Both Sunbury in the Ballarat Football League and Hepburn in the Central Highlands Football League formally applied for special compensation under the new player points system to be introduced next year, only to be knocked back by AFL Goldfields. 

However, both clubs say they were never overly hopeful of being granted extra points, but simply tried to take advantage of the opportunity.

Sunbury and Hepburn have been traditional powerhouses in their respective leagues, both consistent finals performers and multiple premiership winners.

As a result, they were the only teams in their leagues to have their requests denied.

Sunbury coach Rick Horwood said he felt his club had a responsibility to at least apply for more points. They asked for an additional five points – essentially an extra VFL-listed player.

“We would have been remiss as an organisation to not apply if the avenue is there,” Horwood said.

“We don’t have any gripes they didn’t give us the points.”

Horwood said his club had interviewed 64 potential recruits already and found there was an increasing trend that recruits wanted to travel in packs in modern football, hence the request for more points. 

He said the fact his under-16s team had been cut from three sides to one in recent years and the fact there was such strong competition from neighbouring leagues as driving reasons behind the application. 

Sebastopol was the only other BFL club to apply, granted an extra five points.

Meanwhile, Hepburn was one of nine CHFL clubs to ask for more points, but was the only one to be rejected.

However, newly-signed coach Jason Olver took a similar approach to the Lions, claiming it never hurt to ask.

The Burras requested more points based on the small population base from which to draw players and a difficulty in retaining juniors due to a lack of employment opportunities in the region.

“I never really thought we would get more points, but it didn’t hurt to ask,” Olver said.

“It really should be the lower clubs that get the points to work with though. But still, we thought we might as well have a crack if we can.”

The player points system will be introduced statewide in 2016, with AFL Goldfields handing down its comprehensive breakdown of each club’s allowances on Monday. 

Of the 24 clubs that applied for additional points throughout AFL Goldfields (also including the Maryborough Castlemaine District and Riddell District football leagues), 19 had their applications either fully or partially approved.

The BFL has a base limit of 45 points for all teams except Sebastopol (50 points), while the other three league’s are set at 42 points but have far more outliers.

The player points system will be complimented by a financial salary cap from 2017 onwards.

The financial cap will be trialled next year without being enforced while clubs adjust to the points system, but will not actually be introduced until the following season.

AFL Goldfields region general manager Rod Ward plans to meet with each of the four leagues over the next month to gain further feedback regarding the points system.