HAS AFL Central Victoria gone too hard too early in its tiered allocation of player points for its Bendigo league clubs this year?
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After surveying the other 16 leagues that along with Bendigo are deemed “Premier Community Competitions” by AFL Victoria, the BFNL allocations are unique.
Unique in terms of both the tiered structure of player points, plus the extremely low number of points that have been allocated to half the 10 clubs.
Most premier competitions have taken a blanket approach to their points allocations, whereby all clubs have the same amount of points right across the board.
In the case of metro leagues – Eastern, Essendon District, Northern, the Ammos and Western Region – they are going with the maximum 50 points for their clubs.
In regional areas, most competitions have the bulk of their clubs on the same points, with the odd exception where a club or two has been granted extra points.
Bendigo has a wide-ranging set of three tiers of points for its clubs – 45 for Kyneton, Maryborough and Castlemaine, 43 for Kangaroo Flat and South Bendigo, and 36 for Golden Square, Strathfieldsaye, Sandhurst, Gisborne and Eaglehawk.
The three-tiered structure allows for an element of equalisation across the league, but it’s far from an equal playing field across Victoria when looking at some of the discrepancies, particularly for the five BFNL clubs on 36 points.
Those five clubs are well shy in comparison to clubs in the nearby Goulburn Valley and Ballarat leagues, who all have at least an extra nine points – enough to secure an ex-VFL and Premium Community Player – under their structures.
In the case of the GVFL, they not only have all their clubs on 45 points, but they are also offering the two-point deduction that BFNL clubs will get, while they play one less a week with 21-a-side.
Only two other premium leagues – South East and Peninsula – which already had player point systems in have allocations of less than 40 points, and they are both 39.
While the 45 and 43 point allocations compare favourably to most of the premium regional leagues – and the two-point reductions will help – you can’t help but wonder when looking at other leagues just how much talent we’re missing out on welcoming into the BFNL with half the competition having just 36 points to work with.
- Luke West, sports reporter