With the Swans finishing last this season they looked set to be dropped to the Farrer League, with club officials saying such a move would damage the code in the future.

So concerned were the Swans they held a meeting with Riverina board officials to outline their position about a possible demotion.

Griffith president Rob Harrington was shocked by the news but pleased nonetheless.

"We're glad it's over," Harrington said.

"The main thing was it put out our club, our junior base, our structure and everything else.

"That's why we wanted to stay in the competition."

AFL Riverina chairman Greg Carroll said clubs could still move between the two competitions if they wanted to, but said for now automatic promotion-relegation is dead.

"So there is no such thing as promotion-relegation. We've got rid of it. End of story," Carroll said.

"There are still opportunities for Farrer League clubs to come to the RFL if they want to.

"On the same token, if an RFL club wanted to come through to the Farrer they can apply, it's a two-way street.

"We'll take everything by its merits and bring out the criteria. The criteria is going to be a very important tool for us."

AFL Riverina also used the opportunity to reveal its plans for both under 17 competitions with a plan to merge the two under 17 leagues into one-16 team competition.

The AFL Riverina board revealed it will use a point system to address the criteria and a Farrer League club will have to reach a ranking of 75 points or above to win promotion to the RFL.

The club will also have to win the senior football premiership and reach bronze level in the AFL quality club program.

The last-placed RFL club will need to get below 75 points to be moved to the Farrer League.

The key areas of the criteria are financial status, infrastructure, junior-senior club relationship, recruitment-retention, teams entered and performance.

Financial status has been placed under the highest importance, weighted with 25 per cent, ahead of infrastructure and junior-senior club relationship, which make up 20 per cent each.