LODDON Valley league clubs will have an extra $10,000 available in their salary caps next season.
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AFL Central Victoria has lifted the salary cap for the Loddon Valley league from $120,000 to $130,000 in 2018.
A $130,000 salary cap averages out to $8125 per game over 16 home and away rounds, compared to $7500 this year.
And averaged out over 22 players, it’s $369 per game, up from $340 this year under the full amount.
However, while it’s a $10,000 increase, the Loddon Valley league’s salary cap is still $10,000 shy of both the Heathcote District and North Central leagues, which will again be $140,000 per club.
“The feeling with the commission was that with Loddon Valley being at $120,000 it meant they became a ground for some North Central and Heathcote District league clubs to look at to try to recruit from,” AFLCV region manager Carol Cathcart said on Friday.
“Given their salary cap of $120,000 Loddon Valley clubs didn’t have a lot of room to move to try to retain players.
“Part of what we wanted to do was try to assist Loddon Valley league clubs in retaining their players who they had and we needed to close that salary cap gap a bit to be able to do that.”
The Bendigo league salary cap will remain at $160,000.
• 2018 salary cap figures:
Averages based on paying full amount:
BENDIGO:
Salary cap: $160,000
Average per game: $8888
Average per player: $404
(22 players)
HEATHCOTE DISTRICT:
Salary cap: $140,000
Average per game: $8750
Average per player: $397
(22 players)
NORTH CENTRAL:
Salary cap: $140,000
Average per game: $8750
Average per player: $416
(21 players)
LODDON VALLEY:
Salary cap: $130,000
Average per game: $8125
Average per player: $369
(22 players)
………………………
Meanwhile, AFLCV has also released its new club player point allocations for 2018.
Of the 36 clubs across the Bendigo, Heathcote District, Loddon Valley and North Central leagues, 22 will remain unchanged from their 2017 allocations.
One of the focuses of the panels determining the point allocations for each league was to take a tiered approach.
The Bendigo (38, 43, 46), Heathcote District (40, 43, 46) and Loddon Valley (40, 46, 48) leagues each have three tiers of point allocations, while North Central (40, 43) has two.
In Bendigo, Castlemaine and Maryborough have each had a point added to increase from 45 to 46, while Gisborne (-3) and Kyneton (-2) have had points deducted to be part of the 43-point tier, along with Kangaroo Flat and South Bendigo.
Eaglehawk, Golden Square, Sandhurst and reigning premier Strathfieldsaye will remain on their 38 points, which is based on “large population base, strong junior systems and reasonable success”.
In Heathcote District, North Bendigo after playing in a fourth grand final in a row has had its allocation reduced from 42 to 40.
Fellow 2017 finalists Colbinabbin (+1), Huntly (+1), premier Leitchville-Gunbower (-1) and White Hills (-1) have all had their points altered to fit the 43-point tier.
Elmore, Heathcote, LBU and Mount Pleasant all remain on 46.
There has been minimal change in the Loddon Valley league.
After playing in an eighth grand final in a row, but losing to Calivil United, Bridgewater has had its allocation cut from 42 to 40.
The Mean Machine will have at least six points less than all other eight clubs, which will remain with their same allocations as this year.
Pyramid Hill and Inglewood both have 48, which is AFL Victoria’s maximum limit.
In North Central, this year’s runner-up Birchip-Watchem is in a tier of its own with 43 points, which is down from its 2017 45.
The other seven clubs all have 40 points, which has meant changes for Charlton (+2), Donald (+2) and Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers (-2).
• 2018 AFLCV player point allocations
BENDIGO LEAGUE
CASTLEMAINE
2018 points: 46
Change: +1
2017 average: 30.9
EAGLEHAWK
2018 points: 38
Change: No change
2017 average: 32.1
GISBORNE
2018 points: 43
Change: -3
2017 average: 28.8
GOLDEN SQUARE
2018 points: 38
Change: No change
2017 average: 34.6
KANGAROO FLAT
2018 points: 43
Change: No change
2017 average: 33.4
KYNETON
2018 points: 43
Change: -2
2017 average: 37.5
MARYBOROUGH
2018 points: 46
Change: +1
2017 average: 30.4
SANDHURST
2018 points: 38
Change: No change
2017 average: 27.7
SOUTH BENDIGO
2018 points: 43
Change: No change
2017 average: 36.4
STRATHFIELDSAYE
2018 points: 38
Change: No change
2017 average: 34.7
…………………………….
HEATHCOTE DISTRICT
COLBINABBIN
2018 points: 43
Change: +1
2017 average: 38.9
ELMORE
2018 points: 46
Change: No change
2017 average: 36.6
HEATHCOTE
2018 points: 46
Change: No change
2017 average: 33.0
HUNTLY
2018 points: 43
Change: +1
2017 average: 41.5
LBU
2018 points: 46
Change: No change
2017 average: 43.1
LEITCHVILLE-
GUNBOWER
2018 points: 43
Change: -1
2017 average: 33.9
MOUNT PLEASANT
2018 points: 46
Change: No change
2017 average: 33.5
NORTH BENDIGO
2018 points: 40
Change: -2
2017 average: 39.6
WHITE HILLS
2018 points: 43
Change: -1
2017 average: 39.9
…………………………….
LODDON VALLEY
BEARS LAGOON-
SERPENTINE
2018 points: 46
Change: No change
2017 average: 39.6
BRIDGEWATER
2018 points: 40
Change: -2
2017 average: 31.1
CALIVIL UNITED
2018 points: 46
Change: No change
2017 average: 40.5
INGLEWOOD
2018 points: 48
Change: No change
2017 average: 36.7
MAIDEN GULLY YCW
2018 points: 46
Change: No change
2017 average: 44.0
MARONG
2018 points: 46
Change: No change
2017 average: 43.3
MITIAMO
2018 points: 46
Change: No change
2017 average: 43.3
NEWBRIDGE
2018 points: 46
Change: No change
2017 average: 38.2
PYRAMID HILL
2018 points: 48
Change: No change
2017 average: 40.1
…………………………….
NORTH CENTRAL
BIRCHIP-WATCHEM
2018 points: 43
Change: -2
2017 average: 39.9
BOORT
2018 points: 40
Change: No change
2017 average: 37.9
CHARLTON
2018 points: 40
Change: +2
2017 average: 29.8
DONALD
2018 points: 40
Change: +2
2017 average: 31.9
SEA LAKE NANDALY
2018 points: 40
Change: -2
2017 average: 39.4
ST ARNAUD
2018 points: 40
Change: No change
2017 average: 29.4
WEDDERBURN
2018 points: 40
Change: No change
2017 average: 29.6
WYCHEPROOF-
NARRAPORT
2018 points: 40
Change: No change
2017 average: 23.3