VFL presidents set to meet AFL bosses over future of state league
As a string of former VFL players, including Collingwood forward Brody Mihocek and Essendon speedster Adam Saad, star in the AFL, their former clubs are anxious about how the comp will look in 2021. There’s many questions, which could be answered soon.
Victorian Football
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Brody Mihocek booted four goals for Collingwood.
Michael Gibbons was among the best players for Carlton.
Lachie Schultz slotted the victory-sealing goal for Fremantle.
Adam Saad made a bid for best-afield for Essendon.
There were other notable performances — Kane Lambert in rousing form for Richmond, Robbie Fox stout in defence for Sydney, Mitch Hannan prominent for Melbourne.
It was, in summary, a snazzy weekend in the AFL for players drafted from VFL clubs.
And it was a timely show of strength for the state league’s ability to produce mature-age talent.
The VFL season is over for 2020 — the coronavirus pandemic meant it never really began — and when it returns next year no one is quite sure how it will look.
The only certainty is that many questions are being asked about its future.
WILL the AFL teams — Collingwood, Geelong, Richmond, Essendon, North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs and Carlton — return? Or will the AFL’s financial squeeze lead to reduced salary caps, player lists and coaching staffs, making it impossible for them to operate their own sides? Will the clubs be happy for their players to gain and maintain match fitness by playing scratch matches between themselves, as they’re doing this year, or will they be farmed out to VFL clubs? Or will there be an AFL reserves competition, which seems to get floated every year? The odds of it happening now seem as long as Punt Rd.
WILL the AFL take the opportunity to bring the VFL and NAB League clubs together in regional hubs? Former Sandringham president Gerry Ryan has been advocating the model for 10 years, and did so again a few months ago. In a submission to the AFL in May, the five VFL stand-alone clubs suggested a similar structure, pointing to benefits including a stronger pathway from the Under 18 competition to the state league and the need for only one administration. They see it as running along the lines of the SANFL and WAFL, with development programs, schools connected to clubs and an overall regional approach. There would also be scope for new clubs to come in from areas such as Ballarat and Bendigo.
WILL the reserves teams of the Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast Suns, Sydney Swans and GWS Giants make the move from the NEAFL to the stronger VFL? Lions CEO Greg Swann likes the concept.
WILL the VFL expand in another form, taking in strong and ambitious suburban clubs to establish a so-called “Super League’’ that would have shades of the old VFA?
WILL the Northern Blues, suddenly dropped by Carlton in March, re-emerge as the Bullants and become a stand-alone club? President Steve Papal is beavering away behind the scenes to try to make it happen.
There are a lot of questions.
As one VFL official said on Monday, “Everything’s so up in the air we’re seeing large aeroplanes’’.
He said it was a waiting game for clubs and there was great uncertainty about 2021.
A club board member added: “We’re sort of just sitting tight waiting to see how it unfolds. Once there are decisions made about the caps (AFL salary caps) we’ll get a better understanding of where we’re at.’’
VFL club presidents are expected to meet AFL officials on Thursday to discuss options for 2021.
Change has been a constant of the VFL ever since it was revamped in 2000.
That year the traditional clubs such as Port Melbourne and Williamstown were joined by the AFL reserves to make an 18-team competition. There were two alignments, between Sandringham and Melbourne and Hawthorn and Box Hill, but others followed.
Box Hill and the Hawks are still together but Melbourne later ditched Sandy for Casey, which had been tied up with St Kilda.
Other alignments started, changed or ended. Port Melbourne linked with the Sydney Swans and then North Melbourne before going it alone in 2006.
The Kangas had earlier operated as the Murray Kangaroos. Bendigo Diggers joined forced with Essendon, then ran as Bendigo Gold before falling out of the league at the end of 2014. North Ballarat was a far more successful regional entity than Bendigo, winning three premierships but eventually losing its licence over governance and administration issues (the Roosters, incidentally, produced Isaac Smith and Rowan Marshall).
The 2000 fixture even featured Coburg-Fitzroy.
In short, the VFL has for a long time been about as secure as a two-peg tent in a tornado.
But as draftees like Mihocek and Gibbons prove their wares in the AFL and underline the worth of the VFL, clubs are pining for long-term stability.
CHANNEL 7 COMMENTATOR NIGEL CARMODY’S VFL ALL STARS TEAM FROM ROUND 7 OF THE AFL
B: Jay Lockart (Melbourne), Sam Collins (Gold Coast), Adam Saad (Essendon)
HB: Ben Long (St Kilda), Luke Ryan (Fremantle), Michael Hibberd (Melbourne)
C: Isaac Smith (Hawthorn), Ed Curnow (Carlton), Brett Bewley (Fremantle)
HF: Bayley Fritsch (Melbourne), Brody Mihocek (Collingwood), Mitch Hannan (Melbourne)
FOR: Lachie Schultz (Fremantle), Mitch Brown (Melbourne), Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (Essendon)
FOLL: Rowan Marshall (St Kilda), Kane Lambert (Richmond), Michael Gibbons (Carlton)
INTER: Robbie Fox (Sydney), Rupert Wills (Collingwood), Oscar McInerney (Brisbane), Mitch Hibberd (Essendon), Jake Aarts (Richmond), Hayden McLean (Sydney)
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