Ex-VFL coach Dave Dunbar hits out at AFL rule changes in Victoria’s state league

Gillon McLachlan says the VFL has always been used to trial new after the AFL was slammed for turning the state league into a “mickey mouse competition”.

Ex-VFL coach Dave Dunbar fears the VFL is being ruined.

Gillon McLachlan has backed the decision to try zones at VFL level next year.

Former Port Melbourne coach Dave Dunbar accused the AFL of destroying the VFL and turning it into a “mickey mouse” competition with tricked-up experimental rules.

Dunbar lashed out at the league’s pathways boss Tristan Salter, labelling him a “mad scientist” tinkering with a historical and legendary competition.

The VFL once was a brilliant breeding ground that included a VFL reserves competition separate to the NAB League competition.

The latest hit to the VFL, which will merge with the old NEAFL competition next year, are zones at every stoppage as the league uses the competition to trial potential 2021 AFL rules.

Clubs must now play six players 22 and under, with VFL coaches and officials told to keep quiet by AFL House if they spoke out this year about a potential restructure.

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McLachlan said sufficient consultation was done on the league’s decision to bring in new rules for 2020 and stood by the process.

“We have always trialled rules in the VFL and other competitions,” he said.

“I understand people don’t like change, but I feel it’s the right place to be doing that.”

The AFL also announced it would cut interchange rotations from 90 to 75, clamp down on players standing the mark, and extend the space for players kicking in from 10m to 15m.

McLachlan said there would be no more rule changes before 2021.

“We have a competition committee that met regularly through the year, with representation from the vast majority of the clubs from all sections of our football community,” he said.

“I certainly have had feedback from the comp committee that there were no surprises in the decisions (the rule changes) to them.”

McLachlan said this year’s 16-minute quarters would be scrapped.

The AFL is weighing up whether to

Richmond VFL celebrates winning the 2019 Grand Final.

Dunbar coached Port Melbourne into a VFL Grand Final in the early 2000s and says the AFL would never be brave enough to push new rules on the WAFL or SANFL.

Having coached at VFL and with East Fremantle in the WAFL level as well as spending 13 years within AFL clubs, Dunbar is well placed to assess the damage.

“They have turned the VFL into a mickey mouse competition. As one of its stars said yesterday, are we lab rats?” Dunbar told the Herald Sun.

“This is a once-great football competition and they are trying to dismantle it.

“This is a senior competition and if you tried this on the SANFL or WAFL they would tell you to bugger off. It is just ridiculous to have certain players stand in certain parts of the ground.

“I would hate to be coaching in the VFL right now. The whole thing is bizarre, it doesn’t make sense. They have appointed Tristan Salter to oversee talent pathways and he has gone and destroyed the Under-18 competition. There are so many great people who have been forced out of it like (Geelong Falcons veteran administration) Mick Turner. Why on earth have we got half a dozen clubs from the eastern seaboard in this new competition?

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“Guys like Gary Ayres and Chocko (Mark Williams) don’t say anything because they still have AFL aspirations and they don’t want to rock the boat or get their own club in the gun, because we all know if you say something the AFL goes after you. I don’t care now because I am out of it, but at every level of footy people are asking what is going on?

“Who is this guy Tristan Salter? He is a mad scientist wrecking the game. What is he doing to football?”

Dunbar says the abolition of the VFL reserves competition sent scores of talented players back to country and suburban leagues, with most never returning.

In the 2002 VFL Grand Final Port Melbourne had players including Luke Ablett, Amon Buchanan and Adam Schneider against Geelong’s Gary Ablett, Steve Johnson, James Kelly and Jimmy Bartel, with the competition a fertile development ground.

Salter, the AFL head of talent pathways and state competitions, has rationalised the VFL and NEAFL into a 22-team mega-competition that will kick off next year.

Williamstown and Essendon compete in a VFL game in 2019.

The AFL said it had been forced to make tough decisions by the COVID crisis which had slashed revenue across the board.

The decision to introduce the new 22-team league and trial experimental rules in the league was made by officials across AFL House, according to the league.

Up to 20 per cent of AFL staff will lose their jobs, with the AFL hoping it can streamline its operations without hampering its talent pathways.

NAB League clubs have had their resources dramatically slashed, with their coaches now expected to cover a vast portfolio of responsibilities that include scouting players, developing them and coaching at multiple age groups.

Key figures across the AFL believe it will cause considerable damage to the league’s ability to find and nurture elite talent.

In the WAFL, clubs still retain an under-age colts, reserves and seniors competition, with Dunbar adamant those three tiers allow a methodical build to senior levels.

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Originally published as Ex-VFL coach Dave Dunbar hits out at AFL rule changes in Victoria’s state league