How Bendigo Football League is shaping up ahead of 2021 season

Strathfieldsaye has won four of the past six Bendigo Football League premierships. So which teams can challenge the Storm in 2021?

How the Bendigo Football League is shaping up for 2021.

The Bendigo Football League has a mantra for 2021, “I’m Committed”.

The BFL and its 10 clubs have been running the campaign since late last year to ensure there is no post-COVID slump.

Players, volunteers, supporters, sponsors and everyone in between is being asked to commit for 2021.

The league is confident it is well placed to bounce straight back on and off the field from the cancelled 2020 season.

BFL manager Cameron Tomkin sat down with Ben Higgins to discuss the league’s return to the field and how it survived 2020.

I’M COMMITTED

The campaign is being run by AFL Central Victoria to ensure the game bounces back throughout the region.

Bendigo isn’t the only league involved either with AFLCV also covering the Heathcote District, Loddon Valley, North Central, Central Victoria Women’s and Bendigo Junior leagues.

Retaining players across the region and throughout different age groups will be critical in 2021 but equally so is the return of volunteers, supporters and sponsors.

Tomkin was impressed with the response from the community.

“One of our concerns when the pandemic hit and we started to lose our season was (player) retainment,” he said.

“We’ve put in a lot of hard work into our campaign, the I’m Committed campaign … missing that much time, there was always a risk of losing people that just wouldn’t return to football and netball.

“On the whole what we’re seeing is everyone is jumping out of their skins to get back to football and netball. Everyone is keen as to get back out there.”

Josh Govan is tackled by Jaidyn Owen. Picture: Andy Brownbill

FINANCIAL IMPACT

The league like so many others in Victoria and around Australia suffered through 2020 but is confident of a strong recovery.

Cash reserves will ensure the league remains in a strong position in 2021 but significant “belt tightening” will be required.

Clubs have also had to adapt with several finding new ways to raise money last year and even joining forces in fundraising initiatives.

While the obvious costs such as player match payments disappeared there were still annual costs to pay.

Tomkin believes the lessons learned last year will hold the league and its clubs in good stead for the future.

“From a league point of view, we’ve come through OK, obviously we’ve taken a bit of a hit,” he said.

“We were lucky we’d done some good in recent times to have some financial reserves in case of a rainy day and 2020 was certainly a rainy day.

“We’ve had to tighten the belt, the lack of regular income hurt, but we weathered the storm and we’re prepared to launch this year.

“All of our 10 member clubs are locked in for 2021. The impacts of COVID were different from club to club but what we say is there was a lot of community spirit and clubs actually working together to identify different ways of raising revenue.

“The normal revenue streams were taken away – match day, fundraising, sponsorship – so everyone had to get creative.”

James Ferry marks against South Bendigo. Picture Aaron Cook

THE NEW NORMAL

The full impact of the cancelled 2020 season may not be known for some time as the league and clubs reassess and rebuild.

Flexibility will be a key word this year as the game adjusts to a “new normal”.

The Bendigo Football League was one of the last competitions in the state to officially cancel its season, pulling the pin on July 1.

While Round 1 is now only a matter of weeks away, in an ever-changing COVID world that will feel like a year.

Contingency plans are in place and Tomkin was confident the league would be ready to react if required.

“Everyone at both league and club level showed a lot of patience (last year) and were really committed to getting back to competition if we could in a safe and sustainable fashion. Unfortunately we didn’t quite get there,” he said.

“Flexibility will a key word for us this year. We’ve got our fixture in place and we hope to kick off on Easter weekend but until we get on the park we don’t know how it will unfold.

“We know the nature of how last year unfolded, anything can change and be flipped on their head, we’ve been really clear with clubs to have contingency plans in place.

“I think everyone was tired of dealing with hypotheticals last year but what it gave us, we met with our clubs every fortnight, was we knew what position we were in when something happened.”

SEASON 2021

The Bendigo Football League season is set to kick off with a stand-alone Good Friday blockbuster between reigning premier Strathfieldsaye and Sandhurst.

When the teams run out it will have been a staggering 559 days since the last game, the 2019 grand final.

A full compliment of five games will then be played the following weekend to complete the opening round.

Clubs dealt with Victoria’s snap five-day lockdown without too much interruption to pre-season preparations, which bodes well if any issues arise during the season.

A full 18-game season is planned with the grand final to be held on September 18.

WHO WILL CHALLENGE STRATHFIELDSAYE?

Tomkin says you could throw a blanket over half a dozen premiership contenders in 2021.

Strathfieldsaye and 2018 premier Eaglehawk are perennial powers and are once again expected to challenge but the likes of Gisborne and Golden Square will not be far behind.

“I think everything is going to tighten up, our competition is going to be a lot more even across the board,” Tomkin said.

“Strathfieldsaye and Eaglehawk have been the standout teams the last couple of years but there are a core group of teams closing that gap.

“It’s really exciting to see teams like Gisborne, Golden Square and even Maryborough, who’s done a lot of great work, take a step forward every year.

“Likewise in the netball, we’ve had the likes of Sandhurst and Gisborne and even Kangaroos Flat dominate the last couple of years but there are a couple of teams on the up who have recruited well like South Bendigo.”

Pat McKenna soars high against Strathfieldsaye. Picture: Aaron Cook

NETBALL

Speaking of netball, Tomkin is bullish about the league’s reputation for pumping out quality players.

Diamonds stars Sharelle McMahon and Caitlin Thwaites learnt the game in the region before going on to have international careers.

“Our netball comp I believe is the strongest in the region, in central Victoria, and I don’t think anything will change this year,” Tomkin said.

“Our clubs constantly attract the best talent, the standard is really high, we have a lot of players that are tied to Victorian Netball League clubs that will play in our league.

“Our under-17 development competition is another with a lot of talent that is tied in with state league teams.

“It’s exciting to see those girls progress and stay in our competition to make it the strongest in the region.”

SALARY CAP

With clubs looking for cost-saving measures this year reduced match payments will certainly lighten the load on club volunteers.

The Bendigo Football League’s salary cap has been slashed to $125,000 for the 2021 season, down from $150,000 in 2019.

While the cut will certainly impact players’ pockets the limit is above that of metropolitan leagues in Melbourne and the neighbouring Ballarat league at $100,000.

BFL clubs and players were prepared to play for nothing to get a season up last year so a small sacrifice this season shouldn’t be an issue.

“It’s been pretty positive (reaction),” Tomkin said.

Paul Chapman will coach Kyneton this season. Picture: Jamie Morey

“We got to a point last year that if we did get a modified season, a nine-week season, up in July our clubs and players had agreed to a cap of zero dollars.

“I think the salary cap and points system is really important in country football.

“The more we spend as clubs the more the hardworking volunteers need to fundraise and it’s going to be harder this year for clubs to generate the normal revenue, so I think it’s a bit of relief.

“As we communicate to our clubs all the time, the salary cap is not a target, so you don’t have to spend to the top end.”

Fellow AFLCV leagues Heathcote District, Loddon Valley and North Central will have salary caps of $106,600.

BIG ADDITIONS

Kyneton has secured perhaps the biggest recruit of the off-season and he won’t play a single game.

The Tigers appointed three-time Geelong premiership star Paul Chapman as coach in October to replace favourite son Nathan Thompson.

Read Part 5 tomorrow.