The CSU Muddogs, from Thurgoona, and Wangaratta-based North East Knights, will join the already established Wodonga Storm, Murray River Warriors and Corowa Cougars in the second tier competition.

CSU Muddogs president Jarrod Maxwell has been one of the driving forces behind the new team and is excited to get it up and running.

“A group of us at the university wanted to have a more social game of footy around this area and it’s starting to come together now,” Maxwell said.

“It started off just as a men’s team, but the comp is encouraging us to get a league tag side as well.

“The travel is a big one for us to have to commit when you’ve got other things on like uni and work.

“I played for Thunder in reserve grade my first two years here, but it just started to get too much, so we decided to get this running.

“Myself and one of the other boys will be helping coach for now and training ourselves and we’re looking for a coach for the girls.”

Maxwell said there is quite a big group of CSU students wanting to play, but locals from outside the university have also shown interest.

Murray Cup president Chris Treffers is very pleased with how the competition has progressed in its five-year history.

This year is the first time the Murray Cup has had five teams and we’ll expand it more over the years,” Treffers said.

“We’ll work alongside the Group 9 guys to feed into their group and take some players that are developing.

“If they want to go into Group 9 and develop more into the future, they can go to teams like Albury Thunder and Tumbarumba.

“We’re governed by CRL and they said this competition needs to co-exist with Group 9 so we can become a feeder for clubs, which is working really successfully.”

Murray River Warriors will go back to one team in 2017 after fielding two last season, while Corowa Cougars are the only club not fielding a league tag side.

The Murray Cup is set to continue its double-header format again this season, due to the demand for referees.

“Hopefully in the near future we’ll be looking at expanding and having our own referees association,” Treffers said.

“Because referees have a national accreditation, if it gets to a point where we get a few referees together, we’re not just building up players for Group 9, we’re building up referees and can feed them into Group 9 as well.

Treffers added the competition hopes to continue its partnership with the Melbourne Storm after playing a representative game at AAMI Park last season before an NRL fixture, as well as running another Murray Cup Mother’s Day fundraiser.

The Murray Cup will be expanded to a 15-week season this year, as well as finals, with round one kicking off on Sunday, April 23.