A trio of local clubs will have their player points cap lowered with AFL Barwon rubberstamping the introduction of a tiered system for player points and salary cap for 2025.
By virtue of their 1-2 finish at the end of the home-and-away season, GFNL powerhouses St Joseph’s and St Mary’s will have their points cap lowered from 40 to 38.
Back-to-back Bellarine premier Torquay will also play at 38 points.
No one in the GDFNL will play at less than 40 points, with AFL Barwon factoring in the challenges several clubs face around junior numbers.
AFL Barwon tried unsuccessfully to introduce a “handicap system” at the end of the 2019 season, but the impacted clubs met this with strong opposition.
However, AFL Barwon Commission deputy chair Ash West says this model differs.
“Last time, there was a definition of sustained success around how you would allocate points and other things,” he told krockfootball.live.
“We’ve gone now to a tiered model. So, it just depends on where you finish on the ladder for a given year for that given year as to how the points structure falls.
“And this is consistent with what a number of other leagues across the state have done as well.
“The process is very different. It’s not based on a sustained success model; it’s where you finish on the ladder, and it’s based off the end of the home-and-away season.”
The base GFNL salary cap will remain $100,000 but stagger to $108,000 for North Shore and St Albans.
However, there’s been a $5000 increase to the base for the Bellarine and GDFNL, to $85,000 and $75,000, respectively.
“Some of the feedback we got when we were talking about the competition structure was the gaps between the leagues in terms of salary cap,” West said.
“If you’ve got a club that’s going to jump up a league, it was a huge jump in terms of salary cap.
“So, we’ve taken the opportunity this year to reduce those gaps a little bit between the leagues.”
AFL Barwon is confident a tiered system for the salary cap will help clubs use the points they have been allocated.
“When we sat back and had a bit of an analysis… none of the clubs are hitting the heads on the points,” West said.
“One of the restrictions is a little bit of salary cap. To the bottom end of the range, where you have more points, we’ve also allocated more salary cap to be able to use.
“That’s something we’ll continue to review to see if that’s enough going forward.
“We clearly want the clubs at the bottom who’ve got the additional points to use the additional points.”
West is confident this streamlined approach will give more certainty to clubs.
“It’s one of the things that, coming into this role, I just couldn’t believe how much time was being spent on commission time, in terms of the operations team as well, talking about points, talking about points allocations, talking about appeals, it just took so much (time),” he said.
“We’re hoping that this takes a little bit of the conjecture out of it – everyone knows where they sit.
“And there’s an opportunity there for clubs to put in a submission for additional points if they think they’ve got a case.
“But, we think it’s reasonably straightforward where it sits.”
Click this link to hear the full interview with Ash West
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| GFNL | TTP | APP | BFNL | TTP | APP | GDFNL | TTP | APP |
| St Joseph’s | 38 | $100k | Torquay | 38 | $85k | East Geelong | 40 | $75k |
| St Mary’s | 38 | $100k | Drysdale | 40 | $85k | Belmont Lions | 40 | $75k |
| Leopold | 40 | $100k | Anglesea | 40 | $85k | Werribee Centrals | 40 | $75k |
| South Barwon | 40 | $100k | Geelong Amateur | 40 | $85k | Thomson | 40 | $75k |
| Bell Park | 40 | $100k | Modewarre | 40 | $85k | Bannockburn | 40 | $75k |
| Colac | 40 | $100k | Barwon Heads | 42 | $85k | North Geelong | 40 | $75k |
| Geelong West | 42 | $100k | Queenscliff | 44 | $88k | Inverleigh | 42 | $75k |
| Newtown & Chilwell | 42 | $100k | Ocean Grove | 44 | $88k | Winchelsea | 44 | $75k |
| Grovedale | 44 | $105k | Portarlington | 46 | $90k | Bell Post Hill | 44 | $76k |
| Lara | 44 | $105k | Newcomb | 46 | $90k | Anakie | 44 | $76k |
| North Shore | 46 | $108k | Geelong West | 46 | $81k | |||
| St Albans | 46 | $108k | Corio | 46 | $81k |
