's under 14 and under 16 sides. I played in the finals on a few occasions with North Warrnambool's junior sides but we failed to win a premiership before I went on to play for Dunnstown's under 18 side in the Central Highlands league.

It would have been when I was in year 12 playing footy for Ballarat Grammar and we were playing Ivanhoe Grammar when I ended up breaking my right collarbone and I needed two operations. It was a clean snap but the doctors said it was a very bad break.

I had pins put in and it took a long time for the collarbone to heal.

I was not a great footballer but I just loved playing the game with my mates.

I played indoor tennis in Warrnambool in the pennant competition and really enjoyed it.

I played soccer and loved it but after a while my life was focused on my studies.

You've worked for AFL Western District as an operations co-ordinator for more than a year now. What does the job entail?

I work closely with the league boards and the clubs on matters relating to governance, operations and managing finances.

The 2019 local footy season finished nearly two months ago. Would you consider the season a success?

It was pretty good. The finals were very busy.

I've found it a very interesting job because there's so many factors at play.

We've got to deal with clubs which contain the lifeblood of the leagues and that is volunteers.

Since I've been in the job I've seen firsthand how much time the volunteers put into making their clubs work.

I've got the upmost respect for the volunteers because they do an amazing amount of work to ensure everything is in place for football and netball games.

The volunteers are the backbone of the competition, whether that's footy or netball.

We may be in the off-season but there always appears to be something going on relating to local footy or netball at all times of the year.

How many leagues come under the AFL Western District umbrella?

We've got six leagues. It comprises of the Great South West Junior Football League, South-West District Football Netball League, the Mininera and District Football League, Warrnambool and District Football Netball League, Hampden Football Netball League and Deakin University Female Football League. We've got the newly-formed Great South West Junior Football League in place for this year.

It's an amalgamation of the old South West District Junior League and the clubs from the Hamilton junior league.

The new league has been difficult to put in place because there are some clubs are not aligned to senior clubs, but it looks like we've got over those issues covered.

Would it be fair to say it's a tough job trying to work with all those leagues and clubs?

It can be a bit trying. Let's just say it's like working for six different businesses.

It's unique. There's no doubt that football and netball play a major role in local country communities.

I mentioned previously that volunteers are the backbone of the clubs.

The volunteers are very passionate and do wonderful jobs but on some occasions they don't see the bigger picture.

The volunteers can be focused on what is only good for their club not for all the clubs in the leagues.

From where we are at AFL Western District, it can sometimes be a bit frustrating as you try and get everyone on the one page to look at the bigger picture. The role of AFL Western District is to help reduce the work load on volunteers. We were put in place to streamline local footy administration.

There's still a lot of work to be done but we feel we're moving in the right direction. It's all going to take time and effort to have the right administration in place. It's obvious it's tougher for clubs to survive in some towns. Years ago, on one country road there may have been four farms owned by different farmers and they may have had 12 children between them but now those four farms are owned by one farmer who could have two children and they are not interested.

There has been a big population shift away from smaller country towns. Another major factor relating to player numbers is young people heading away for university or work. Years ago, local businesses were not open all day Saturdays but they are now, so we've lost players for that reason. It's a balancing act by the small towns to still have netball and football sides.

Who are the people that make up the AFL Western District commission?

There's Gerard Lucas, Mark Robson, Amelia Armytage, Amanda Wearne, Terry O'Keeffe and Craig Monigatti.

The commission meets every month. The commission members bring a wonderful skill-set to the table. The commission works very closely with the AFL.

What's the financial situation across the local clubs?

They're pretty good - some clubs are doing it tougher than others but overall they aren't too bad.

The clubs will all benefit because the affiliation fee is removed this year. In some cases that will amount to a saving of $6000 and in other cases $4000. We're aware it's tough for clubs to survive, whether that be because of player numbers or financially, but we're trying to do our best so all clubs can survive.