EDFL 2019: CEO Craig Armstead says clubs could be handed extra points

Chief executive Craig Armstead discusses how the EDFL could close the gap between the competition’s leading sides and the rest in 2020 and beyond.

EDFL chief executive Craig Armstead. Picture: Supplied.

Essendon District Football League chief executive Craig Armstead says “the door’s not closed” on the prospect of struggling clubs being handed a higher player points ceiling in 2020.

Only four sides — Aberfeldie, Greenvale, Keilor and Strathmore — have featured on grand final day in Premier Division in the past seven seasons.

AFL Victoria’s Player Points System Policy allows additional team points to be allocated to clubs located in a region with a low population base or if a club had not qualified for finals or been promoted in previous seasons.

Avondale Heights and Glenroy do battle this year. Picture: Josie Hayden

Avondale Heights, which is battling to avoid relegation and fielded 21 players with the league’s approval in their Round 14 loss to Strathmore, made an unsuccessful application for a higher player points limit over the off-season.

“We had a number of clubs put proposals to us this year to get additional player points. None of them got through,” Armstead said.

“Most of it was around timing — we judged it was too close to the season.

“So we made a commitment to look at it, and we’ve been looking at it, talking to clubs and have got input from them about the opportunity to bring that in for next season. That’s certainly on the table.

“We haven’t made a firm decision either way, but the door’s not closed on that as a possibility.”

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Significant hardship, lack of success, coming out of recess and the absence of underage sides due to reasons outside a club’s control are among other reasons clubs can use to support an application for more points.

Armstead said finding the right approach was an ongoing discussion point as the league looks to lessen the gap between the powerhouse clubs and the rest.

“Part of the discussion we’ve been having is, what’s the criteria on which you would allocate points?” he said.

“Is it about teams who haven’t had juniors for a sustained period when they haven’t been successful on field? Or is it about local population and areas where they don’t have access to schools or not a lot of young families coming in, so they can’t tap into that or different demographic backgrounds?

“If a club gets promoted from one division to the next, is that reasonable grounds to request extra points?”

The EDFL, however, has no plans to punish clubs for succeeding in what is one of the state’s leading suburban competitions.

“We’ve got some clubs that are well-administered, very well-run,” Armstead said.

“We certainly don’t want to put anything in place that, in a sense, brings them back to the pack.

“Our objective is to get improvement across all the clubs so they can all get up to that standard. That’s easier said than done, but that’s the objective.”

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