Skipton is the sole club in the region granted a player points allocation higher than the statewide maximum for 2017.
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The Emus will operate with a budget of 50 points next season, the same allocation it received in 2016.
AFL Goldfields endorsed six Central Highlands and two Ballarat football league clubs a cap of 50, but AFL Victoria ruled the Emus would be the only ones operating at that mark.
Carngham-Linton, Clunes, Creswick, Rokewood-Corindhap, Smythesdale, Melton South and Sebastopol were handed a provisional total of 50 points in October, but will have to work to an allocation of 48 next year.
Skipton’s reason for requesting additional points – on top of the league’s base cap of 42 – was centered around a claim that its geographic location provides a competitive disadvantage, a lack of on-field success since joining the CHFL and the town’s small population base.
The Emus had 50 points last season and were found to have breached that cap on a number of occasions in the system’s first year of operation.
Skipton will be led by Greg Middleton for the first time in 2017, with the past Bungaree premiership coach taking over at the helm. He will guide a side that won just two games last year for a 15th-placed finish to the campaign.
AFL Goldfields general manager Rod Ward said he accepted AFL Victoria’s findings, but revealed clubs still had the opportunity to push for another evaluation of its cap.
“Should the situation be worthy of further consideration, AFL Victoria has left the door open for that to occur,” Ward said.