TRENTHAM Football Club president Troy Adams has called on AFL Victoria to put a cap on the number of players that can be cleared from one club to another after his club was left obliterated by a player exodus.
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The Saints lost 15 senior players to a new suburban club based in Werribee during the pre-season.
They have since been left scrambling to fill senior teams and will enter tomorrow’s Maryborough Castlemaine District Football League clash with Royal Park as underdogs, despite the fact Royal Park has only won one senior match in the past two years.
The Saints’ departures were spurred on by the appointment of senior Saint Heath Hunter as Manor Lakes’ inaugural coach in October.
Thirteen players transferred with Hunter and were later joined by another former Saint, who had initially transferred to a different suburban club before moving across.
Adams said his call was “not even sour grapes”. It was about helping ensure longevity of all clubs.
“Our beef is more to do with AFL Victoria and its lack of restrictions,” Adams said.
“It’s been hard for us but we’re probably very lucky we’re financially strong and have been around for awhile.
“We will struggle for numbers this year.
“If this had happened to a club that’s really struggling, it could be a lot worse.”
Manor Lakes’ neighbouring club Wyndham Vale has lost about 18 players to the new Western Region Football League rival.
AFL Goldfields general manager Rod Ward said that while it was fantastic to have a new club start up in a growth area, he would raise the concerns in an AFL Victoria meeting on Sunday.
Ward said a cap could be enforced, if needed, on transfers between Victorian Country Football League clubs but in the past metropolitan football had not needed one, due to an abundance of players in the suburbs.
He confirmed he had spoken with Trentham about the possibility of recruiting from an overflow of players in Goldfields region major league clubs this season.
Adams said the Saints had always avoided drawing players from nearby clubs, particularly neighbours in Kyneton, Woodend and Daylesford, because “the game was hard enough already”.
Instead they had gradually supplemented their list in “dribs and drabs” with Melbourne-based players.
Coach Clayton Scoble, a Daylesford premiership player, has already re-signed for the 2014 season and the club has worked hard to improve changeroom and netball facilities.
The Saints reached the semi-finals last year and were ousted by grand finalist Navarre.
Adams feared a lack of senior football success this year, as the club’s marquee team, could jeopardise the club’s future football and netball structures.
melanie.whelan@fairfaxmedia.com.au
