VFL clubs Werribee and Williamstown buried the hatchet over Western Jets Kyle Hartigan’s playing future last week.

The 18-year-old will play for Werribee in 2010 after the two clubs reached an agreement which led to an unprecedented arrangement regarding the drafting of Western Jets and Geelong Falcons for the 2011-12 seasons.

Williamstown Football Club sent a document to Star, which stated that the two clubs had agreed to certain terms to avoid clashing in the future over TAC Cup players residing in the West.

The agreement allows for four Western Jets, who live in the City of Wyndham, to be recruited by Werribee Football Club (an increase from two). Any other Western Jet not offered a contract by Williamstown after the AFL rookie draft (up until 31 January) can transfer to Werribee for no fee.

Also Werribee Football Club must not meet exiting Western Jets players who reside outside the City of Wyndham or their parents during the season under threat of a significant fine determined by AFL Victoria. The same applies for Williamstown Football Club and exiting Geelong Falcons players.

It is hoped that the agreement will alleviate problems arising from Western Jets players who live close to the Werribee Football Club not being allowed to play there due to the alignment with Williamstown.

The issue came to a head late last month when Hartigan was denied a spot at the Werribee Football Club despite expressing a desire to play there.

“I was hoping to be drafted but that didn’t happen,” he said.

“So I wanted to play at a club that had an AFL- like football structure and Werribee offered that.”

The AFL Victoria rule 7.3 brought in late last year to protect VFL-TAC Cup alignments allowed VFL clubs to recruit a maximum of two players from each TAC Cup team outside of their aligned club.

Clubs were allowed to draft more than two players if the aligned VFL club gave permission and the drafting club paid a transfer fee.

In the case of Hartigan, Werribee had already reached its quota of two players plus Jet Joe Halloran who was cleared by Williamstown.

Initially, Williamstown refused to clear Hartigan, with Werribee taking the case to AFL Victoria where the appeal was thrown out citing the rule as cause.

Williamstown general manager Brendan Curry said Hartigan met with Williamstown coach Peter German last Tuesday.

“He certainly didn’t give any indication he wanted to change his mind and come and play with Williamstown so it was a bit of a stalemate,” Curry said.

Curry met with Werribee Football Club CEO Mark Penaluna the next day to discuss Hartigan’s future and the way forward for the two clubs with the new agreement reached by Friday.

“The new agreement has cleared the way for both Williamstown and ourselves to give the aspiring young players of the West their best shot at living their dream,” Mark Penaluna said.

Curry described the new deal as a “tidy up” for the two fiercely competitive clubs.

“At the end of the day you have to try and do what’s best going forward. We are still going to be fierce rivals but we just thought there was an opportunity here to draw a line in the sand and try and work something out -so credit to Werribee for accepting what we put to them. Now we can both go forward and everything is clearer now.”

As for Hartigan, he is just going to put his head down and work.

“It is up to me to work hard and make the most of this opportunity,” he said. “Look at what Michael Barlow was able to achieve last year and Dale Morris and Ben Hudson before him. I just want to concentrate on my footy and see what the future brings”.

With the deal done and the season approaching all parties can now get back to what they do best – play football.