Weekly Times | AFL South East will essentially go back to square one with a review into its senior football competitions.
The region commission yesterday released the terms of reference for a review which is scheduled to be completed in time to implement any changes next year.
It comes just more than a year after a similar review was announced by then region general manager, Jeremy Bourke, who vacated the role in December.
The region includes three senior leagues — Peninsula, Nepean and South East.
John Anderson, a former Melbourne Football Club and Harness Racing Victoria chief executive, was installed as interim AFL South East region general manager in January.
“I have read a lot of the background work that was done as part of the review last year, or the start of a review,” Anderson said.
“What appears to me happened is there was a review announced and some paperwork distributed and a survey sent out to clubs et cetera but there was no outcome from that review.
“As I understand it there was a meeting with all the clubs in our region at the start of August and there was some discussions there, but nothing actually took place after that, so there was no recommendations, nothing public, no conclusion to the review.”
Anderson said while the review could use some of the information gathered last year, “it would appear one of the things that was missing from the review last year was the opportunity to have individual consultation with the clubs”.
He has promised that will happen this year — the terms of reference state one-on-one meetings will take place with the 31 senior clubs “on key points of the review” across the next two months.
The review panel’s draft recommendations are scheduled to be released in May, while the commission should announce the final recommendations in July.
One club has already complained that there is no representatives of the clubs on the review panel, which will include the AFL South East region general manager, two football development managers, an independent person appointed by the commission, and a Netball Victoria representative.
Anderson said the review panel, whose structure came from advice from AFL Victoria, had “no predetermined outcome” but a representative of the clubs “may have a predetermined view depending on what his or her club’s view is”.
“This needs to be as independent as possible,” Anderson said.