Ovens and Murray: Wangaratta can appeal against losing 2022 premiership

Wangaratta has a chance to reclaim the 2022 premiership stripped from it by the Ovens and Murray league. Read the next steps here.

Wangaratta has been given the chance to plead its case for the return of the 2022 Ovens and Murray league premiership it lost for busting the salary cap.

More than a month after the bombshell call by the league to strip the club of the flag, AFL Victoria has confirmed that the Magpies will be given the chance to appeal the decision.

Wangaratta must prove to a three-member appeal committee that the O and M’s ruling was too harsh or an error of law made.

The committee is expected to deliver its verdict before the end of the month.

Wangaratta coach Ben Reid and Magpies captain Mick Newton after last year’s grand final. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

The Magpies avoided losing the premiership in the initial sanctions handed down for the breach by an AFL North-East Border disciplinary committee.

Those penalties included a $28,000 fine – the amount Wangaratta was found to be over the cap – not being able to earn premiership points from its first two matches, and its player points tally for the 2023 season being reduced from 40 to 36.

Wangaratta opted against appealing the penalties handed down by the disciplinary committee.

The O and M board subsequently decided the salary cap breach broke its own by-laws and took the premiership from Wangaratta.

The league has already provided details to AFL Victoria of the process it followed in deciding to strip Wangaratta of the premiership.

Wangaratta beat Yarrawonga in last year’s Ovens and Murray grand final. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

The appeal will take the form of written submissions from the two parties only.

The relevant AFL regional manager normally sits on the appeal committee.

But in this instance the AFL Northeast Border manager Zac Hedin will be excused because he is a former Wangaratta player.

Wangaratta unsuccessfully appealed to AFL Victoria last year against an O and M by-law preventing Bradley Melville playing in the finals.

Wangaratta president Ellyn O’Brien said the club welcomed the chance to appeal.