WDFNL creates history as Kylie Murphy is announced as president

League life member Kylie Murphy created history when she was elected into the board's top role at the WDFNL's annual general meeting on Monday night.

The long-serving netball sub-committee member, who was the chairperson in 2019, returns alongside Scott Coverdale (finances), Norm Gibson (umpires development) and Carolyn Howe (netball chair person/governance).

Allan Miller (vice-president), Taf Chitava (finances) and Georgia Harrison (Media/Marketing/Sponsorship), the daughter of outgoing president Michael, are the new faces joining the league executive.

The netball sub-committee will be led by Howe with Steph Townsend (Junior development officer), Kaye Hollis, Veronica Cannon, Loreta Doran, Fran Bell, Claire Dunn and Kim Jamieson joining her.

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Murphy, 46, who spent 11 years on the netball sub-committee, said she was looking forward to the her new role.

"It's going to be a challenge," she said.

"I have big shoes to fill with Michael (Harrison) stepping down and I hope he will be there in the background to help me occasionally. I may need to rely on him a little bit to help me out."

The mother-of-three is eager to continue the league's upward trend.

"I think we are going in the right direction," the South West Auto Services (RACV) employee said.

"We now we have Georgia (Harrison) working with (AFLWD's) Mat (Milne) for getting sponsors.

"Taf (Chitava) and Scott (Coverdale) will work well with finances and Allan Miller and Carolyn Howe will work well together with governance. We will all work well together."

Meanwhile, the WDFNL's finances are back in the black after a $98,000 turnaround.

The league on Monday revealed a $20,639 net profit for the year ended October 31, a far cry from its $77,708 loss at the end of the 2018 season.

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The result came after a $20,000 decrease in administration services paid to AFL Western District and better budgeting, highlighted with $4000 less spending during the past 12 months.

Finals entrance fees ($73,687 to $98,803) and sponsorship income ($52,577 to $66,313) rose, according the league financial report presented at the annual general meeting in Warrnambool on Monday night.

The introduction of $3000 club affiliation fees ($33,000) helped boost income.

The total income collected by the league also rose more than $95,000 due to finals entrance fees, sponsor income, affiliation fees and football contribution.

But the financial report revealed the league's total bank balance dropped $32,000 to $52,064.

AFLWD finance manager Louise Plozza said many 2018 bills were paid in the early stages of 2019 and the final bank balance is a lot healthier than the start of the football/netball season.

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