Angela Ballinger, current deputy-chair of the Wimmera Football Netball League, will take over the role on September 19.

Ballinger said she brings "absolute commitment, resilience and a passion for the game" to the role.

"I've lived here, raised family here and I've been a volunteer in the sporting space for some 30 odd years," Ballinger said.

"I've got years and years of experience to bring to this."

Previously, Ballinger has been the president of the Wimmera Netball Association and was a junior director in the Wimmera Football League Commission in 2005 and 2006.

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"I've had an interest in football for a long time, I'm the mother of three sons, I've been involved with their football careers and governance," Ballinger said.

"I know lots of people, I know lots of the stakeholders... there'll be people that I certainly don't know, but and I certainly understand the uniqueness of the area."

"I understand the geographical isolation and the obstacles that get in front of people trying to do their best and those pathways to professional sporting opportunities."

In 2018 and 2019, Ballinger was involved in planning the merger between the Wimmera Football League and the Wimmera Netball Association.

"The netball association came to a very small group of us to put together a working party to investigate the merger, understanding that it needed to be done," Ballinger said.

"There was a lot of appetite for it to happen, but people weren't sure how to go about it."

"Pauline Butler (current WFNL chairperson), myself and David Berry were that group, and we put together a proposal for the association; we wrote constitutions, bylaws, position descriptions, all the governance requirements, and the rest is history."

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The role of region manager is set to pivot, Ballinger said.

"The role that I'm taking on, isn't gonna be as operationally based as what it's been in the past few years with Jason Muldoon," Ballinger said.

"Previously, the region manager employed operational staff, and then those staff were on the boards of competitions, but at the end of October this year, the Wimmera and Horsham District leagues will have to employ their own staff."

"There's a lot changing operationally, and then the position that I'm taking on becomes a much more overarching, strategic type of role moving forward."

Ballinger said she understood the requirements asked of sporting clubs and their volunteers were increasing, and it would be part of her role to support that.

"This is a great vulnerability for the leagues at the moment, the skillset that our volunteers need is getting broader and broader all the time," Ballinger said.

"Whilst we always need people, you know, trainers and coaches and water people and people in the canteen, it takes a fair skillset now to run a club and to run a league."

For Ballinger, one of her first items on the agenda in her new role will be to talk to clubs and assess their needs.

"It's going to involve perhaps having some sit downs with club presidents and key stakeholders and just try to work out where they think they're placed - what's going well for them, what's not going so well for them, and what areas do we need to improve?" Ballinger said.

"We are coming off the back of some really interesting years, with COVID and no finals.

"Heaven forbid we get through unscathed this year and, and it all goes through quite sort of normally. It is a really interesting time for the, for the competition.

"It's a good time to really just to reflect and work out where we're at."

A decline in junior playing numbers is another consideration for Ballinger.

"Football isn't the only sport may be feeling the effects of changed behaviours (due to the pandemic)," Ballinger said.

"It'll be a matter of trying to reestablish football as a sport of choice for kids and families."

While she may be taking over the role, Ballinger said she would still work closely with Jason Muldoon, who vacated the position in March, 2022.

"I've worked really closely with him and consider him a really valued colleague," Ballinger said.

"He's still very much in the AFL space and I talk to him every other day...we are going to be great work buddies."

But beyond the role itself, it's a love of sport that drives Ballinger to get involved, and stay involved, with Wimmera sport.

"I've loved this, I've loved sport as a player, I've loved it as a coach," Ballinger said.

"Now I'm really enjoying being part of that team behind the scenes, the engine room just keeping things ticking over."

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