CYMS officially presented its proposal over a switch to Group 10 in front of what outgoing Group 11 secretary Ross McDermott described as one of the most well attended meetings in some time.

But, in a discussion that excluded all CYMS-affiliated people, media and visitors, the other clubs sent a “strong message”, denying the Fishies the move.

“Disappointing that decision has been made,” CYMS board member Wes Maas, who was the one who gave the proposal at the meeting, said.

“We think it’s a short term decision from the Group, putting off the inevitable that there needs to be some change.”

Prior to the vote, CYMS chairman Kevin Walkom had urged his rival clubs to think long term, saying “don’t look at the mountain in front of you, look out towards the horizon”.

Maas’ presentation focused on the need for change and he repeatedly said the decision was being made for the good of the game.

But the other clubs spoke of their concerns, with Macquarie representatives stating the CYMS derby is the club’s biggest earning day of the season, with other clubs said likewise. There was also concerns about the standard of the competition should the Fishies, who have been involved in 12 of the past 16 grand finals and won nine of those, depart.

And while Maas and the proposal stated a competition without CYMS would be a more even one which would draw in crowds that way, McDermott said the clubs felt otherwise.

“It was a strong message form the clubs that their (CYMS) moving would be detrimental to Group 11 and it would be,” he said.

“It would create a big hole in the Group 11 structure, some other things would be impacted further and, that decision, I support it.”

CYMS indicated the result of the vote, with exact numbers or details not given, does not change anything and chairman Kevin Walkom stated in the AGM his club will now hold a meeting in the near future to discuss its next move, something Maas backed up.

“We’ll take it to the next step. First of all we’ll review the decision here and then go from there,” he said.

That next step is believed to be the Country Rugby League (CRL), and something will need to budge one way or the other because as of right now CYMS is a club without a home, having not completed its registration with Group 11 for 2017.

“They’re certainly in limbo. They didn’t fulfill their obligations to affiliate with us,” McDermott said.

“That’s their right but the Group 11 board will listen to them in the coming weeks and try and work with them. Kevin (Walkom) has suggested we have a couple of meetings and we’ll support that.”