Club president Graeme Love and his committee hope to decide the club's future before their finals campaign begins.

They met Ballarat Football League officials last week to discuss an offer to switch from the Bendigo Football League for the 2010 season.

Ballarat league chief executive Rod Ward said he believed the information presented at the session was well received.

"We had about two hours with them and the opportunity to outline the benefits we see for them in Ballarat. If it doesn't proceed from here we can't kick ourselves for not taking the opportunity and putting the best case forward to them."

The Ballarat league has made three previous unsuccessful attempts to lure the Bulldogs.

Ward cited financial advantages, a reduction in travel and club rivalries as benefits of the move.

"There would be a reduction in travel by over 50per cent and financially we think their club would be $35,000 to $40,000 per annum better off."

He said Gisborne had existing club rivalries with Ballarat clubs including Sunbury, Melton, Melton South and Darley.

"We didn't want to waste their time or ours, so we went into a great amount of detail to sell the benefits in our submission."

Ward said securing Gisborne would create a balance between six Ballarat-based clubs and six eastern clubs.

"We have had an expression of interest from another club to join our league in 2012. I don't think our clubs would be interested in a 13-team competition so this could be a limited window of opportunity."

Mr Love said the committee would discuss the proposal in the coming weeks.

"We will have a meeting about it and then go from there. At the moment there is no timeframe for us to make a decision, but we will get it out of the road as soon as possible because we have a final series to worry about."

Gisborne is celebrating its 10th season in the Bendigo league after moving from the Riddell District Football League.

The Bulldogs have won four premierships - in 2002, '03, '05 and '06 - in the Bendigo league.

Respected coach Ty Elliott is confident his players can grab the ultimate glory this year.

Hard-nut midfielder Ollie Messaoudi is a key player.

Interestingly, he captained the Bendigo league to a stirring win over the Ballarat league in a high-stakes interleague game several weeks ago.