Corowa-Rutherglen coach Marc Almond has implored the Ovens and Murray to leave no stone unturned in its bid to play a shortened season this year.
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Almond fears Corowa-Rutherglen could be faced with an uncertain future if the season was scrapped and players were forced to find other pursuits on a weekend.
"I fear if we don't play this year, players will find other things to do on weekends and we could potentially go backwards," Almond said.
"You lose a quarter of your list and a similar amount of juniors and all of a sudden your future is uncertain.
"It raises the question, what are we going to do as a club?
"Do we merge, do we fold or do we just keep on battling along?
"That's the hardest part, player numbers aren't going to be any easier to get in the future.
"It's going to be a constant struggle because kids have got so many choices these days where previously the majority played football."
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Almond said any inroads the Roos had made over the past few seasons could easily be eroded if the coronavirus pandemic wiped out the 2020 season.
"I just don't want to play this year because I'm passionate about football," he said.
"It's more what it looks like in 2021, 2022, 20023 and beyond.
"I really fear we have done so much work and know we are still not where we want to be, but we actually look like an O&M club now.
"We train at a good standard, we get good numbers and are improving.
"A couple of years ago we were getting a dozen players to training on a Thursday night before a game."
Almond remains optimistic a shortened season is still a distinct possibility for the O&M.
He said he was buoyed by comments by league boss David Sinclair earlier this week that there could be long lasting ramifications if the season was abandoned.
"I've been very vocal about this internally but everybody seems to be putting up the problems and the challenges to the season starting," he said.
"But every football club has challenges, life has challenges.
"I think the greater evil would be not to play.
"The effect of not playing is something that we can't measure right now.
"So everybody reverts back to what they can measure and that's the financial impact.
"What we can't measure for instance, and Corowa is not the only club, have done so much work over the past few years just to get our head above water in terms of playing numbers.
"We are really stable off the ground but ultimately you need players to run a football club
"I think the greater evil would be not to play because you would lose players.
"There are a lot of clubs in the district holding together by the skin of their teeth in regards to playing numbers."
Almond said he didn't subscribe to the theory that volunteer burnout was a factor not to play.
"I know I get paid to do my job," he said.
"A lot of clubs have cited volunteer burnout as a factor not to play.
"But what people are forgetting is volunteers are usually involved from early March until late September.
"This year if a season starts it will be a 10-week block excluding finals so its not a long time.