Dubbo Westside may be no more after the club was voted out of Group 11 on Sunday.
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The Rabbitohs won't feature in Group 11 in 2020 after failing to convince their rival clubs and the competition's new-look board at Sunday's annual general meeting at the Dubbo RSL.
Wayne and Brooke Mallison, the club's president and secretary respectively, represented Westside at the meeting alongside first grade coach Paul Hausia and vice president Craig Britt.
They put forward their case but the lack of exact details fell short of what those in attendance wanted to hear, with one club representative going as far as calling the presentation "abysmal".
Wayne Mallison said at the meeting the uncertainty around the club's future meant he was unable to give a complete list of players or sponsors, as many were waiting for the outcome of Sunday's vote before fully committing.
That lack of definite details, combined with the club's poor results and failure to finish the 2019 season, saw the votes go against the Rabbitohs
"There's nothing more we could have done," Brooke Mallison said after the result.
"We'd done all our work. The governance and the committee was right."
The current Westside board hinted its time is at an end, with the emphasis now on other club members to "take the reins" if they want the Rabbitohs to apply to play in the second tier Castlereagh League in the future.
"It's the end of an era," Wayne Mallison put simply.
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The vote brought an end to Westside's five-year spell back in Group 11. The club had previously not featured in the competition since 1999.
Group 11 secretary Paul Loxley, voted in to continue in the role in 2020, heaped praise on the Mallisons and the Westside board but the questions around the sustainability of a competitive playing group was something too hard to ignore.
Loxley wouldn't reveal the exact outcome of the vote but prior to that representatives from six of the seven other clubs had stated during the meeting they were against the Rabbitohs returning due to that uncertainty.
Dubbo CYMS' Kevin Walkom wasn't in the room when that discussion was being had.
I'm really sorry for the current executive.
- Group 11 secretary Paul Loxley
"I'm really sorry for the current executive ... last year they really put a lot of effort in to get where they were and when you consider what they did, it was a wonderful job," Loxley said.
"The governance, you couldn't question it. Everyone said it was a pleasure to have Westside playing football but in saying that, last year it cost clubs to have Westside in the competition.
"I understand that. Clubs only get seven home games and if you're making a substantial loss relating to the crowd it makes it hard.
"I know it's a difficult situation when you can't say who's playing for you when you don't know if you're playing but on the other side of the coin I think all the clubs looked at it from a business perspective.
"As far as the board was concerned, they thought their decision had to reflect the general opinion of the participating clubs."
Westside's performances and a diminishing playing group last season was particularly concerning for rival clubs.
Westside didn't feature a juniors side at all in 2019 but after fielding league tag, reserves, and first grade in the first round a number of forfeits late in the year saw the club expelled from the final two rounds of the regular season.
The club was then told it would have to present its case at the AGM to ensure to prove it was viable to play on in 2020.
Westside's representatives at the meeting stated that downturn had a lot to do with the "backlash" from players having to pay their own registrations after previous boards had not enforced that.
The current board had paid the significant amounts owing to the then CRL in the past two years and they went into Sunday without anything owing but the impact from the previous committees was still being felt.
"It takes more than a week to patch holes that have been caused in the past four years," Hausia said.
"To fix that took a lot of guts and from the secretary to president and board, they did all that."
Hausia had said on Sunday there was a senior playing group of 25 at the time at Westside but only "seven or eight" of those were first grade quality.
He added the club was also in conversation with players in New Zealand and ex-NRL players but that was also not enough to convince those in attendance.
Loxley went on to say it was sad to see Westside go but he added there could be benefits for smaller clubs like Narromine, as they might be able to boost their playing stocks.