to join the VFL, over a transitional period in 2021 and 2022. This was expected to provide both the AFL clubs and the northeastern pathway clubs with a higher standard of competition, improving player development and senior pathways in the north east. Six of the NEAFL's nine teams joined the new competition: the Sydney reserves, Greater Western Sydney reserves, Brisbane reserves and Gold Coast reserves, and two stand-alone senior clubs from Queensland: Gold Coast based Southport Sharks and Brisbane based Aspley Hornets. Sydney based Sydney University was offered a licence before ultimately declining due to the cost to compete being too high. The Canberra Demons and Brisbane based Redland both declined to join the merged competition before licenses were offered. The competition was referred to by the working title 'VFL/East Coast second-tier competition' in official correspondence during part of the offseason, before the 'Victorian Football League' was ultimately retained unchanged. Changes to Victorian clubs The financial pressures of the pandemic resulted in many AFL clubs seeking lower-cost reserves affiliation options. A new, lowest-cost option was made available to the AFL clubs, under which reserves players would be dispersed throughout the various VFL clubs rather than being affiliated to a single club, but no club took up the option. Ultimately, the only change for 2021 was that the affiliation between and the Northern Blues was terminated after eighteen seasons – this had been announced in March 2020, prior to the cancellation of the 2020 season. This affiliation had been high cost for Carlton due to the large amount of money it had been investing in the club as a development pathway in the region. Carlton fielded its reserves team in the league for the first time since the 2002 season. Furthermore, the administration of the Northern Blues – which had initially announced that it would have to fold without Carlton's financial backing and was not included in the aborted plans for a shortened 2020 season – worked successfully through the year to find a means to remain viable as a stand-alone senior club, and returned to the league under its former Northern Bullants name, and in its traditional red and white colours. Other notes No Tasmanian team was introduced to the league in 2021 as part of the expansion interstate; although AFL Tasmania had gained a provisional licence in 2018 to re-establish a Tasmanian team in the VFL from 2021, plans