Rugby Victoria is pleased to confirm that the Senior Competition Review concluded this week. The draft recommendations and full review document were presented to the Rugby Victoria Board on Wednesday and sent to club’s yesterday for final feedback and review.
The consultation process during the Senior Competition Review has been extensive and broad in its scope. This included:
- Town halls in the South of Melbourne, West of Melbourne and Country Victoria.
- Two detailed club’s surveys, participant surveys and a survey of all stakeholders.
- Meetings with individual clubs and committees, across Victoria.
- Two working parties (male and female) who reviewed, analysed and developed the final recommendations. The working parties were open to all clubs and had coach, volunteer, player, RV board and staff, VRRU, WRDA and both metro and country Victoria representatives.
The recommendations represent the views of the Rugby community in Victoria. They address current needs and issues, whilst also setting a clear direction and vision for senior rugby into the future. The recommendations also align with Rugby Victoria’s strategic direction and consider how we leverage the upcoming Rugby World Cups to grow our sport.
There is a clear focus on competitive Rugby that creates enjoyable experiences for all participants and provides Rugby competitions for players, at all levels and abilities. Specifically, minimisation of forfeits and creating an environment where all teams have a chance to compete and score each week was a consistent theme through-out the review process.
Development of a competition structure that provides sustainability and competitiveness was a key outcome. The recommendations aim to address systematic issues within our competition structures, promote new club growth and development and provide clubs and participants the ability to grow, develop and prosper.
The review will see several key changes to the structure of competition Rugby in Victoria. Clubs and players were in unanimous agreement that a circuit breaker has been needed in Victorian Rugby and change is needed. The agreed upon but most significant outcome of the review will be the introduction of divisional Rugby in men’s competitions from 2026. This will provide a strong and competitive premier division, whilst simultaneously promoting and facilitating new club growth and development, and providing clubs the opportunity to rebuild and improve in a competitive environment.
Creating the divisional split was the most challenging aspect of the review. No model was unanimously supported in the early stages of the review process. Five (5) options were presented to clubs, with several of the proposed options developed by members of the Rugby community. There was a clear direction provided by our member clubs that all clubs should have the ability to play their way into Dewar shield. This forms the basis of the model developed by the working party, to be released on November 11th.
The reviews focus extends beyond Dewar shield and provides recommendations aimed to grow Rugby across all levels. This includes Women’s Rugby, Colts, Thirds, social Rugby competitions, Sevens and alternative offerings (Such as Under 85’s). The review also identifies the need to continue to support the growth and development of referees.
The senior competition review is the first phase of an extensive review and restructure of Rugby in Victoria. The Junior Review has begun, with consultation to continue throughout November. Recommendations will be released in December. The final phase is a full review and restructure of Rugby Victoria’s rules, policies, by-laws and procedures, with the review document sent to clubs before Christmas and the recommendations released in early February 2026.
We thank our community for their support throughout the review process. Engaging our community through collaboration, consultation and ensuring that their views are represented and heard, is a priority for Rugby Victoria moving forward. The final recommendations and full review document will be released on Tuesday 11th November 2025.
Aaron Bailey
CEO
Rugby Victoria
