MPNFL 2021: Fixture changes as season impacted by lockdown

The MPNFL season will undergo changes, including new dates for finals. But clubs have more questions than answers.

Bonbeach and Dromana players battle it out in Round 3. Picture: Valeriu Campan

It’s all up in the air.

But MPNFL clubs have agreed to two significant decisions as they learn to live with another Covid impacted season.

Club presidents met with AFL South East officials via Zoom on Monday night and agreed to play last weekend’s postponed Round 8 at the end of the season (after round 18), thus pushing back the finals series by a week.

The league had built two flexible weeks into the fixture at the outset — helped by the fact Easter was earlier than usual this year — giving the league a bit of leeway.

Clubs also agreed that, if we’re still in lockdown for another week, then football would be played on the Queen’s Birthday weekend on June 12-13 to make up for lost games.

But there are many variables, with uncertainty on crowd sizes, balancing up the fixture with home games and the question of what happens if more than three games are lost.

As one club president said: “There are too many possible answers. It’s useless speculating, we’ve just got to wait and see what happens.”

Crib Point had to postpone its Reconciliation Round last weekend, having put a lot of work and money into it.

Pines coach Paddy Swayn said the league should look at playing midweek games to fit in the entire season.

“You know, like they did with the AFL last year, there’s always provision especially with Frankston now and the lights,’’ he said.

“What it taught us last year with the AFL is that anything’s possible. There was this uproar, ‘oh, you can’t play that many games in that many days’, but they did.”

Red Hill president Graham Sherry said clubs had benefitted from strong crowd sizes this season.

“Fortunately the crowds have been up so far this year,’’ he said.

“I think a lot of clubs who conservatively budget are quite pleasantly surprise the revenue side has held up.

“So let’s hope it’s not going to be a long shutdown and that stays the same.’’

Mt Eliza coach Steve Brattle said the players needed to be “agile’’ as the make up of the season changes.

“We’ve been teaching the players that the whole time, look after yourself, look after your family, look after your job. And we’ll worry about footy at the end,’’ he said.

“That’s been the message for a year and it hasn’t changed.”