Football Australia and the eight foundation clubs came together to discuss the future of the National Second Tier, which has undergone complications that have put its 2025 start date in question.

The eight foundation clubs, including South Melbourne and Sydney Olympic, participated in a meeting with FA officials on Monday, August 19 in Sydney to discuss the subject of the NST.

The competition has been the source of much debate since its announcement late last year of the initial foundation clubs, with multiple updates since then indicating they will not be able to commence it in its originally proposed format by 2025.

Tensions have arisen over the NST, particularly in the last few months, and has even led to suggestions of adopting a ‘Champions League-style’ model instead of the original pitch of a standard home-and-away season.

The foundation clubs have indicated their disapproval of that suggestion, which was not the agreed upon model when their successful applications to the competition were announced back in November last year.

In a statement on their most recent meeting, Football Australia said that “all parties demonstrated a strong commitment to working collaboratively to develop a model that will benefit the entire Australian football community”.

“The discussions were highly constructive, with all clubs expressing a shared vision and dedication to creating an NST that serves the interests of all stakeholders,” the statement said.

The association stressed the meeting was a “significant milestone” in the ongoing partnership between itself and the NST foundation clubs that is working towards establishing a sustainable and successful NST competition.

It stated that all parties will continue their dialogue over the coming weeks as it works towards coming up with a viable plan for its launch, saying that further updates on the Request For Proposal Selection Process will also be provided as the competition continues to evolve.

South Melbourne had released an open letter last Thursday in which they advocated for the NST to go ahead, describing it is as “our opportunity to finally unify the game and complete the Football pyramid”.