Weekly Times | A NEW chapter begins for country football this weekend when AFL Victoria’s Player Points System gets its first real run in the bush.
AFL Victoria club sustainability manager Darryl Collings said that while there had been reports of the points’ policy having an immediate impact, footy’s peak body was hoping to see its benefits start to show in 3-5 years.
Both the player points policy, and a salary cap slated to be introduced statewide next year, are part of AFL Victoria’s community club sustainability program to address equalisation and player payment concerns in community football.
All senior footballers this season will be allocated a value between 1-6 points under the new policy, based on where they have played the previous three seasons.
Players are worth more points the higher standard of competitions they played in, unless they played 40 games or more junior games at a club, in which case they are worth just one point.
Players also shed points if they continue playing at a club season to season.
Since teams are limited on the cumulative value of their players’ points, the policy forces clubs to limit player movement and retain their junior players.
“There has been some examples where mass movement of players hasn’t been able to occur because they would’ve exceeded their points allocation for new players coming in 2016,” Collings said. “But we’re also mindful that the focus was not to lose players from existing lists.”
AFL Victoria’s region commissions had the job of setting points limits for the teams in their jurisdictions, providing they were under the statewide limit of 50 points.
Port Fairy in western Victoria’s Hampden league is the only club in the state currently allowed to exceed that 50-point maximum, which Collings said was because of the club’s need to recruit players to remain viable.
“We’re happy (with the figures set this year) in the sense that leagues have been able to run their competitions as they see fit,” Collings said.
He said clubs could plead their case with their local commission if they felt their points limit would adversely impact their ability to field a team.
“The last thing we want is to have the points’ system forcing a club to not be able to continue to operate,” he said.
The region commissions can opt in this first year to address breaches through education and further training, or enforce penalties which may include fines, loss of premiership points, suspension from finals and the suspension of the individuals. The Picola and District Football League in Victoria’s north is the only league not to adopt the player points’ policy this season.