What new recruits are confirmed for clubs, who’s rumored to be signing, and what players are on the move out of leagues are always hot topics once one season ends in September and the next begins in April.

But this year in regards to the Bendigo Football-Netball League, with less than seven weeks left until the first ball is bounced on Good Friday the amount of top-end talent coming into the competition doesn’t look to be at the same quantity as the past.

Could it be the recent structures that have been brought in by AFL Victoria – the player points system last year and accompanying salary cap this year – is already having an effect on Bendigo league recruiting?

Among the mantras of the AFL Victoria measures is to keep recruits to a minimum and to build from within with juniors.

Looking at the BFNL clearance list, excluding players coming in from the Bendigo Junior Football League to play under-18s, the numbers of ins as of this past Thursday was 75, the departures at 93.

Of the 75 listed on the clearances, Wayne Schultz, Simon Seddon (both Castlemaine), Josh Bowe (Eaglehawk coach), Andrew Collins (Sandhurst) and Kaiden Antonowicz (South Bendigo, pictured) stand out as big-name arrivals for 2017.

There’s also the likes of Hawthorn premiership player Clinton Young at Gisborne, ex-North Ballarat Rooster Jonathan Lanyon at Kangaroo Flat and the return of Sam Heavyside full-time to Strathfieldsaye from Essendon VFL, plus a handful of others who have Goulburn Valley experience joining the competition.

One Bendigo league coach is adamant that finding it harder to attract top-end talent comes down to a combination of money and the impact of the points system.

“The signings are a little underwhelming for two reasons – we had to pay our one point players more and we can no longer compete financially with some of the rich leagues,” the coach said.

Perhaps could the end of Bendigo’s VFL side three years ago and losing that capacity to bring players to town who could then stay on and play locally after they are done with VFL also be having an impact?

Whatever the reasons may be, so far this off-season it looks to have been a tougher gig for Bendigo league clubs getting their hands on top-end talent recruits.