He felt that switch would also help end Canberra's drought in producing AFL players and help return the ACT to being a constant producer of elite talent.

Canberra has lost a lot of cream over the off-season, with Matthew Lokan, Matt O'Dwyer and Ryan Brabazon all moving on. Former Port Power forward Nick Salter was the only ex-AFL player to join a Canberra club, in his case Ainslie.

The consensus between Eastlake, Queanbeyan, Belconnen and Ainslie is that junior development is more important than ever, especially with the social clubs behind the footy teams all tightening their belts.

The money needed to attract the big names is starting to dry up, plus Canberra's weather doesn't help when competing for a signature against clubs from Sydney and Queensland.

Bourke said even country footy was proving tough to compete against - less training and healthy cash payments are among the reasons that Canberra footballers are heading bush to play.

He felt the uncertainty of the NEAFL's structure last year didn't help, and said that once the league settled down it would become easier to attract players.

"We just have to change our focus and there's going to be more development of local kids, which is going to be good, and we're going to have to recruit differently than we have in the past," Bourke said.

"The trouble is we've got an identity crisis as a competition - we're trying to market ourselves as a tier-two competition, but realistically if a kid thinks they're a chance of getting drafted they're going to play in the VFL or SANFL.

"We have to change that."

Queanbeyan playing coach Kade Klemke agreed development was the key.

He felt this year's representative game between the NEAFL and the WAFL would be important for Canberra's chances of having someone drafted.

"If one of the younger guys [can play well], I think that's how [Dayne] Zorko got drafted in the end," Klemke said.

"They weren't even going to watch him and he played and had 38 touches against WA."

Belconnen's new playing coach Jeremy Rowe, who played for West Adelaide in the SANFL, said that as the NEAFL standard improved recruits would start coming to the ACT again.

His first game in charge of last year's eastern conference grand finalist has double significance. If it can beat Aspley on Saturday, not only will it get the four points, but it will win a spot in the Foxtel Cup.

"We've got a very strong and proud culture that's been developed over a number of years and just because other sides have recruited well and we've lost a few players, we're not sitting back and saying, 'Poor us'," Rowe said.

"We're ready to take the season on and we do expect to be competitive for sure."

Chris Rourke attracted Salter to Ainslie, but lost a lot of talent. including the Crook brothers, Simon Horner and leading goalkicker Josh Bennett.

He is still expecting to make finals.

"That's always our expectation here at Ainslie, that's what we set our sights on," Rourke said.

"We're confident enough in our own ability that we'd expect to be up there."