THE region's four football and netball competitions are weighing up their options after a coronavirus lockdown threw finals plans into disarray.
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Hampden league is "working through necessary conversations", Warrnambool and District is taking a wait-and-see approach, Mininera and District has a board meeting on Tuesday night and South West District's "preference is to get a finals series up and completed".
All of the leagues, bar Hampden, had planned to start their four-week finals campaigns last weekend before a shock state government announcement on Friday night forced them to the sidelines.
The four competitions all use a top-five, four-week finals system.
But considerations could be made.
Some competitions across Victoria have cancelled their seasons, including Sunraysia on the Murray River.
A two-week series, which would feature one-versus-four and two-versus-three with the winners to advance to the grand final, was used for the Hampden league's junior series.
That competition is also parked with Sunday's grand finals impacted by the lockdown.
South West District league media officer Susie Holcombe said there were a number of factors to consider.
She said the league had a hastily-convened meeting on Friday night when the announcement filtered through.
"We have said we can't do anything until the new guidelines come out, so we are just sitting and waiting," Holcombe said.
"It is our preference to get a final series up and completed."
Holcombe said a decision on format would be made after consulting with the executive and club presidents.
"Like everybody, we're just in limbo at the moment," she said.
"We don't want to call it too early because of what happened a few weeks ago, we were supposed to be in lockdown for seven days and we were in for three.
"We don't want to go cancelling everything and then go 'damn, we can play'.
"We are just going to bide our time for a few days."
Holcombe said South West District was aware its decision was far-reaching.
"We have other sports to consider, it's not just about us, so there's a whole lot of factors," she said.
Holcombe said it had been a challenging season for clubs, players and volunteers with numerous lockdowns forcing the cancellation of home-and-away rounds.
"It's been a really tough year for everybody, just to get the games up and running, let alone everything else that is happening," she said.
"We really commend all the presidents and the clubs for sticking with it and being as COVID-safe as they can."
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