Riddell District Football League coaches unhappy with treatment of transferred juniors

IT WAS designed to stop clubs paying juniors to recruit them, but suburban coaches in Melbourne’s northwest are not happy with some of the player points allocation system and they want it changed.

Rupertswood coach Kevin Fitzgerald is unhappy with how many points are allocated to transferred juniors. Picture: Josie Hayden

THE allocation of player points to juniors who change clubs is causing unrest in suburban football.

Riddell District Football League clubs have spoken out against the rule, saying it impacted on young players’ opportunities to be selected for senior games.

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Under AFL Victoria’s player points system, players who move clubs at under-18 level remain three or four-point players once they graduate to seniors, despite having spent up to three seasons at that club.

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A transferred junior — a player recruited from an under-19s competition or younger age group who does not meet the home club definition — is allocated three points.

Under the policy, a home player is worth one point and is classified as having played “40 or more games at the aligned junior club and up to and including under-17 competition or younger”.

The player points cap varies between 42 and 50 points at RDFL clubs this year.

Rupertswood coach Kevin Fitzgerald said the issue was “a bugbear” for him.

Rupertswood and Woodend-Hesket players battle for the ball in the RDFL. Picture: Josie Hayden

“What we’ve got now is a situation where kids have played under-18s at a club, yet are classed as four-pointers,” he said.

“They won’t be played because clubs can’t fit them under the points system.

“They should be one-pointers. It is an over-reaction.”

Fitzgerald said the rule punished young players and the clubs who developed them through arguably the most formative phase of their junior careers.

“Our under-18s are a great resource for the club, yet none of that work is recognised by the points system,” he said.

“Kids can play three years in under 18s and it doesn’t count for anything, yet that is where most of their development is done.

“AFL Victoria need to reassess and readdress it.”

Fitzgerald said the rule implementation was a “knee-jerk reaction” to prevent clubs luring players with money and subverting the system.

Western Region Football League club Deer Park admitted last year it had dedicated money to attract some of the competition’s best juniors to reduce its points tally in future seasons.

Macedon coach Jeff Andrews said at least one junior player has not been selected for seniors due to his points allocation. Picture: Kylie Else

Fellow RDFL coaches agreed with Fitzgerald, saying juniors who came to their clubs to play with family members or friends were being punished.

“We had a kid come across to play with his mates,” Macedon coach Jeff Andrews said.

“(He) comes to us, plays in our under-16s and 18s, then we go to pick him this year and find out he’s a three-point player with no discount.

“That’s basically stopped this kid from getting a game of senior footy when he’s due.

“He’s not what the points is all about. It’s about elite talent moving around.

“It’s definitely an issue.”

Riddell coach Jamie Elliott said it was “a problem”, stating the minimum five senior games to reduce a player’s points the following year was an issue.

“We are trying to play our kids through the seniors, so it does impact on selection a fair bit,” he said.

“I can understand the player points especially for those from AFL or VFL, but when kids are coming to your club to play with their brother or mates, they are still three-pointers.

“It deflects on the player a bit and doesn’t help them for the next year either.”

East Sunbury coach Steve Grey said he had not come across the problem in the Essendon District Football League this year, but with reduced player points in years to come, he forecast it would become “harder and harder” for clubs.

AFL Victoria said one focus of the rules was to ensure player recruitment did not shift from senior players to junior players and to make player retention a “key focus of the program”.

It said the policy allowed for players to seek reassessment from the league to a lower point category.

A spokeswoman said there was “minimal support for change” from clubs and leagues about the definitions of home players and transferred juniors at the end of last year.

While the coaches overall remain happy with the introduction of the system, some kinks still exist.

“The points system is good in principal and it is only in its infancy,” Andrews said.

“We’re starting to see it working — players have gone back from us to their home club, but these are probably little bugs that have to be ironed out.

“Overall the principal is very good and the benefits will continue to come.”