Riddell District Football League confirms player points cap for 2016 but grants six clubs extra points

THE Riddell District Football League has set its player points cap for next season — but six clubs will be immune to the measures.

Interleague football: Riddell District FL V Nepean FL. at Tony Clarke Reserve, Macedon Riddell District FL, Haydn Ross,12 Pictures:Angie Basdekis

THE Riddell District Football League has set its player points cap for next season — but six clubs will be immune to the measures.

The league this afternoon confirmed its cap would stand at 42 in 2016 before dropping one point for each of the following two seasons.

However, all but four clubs — reigning premier Romsey, Riddell, Rupertswood and Sunbury Kangaroos — applied to the league for special consideration to be allocated more points next season, with six being granted their wishes.

Wallan and Lancefield were the biggest winners, each set to be allowed 48 points next season after citing a lack of recent on-field success and geographical challenges in their applications.

Rockbank, Broadford and Woodend-Hesket have each been given three extra points because of similar circumstances while Melton Centrals will have 44 points to work with next year.

Applications for extra points from this year’s runner-up Diggers Rest and fifth-placed Macedon were rejected.

Kilmore has been left out of the points cap allocation as it’s planned move to the Northern Football League remains in limbo.

AFL Goldfields regional general manager Rod Ward defended the significant allocation of extra points, saying clubs with limited junior numbers could not be treated the same as those with a plethora of junior talent and a uniform points cap was therefore “unrealistic”.

“In a perfect world, everyone would have the same number of juniors, great junior numbers and great junior talent,” he told Leader.

“But we don’t live in a perfect world. You can’t apply the same criteria to a Rupertswood, for example, as you do to a Lancefield who don’t have under-18s. So you need to have some flexibility and look at every club’s individual circumstances.”

Ward said the league would aim to reduce the points allocations over coming years in consultation with clubs.

“We’ve tried to bring in a points allocation that allows our clubs to keep everyone on their current list and recruit a small number of players but the plan is to gradually reduce that,” he said.

“We’re going to continue to monitor it as it rolls out next year and see if it needs further adjustment. But the plan is to certainly bring down the points allocation.”

There are six tiers under the individual player points allocations, with those that have played at least 40 junior games at an aligned club or have only ever played for one senior club allocated one point.

The allocations range to a maximum of six points for players who have played at least one AFL match over the past three years.

In addition to the player points cap, the RDFL clubs will have to work within a salary cap of $120,000 next year which will be reduced by $10,000 in both 2017 and 2018.

The measures are part of AFL Victoria’s statewide Community Club Sustainability Program, aimed at stemming spiralling player payments and creating a more level playing field for clubs.