BFNL - Clubs facing ongoing battles to fill full teams in reserves competition

DIFFERENT year, same story - the Bendigo Football-Netball League reserves competition continues to be hampered by a lack of numbers in 2019.

Just 13 of the 25 reserves games played in the opening five rounds of the season have featured 22 v 22, with the hardest hit of the clubs including last year's premier Sandhurst.

Country clubs Maryborough and Kyneton are also facing a weekly battle for numbers, having only once - according to the BFNL website's weekly team lists on SportsTG - fielded a full quota of 22 players.

The continual struggle for several clubs and their reserves numbers comes after a review in 2017 where one consideration was reducing the reserves competition from 22 per side to 19 - 16 on the field and three on the interchange.

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However, the status quo of 22 remained.

But had the BFNL trimmed its reserves to 19 a side the figure of just 13 of 25 games this year with a full quota of players for both teams would grow to 21 out of 25.

Throughout the first five rounds of the season a total of 376 players have played in the reserves, which is often a revolving door from one week to the next.

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Maryborough and Kyneton have both already played 45 players in their reserves (the Tigers have also used eight players from opposing clubs); Castlemaine 40 and Sandhurst 39.

On the flip side, though, Gisborne is so flush with excess numbers it has an additional side in the AFL Goldfields Club 18 competition alongside Sunbury Lions, Diggers Rest, Bacchus Marsh, Yarraville Seddon, Wallan and Caroline Springs.

The inability for all clubs to field a full quota of players has also contributed to the reserves competition being marred by one-sided results.

Of the 25 games, 12 have been decided by more than 100 points, with the average margin in the reserves a whopping 94 points.

As a pre-emptive strike ahead of the season with several clubs concerned by their reserves numbers, "handshake agreement" measures were introduced by the BFNL in order to avoid forfeits:

* player sharing to an agreed number of players per team on a match-day permit should the opposition have suitable numbers to loan;

* reverting the on-field numbers to 16 per side with an agreed number of interchange players per team; and

* combination of the first two options.

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The same measures, which so far have ensured there have been no reserves forfeits, are also in place in the under-18 competition.

Ahead of the resumption of the BFNL season from the inter-league break, the Bendigo Advertiser this week spoke to clubs about their reserves numbers.

"Up until last week we weren't too bad, but I reckon with a few injuries we'll be six or seven down on last week and may have to go with 16 players this Saturday.

"We're probably in a better position than we were last year with our reserves numbers, but having said that, we haven't hit the cold weather yet when it usually hurts the most.

"If you're going along okay and having a few wins, it makes it a bit more fun to turn up, but it's usually when you're scratching around for numbers and trying to drag in blokes who aren't training, it then compounds because they are usually the ones getting injured." - Michael Blake (president).

Player numbers:

Rd 1: 22 Rd 2: 22

Rd 3: 22 Rd 4: 21

Rd 5: 21

Players used: 40

Senior comparison: 31

Last reserves flag: 2000

Wins since 2009: 41

"We have got enough numbers, but with seven senior players out we're scratching a little bit at the moment.

"We've had 22 out there each week and once we get our full list back we'll be laughing.

"We've got a few older players back and we went and chased a few at the start of the year to make sure we had good depth in the reserves." - Peter Ritchie (president).

Player numbers:

Rd 1: 22 Rd 2: 22

Rd 3: 22 Rd 4: 22

Rd 5: 22

Players used: 34

Senior comparison: 26

Last reserves flag: 2011

Wins since 2009: 128

"We have enough players to also field a Club 18 side in an AFL Goldfields competition because we had so many players left over from our reserves.

"With the Club 18 side, we didn't want to lose families and players from the club because we had virtually a full side left over.

"Having the Club 18 side means that if you want a game in the seniors or reserves you have to train two nights a week, which doesn't happen when clubs are struggling for players.

"It has created great competition for spots and with a lot of games played on Friday night it gives guys who might not be able to travel to Bendigo on a Saturday the chance to have a game of footy and still be part of the club." - John Wood (president).

Player numbers:

Rd 1: 22 Rd 2: 22

Rd 3: 22 Rd 4: 22

Rd 5: 22

Players used: 33

Senior comparison: 29

Last reserves flag: 2011

Wins since 2009: 125

"We're in a much better position than last year. We worked hard to get players into the club, but it's still a concern.

"We've had a lot of injuries, but we've managed to fill a full team each week. From our point of view, it's still a general ongoing concern across the whole league.

"We're reasonably healthy this week, but a couple of weeks ago it was a real stretch." - Brendan Stewart (president).

