The top players in the Essendon District Football League’s premier division and the Northern Football League’s division 1 could be classified as “premium community players” under AFL Victoria’s proposed points system.
AFL Victoria has released the draft framework for its Community Club Sustainability Program, which is aimed at levelling out the competition and reducing player costs.
It will include a cap on total player payments and a points system which ranks players.
The draft plan indicates how the points system will work, what classifications players fall under and the basis of the salary cap rules. Each league will set its own salary cap and points limit. Penalties for breaching the cap include relegation, club fines, loss of points, suspension from finals and player suspensions.
Players who have played AFL in the previous three years will attract the most points, six.
State league tier one players (VFL, WAFL, SANFL) will command five points, while state league tier two players (NEAFL, TASFL) will attract four.
They will be joined in the four-point bracket by TAC Cup players and “premium community players”.
A player’s standing as a “premium community player” will be determined by finishing positions in league and club best and fairest and goal kicking leader boards, but only if they play in a league or division classified as a premium competition.
The top division in both the EDFL and NFL falls into this, but the lower two divisions don’t.
NFL chief executive Peter McDougall said the league and teams had been preparing for this for a year.
“We’re working through the consultation with the clubs,” he said. “If they don’t buy in it will struggle to be implemented
“We’re still working through the process and the board will make a final determination before the end of the year.”
Clubs have been providing the league with feedback for the past month on what they believe is best for the league.
“We’ll meet with club presidents shortly about what has been released,’’ McDougall said. “There are no surprises and it’s pretty straightforward.”
McDougall said the clubs would do their own analyses this season on how the system may work.
EDFL’s Marc Turri said it was hard to comment on the reaction of clubs until this week’s meeting with them.
For a full overview of the community club sustainability program, go to www.aflvic.com.au/community-club-sustainability-program-live-stream/
