By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE Ellinbank and District Football League (EDFL) will enter 2016 looking over its shoulder at its Alberton League neighbours with the new AFL Victoria points system set to throw the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons.
EDFL manager and secretary Ken Moore said the league was “bemused” that each Alberton Football Netball League club would be permitted to take 50 points into 2016, while only Poowong, Nilma Darnum and Nyora will have that amount.
Moore said the EDFL would have preferred to keep its existing structure, adding: “We felt it was far superior – it took into account a lot of different factors”.
Moore said the EDFL felt it was making inroads with its own points system introduced for 2015, given Cora Lynn wasn’t a big player in the player movement market and both Kooweerup and the Warragul Industrials were “stymied”.
“In the second year it would have evened up another five per cent,” he said about 2016.
“It was designed to change the landscape over three to five years, not one. It was about the long-term.”
Under the new AFL Victoria system, Cora Lynn has 39 points to work with for 2016, while the three teams with three wins or fewer – Poowong, Nilma Darnum, and Nyora – have 50.
Moore said the EDFL had adopted “the North Gippsland model”, saying “we didn’t want to be at a disadvantage to the leagues around us”.
“The only difference we had to the North Gippsland model was that Cora Lynn will be on 39 points as premiers – not 40 – because of their overwhelming superiority in 2015,” Moore said.
But the Gazette understands the Ellinbank league faces a huge potential shake-up in 2017, losing anywhere between three to five clubs under the AFL Gippsland Senior Football Leagues Review. The 2016 season will mark the final year of the EDFL’s 15-team structure.
“We wanted a points system based on the population of towns, and the performances of the seniors and the Under-18s,” Moore said.
“AFL Victoria said they liked that concept but said we’d be at a disadvantage because leagues around us had elevated player points. We had no alternative.
“There wasn’t much warning for clubs signing players on two to three-year contracts but a club like Kooweerup has actually come out of it well given that this was based on this year’s ladder. It’s given them room to recruit.”
Moore said the new system would make it hard for senior teams to bounce back in one year, and added that Cora Lynn’s job of defending its title would become that much more difficult.
“If six to eight players left Cora Lynn it’d be hard for them – on 39 points – to get another six to eight to come in and replace them and defend their flag,” Moore said.
“These sorts of policies have to be based on junior development and player retention. This system only caters to you best 21 players.”
The Gippsland, South East, and Yarra Valley Mountain District (Division 1) football leagues are all now classified as Premier competitions, meaning players transferring from any of them into Ellinbank will cost an extra point.
According to AFL Gippsland, the Senior Football Leagues Review draft recommendations are on track to be released by the end of the year. Once finalised, the draft recommendations will be released for public comment and a second round of stakeholder consultation. The proposed changes aren’t due to take effect until 2017.
ELLINBANK AND DISTRICT FOOTBALL LEAGUE – 2016 POINTS SYSTEM
Cora Lynn – 39 points
Bunyip – 40 points
Nar Nar Goon – 42 points
Neerim Neerim South – 42 points
Buln Buln – 43 points
Warragul Industrials – 43 points
Garfield – 44 points
Kooweerup – 44 points
Longwarry – 48 points
Catani – 48 points
Lang Lang – 48 points
Ellinbank – 48 points
Poowong – 50 points
Nilma Darnum – 50 points
Nyora – 50 points
