The league pulled the pin following a meeting of its member clubs, with Shepparton's growing number of positive COVID cases the primary factor.

Strathmerton finished top of the senior football competition with 13 wins and one loss but although the league intends to hold its best-and-fairest count, formal team awards are off the table for 2021.

"There will be no premierships given," operations manager Shane Railton confirmed.

"There is no intent to do that whatsoever and we won't be awarding any prizes for finishing on top of the ladder.

"That was never set out at the start of the season so we think it's unfair and unreasonable to give a minor premiership.

"In saying that, the minor premiership is always given by the ladder.

"History will show those clubs who finished on top of the ladder were the best side for the year.

"There's no need to add anything extra and that's not going to happen. The board's been very clear on that.

"The ladder will represent who finished on top and that will be the conclusion of it."

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In the end, league and club officials ran out of viable options in the face of the increasingly concerning situation around Shepparton.

"The overwhelming factor was that we have a large number of members who are currently in isolation because they've been to an exposure site," Railton said.

"That meant it would be 14 days, at least, before some of those people could even exercise and the overwhelming feeling from clubs and the board was that if they come out, it would only be fair and reasonable they get a couple of weeks to train and be prepared, which took us to the end of September at best.

"Every club said that if there was to be a finals series, they wanted both Victorian and NSW clubs involved.

"We had two-thirds of our clubs say the season was absolutely done and there was another large percentage saying that even if it was to go ahead, there were certain sides that weren't willing to participate.

"In the end, there was an overwhelming desire to finish the season."

Railton thanked local politicians for keeping the league informed throughout the season but felt the right decision had now been reached.

"It was actually player-driven," he said.

"People had lost interest to continue. There are other things on their minds at the moment. A lot of people I know are in isolation.

"Unfortunately, the Shepparton cluster has increased people's anxiety and I wasn't surprised to see the GV follow suit."

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