Local footy: WRFL club Deer Park’s player points victory
Western Region Football League power Deer Park has secured an important win off the field after an appeal to AFL Victoria.
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Deer Park has scored a win off the field in preparation for the 2021 Western Region Football League season.
The Lions, who have claimed the past seven Division 1 premierships, will have 43 player points next season after a successful appeal to AFL Victoria.
Deer Park had been given 42 points under the WRFL’s “sliding scale” model, receiving a deduction on the back of its run of success.
Altona and Hoppers Crossing are set to have 45 points available, while Spotswood, Werribee Districts, St Albans, Sunshine, Point Cook and Caroline Springs were handed 46 points.
Yarraville-Seddon has 47 points after securing promotion from Division 2 in 2019.
Under the WRFL’s system, a point was removed for each premiership won since 2017, while two top-three finishes in the past four seasons also resulted in a deduction.
Deer Park president Matthew Pratt noted his club received a “fair hearing” after an appeal to the WRFL was rejected.
But he said “we believe we should be no lower than the next lowest club, which is Hoppers Crossing and Altona”.
“We have to accept it now and move on,” Pratt said.
“A part of our proposal was to show the league the evenness was already there. It’s been there for three years. We finished first in 2017, second in 2018 and third – but actually equal fifth – in 2019.
“We felt the decision was probably more emotional than factual. But the fact is that one assesses success and the criteria of success by premierships, so it’s hard to argue with that.”
While the Lions have dominated finals, they have not been as dominant in the past three home-and-away campaigns.
They have lost 11 regular-season games during that period, while Spotswood has dropped 13 matches. Altona and Hoppers Crossing have lost 14 games, with the Vikings finishing with a 9-9 record in 2017.
Deer Park has waved goodbye to several one-point players since its 2019 grand final victory over Altona, including Chris Stewart, Kwame McHarg, Max Bruin, Daniel Cooper, Jackson Barling, Shaun Harrison and Jase Perkins.
The club also cited the lack of juniors coming through to replace its departing stars, while the salary cap has been slashed to $100,000 for next season.
Pratt said the Lions’ senior squad had undergone “significant change”.
“We’re actually talking about two years between games,” he said, pointing to the cancelled 2020 season.
“We certainly presented the fact that the uncertainty around what COVID will do will certainly have to be considered going forward as well.
“We can all speculate the impact COVID will have on the environment, but I personally do believe I’m correct in saying I think it will change it forever. But that’s subjective at this point in time.”
The Lions had 44 points in 2019 and had their cap lowered to 40 in 2020 before an appeal to AFL Victoria resulted in them gaining an extra point prior to the season being canned.
The WRFL said 84 per cent of clubs supported the “sliding scale” model.
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