Player numbers:

Rd 1: 22 Rd 2: 22

Rd 3: 22 Rd 4: 22

Rd 5: 22

Players used: 37

Senior comparison: 29

Last reserves flag: 2015

Wins since 2009: 134

"We've been able to field full teams every week.

"We've had one instance where we've had to bring a couple of kids up from the under-18s, but that was due to injuries and Groovin' The Moo.

"Our numbers are reasonably good this year for a change and right across the board numbers-wise we're looking better than we have for a few years.

"We recruited strongly at senior level and the reserves coach put in a lot of work, so a fair bit has gone into building our numbers." - Scott Mitchell (president).

Player numbers:

Rd 1: 22 Rd 2: 22

Rd 3: 22 Rd 4: 22

Rd 5: 22

Players used: 37

Senior comparison: 30

Last reserves flag: 1983

Wins since 2009: 74

"It has been very tough for us and we're going week by week to get our reserves team on the park.

"The away games are more problematic than the home games... I guess if they know they are going to get a flogging it adds to the pain of the journey there and back.

"We've had to use eight players from opposing clubs with the shared player arrangement, had four under-18s who have had to double up and have only been able to field a full team once.

"And Tauri Edwards is the only player to have played every game for us, so it has been very tough.

"Matt Shae is our reserves coach and has got one of the hardest jobs in the club rounding up a team each week.

"Matt puts the call out early in the week to see who is available and as the week goes on, it becomes the grind of targeting players who have played before or might be coming through the town on a weekend or is a mate of one of our players.

"It really is a desperate situation with our reserves and just a huge effort to get a team each week at the moment.

"Going forward, we're looking to build from within... keep our under-18s together, which can feed into the reserves next year and develop a real sense of team and club.

"But it comes back to our lack of depth and the country clubs not having that huge pool of players to choose from." - Karen O'Sullivan (president).

Player numbers:

Rd 1: 20 Rd 2: 22

Rd 3: 19 Rd 4: 21

Rd 5: 15

Players used: 45

Senior comparison: 27

Last reserves flag: 1975

Wins since 2009: 39

"It isn't easy to get the numbers and we tend to have to go to a lot of people to get the numbers we need.

"You might have to ring 40 people to get 20, but it's very much a week to week thing.

"A couple of times we've had some good numbers, but then we were in a situation the other week where we had to borrow some players from Sandhurst.

"If we had under-18s it would obviously make it a bit easier with the reserves, but that's a structural issue with football in Maryborough and something we've got to keep working on." - Brendan Roughead (president).

Player numbers:

Rd 1: 19 Rd 2: 22

Rd 3: 17 Rd 4: 15

Rd 5: 17

Players used: 45

Senior comparison: 28

Last reserves flag: 2010

Wins since 2009: 34

"Because we've got eight senior players injured, it has made it tough for our reserves this year.

"This week we'll probably have the bare 18, so we're getting around it.

"We're finding we're losing a lot of our players out to the minor leagues where they can get paid good money, but not a cent with us in the reserves.

"Guys say they love playing here and they've enjoyed their time, but now they'll go out into a minor league and pay off their car.

"You can't begrudge a guy who wants to go out and earn some money because you certainly don't want to have to start paying in the twos.

"While the numbers are a bit light-on, we're finding we've got a good mix. We've got some young players progressed from the under-18s, some genuine seconds players and some older guys who are still enjoying having a kick on a Saturday." - Chris Greene (president).

Player numbers:

Rd 1: 22 Rd 2: 22

Rd 3: 20 Rd 4: 19

Rd 5: 19

Players used: 39

Senior comparison: 32

Last reserves flag: 2018

Wins since 2009: 160

The Bloods have filled a full quota of 22 players in all five reserves games they have played and are sitting second on the ladder at 4-1 under coach Jake Smythe.

Player numbers:

Rd 1: 22 Rd 2: 22

Rd 3: 22 Rd 4: 22

Rd 5: 22

Players used: 34

Senior comparison: 31

Last flag: 2009

Wins since 2009: 104

"We tend to not do too bad retaining our players and I think it probably helped losing the reserves grand final last year... a lot of the boys wanted to hang around and try to go one better.

"We work hard on having our players re-signed each year before finals and looking after our players the best we can." - Glen Cowling (president).

Player numbers:

Rd 1: 22 Rd 2: 22

Rd 3: 22 Rd 4: 22

Rd 5: 19 (provided four players to Kyneton)

Players used: 32

Senior comparison: 29

Last flag: 2017

Wins since 2009: 115

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