Ricky Nixon: Country footy the loser with former Magpie in points wrangle

Ricky Nixon has blasted the roadblocks put in front of ex AFL star Heath Shaw for making a one-off appearance for Benalla.

Former AFL player manager Ricky Nixon has blasted the roadblocks put in front of ex Collingwood and GWS star Heath Shaw making a one-off appearance for Goulburn Valley league club Benalla on Good Friday.

Shaw was due to play for Benalla against Tatura, but pulled out when it was revealed his player point allocation would increase from five to six when he was cleared back to his regular club East Keilor in the Essendon and District league.

Benalla had to forfeit its reserves in round one due to a major player shortage this year and hoped Shaw’s on-field presence would provide a timely financial fillip for the club.

For life of me l just don’t understand this. Community footy is struggling. @BenallaSaints are having their issues & need as much support as they can get and we can’t find a way to allow a legend like @LordHeathShaw23 to play a 1 off game. Where’s the ‘can do’ attitude @aflvic. pic.twitter.com/R0x1zdQL5c

— David Sinclair (@Dsincs) April 18, 2022

Nixon, who travelled to Benalla with Shaw for the match, said the attitude of the EDFL was “laughable”.

“Him playing at Benalla doesn’t affect the Essendon and District Football League or the premiership race,” Nixon said.

“I’ve been running these games for 15 years with the likes of Barry Hall, Jason Akermanis and Daniel Kerr.

“Dane Swan is playing eight of these games this year.

“He plays at St Kilda City and the Southern league doesn’t have a problem.”

The Weekly Times attempted to contact the EDFL for comment.

No one understands it. It’s a travesty. Bureaucracy gone mad. @aflvic and @EDFLfooty no reasonable person/league/organization could possibly justify an extra point in the transfer process in a case like this. Total disgrace

— James Dalton (@j_dalton1989) April 18, 2022

Benalla president Lloyd Johnson also tried unsuccessfully to broker a last minute points free exemption for East Keilor and Shaw.

“They’re fully loaded on their 46 points and to bring Heath back in with the extra point they just couldn’t do it,” he said.

“It was a community-type effort what Heath was doing, but the EDFL just wouldn’t do it because they felt there would be backlash from other clubs.

“He still came up and did whatever he wanted from us.

“He was just fantastic.”

Ricky Nixon, centre, with former AFL greats Greg Williams and Warwick Capper. Picture: David Geraghty.

Shaw performed the running duties for Benalla, but his onfield presence could have been the difference in the match Tatura won by a point with a goal with less than two minutes to play.

Benalla also lost co-coach Will Martiniello to concussion before halftime and also had three senior players missing due to injuries sustained in round one.

The club fielded a reserves team on Friday, but will experience ongoing shortages this year.

“The twos are going to be hit and miss,” Johnson said.

“We’ve said to the league we are going to be lucky to field a reserves team five or six times for the year out.

“The average age of our team on Friday was close to 35.”

Benalla will welcome back former junior and GWS player Tom Downie against Mansfield on Saturday with his VFL club Williamstown having a bye.