Player points system in focus

6 points – Player who has played at least one AFL match in the last three seasons

5 points – Player who has played at least five games in the VFL, SANFL or WAFL in the current or any of the past three seasons

4 points – Player who has a) played at least five TAC Cup games in the current or any of the past three seasons, b) played at least five games in the current or any of the past three seasons in the NEAFL or TSL, c) has achieved a club best and fairest top five finish, a league B&F top 10 finish, club leading goalkicker (minimum of 40 goals) in the past season

3 points – Player who has played the same number or more games of senior football than reserves at community level in the past three seasons

2 points – Player who has played more reserves than senior matches in the preceding season

1 point – A player who has a) played at least 40 games at an affiliate junior club, b) played for only that community club, c) has not played competitive football in the last 36 months

Add 1 point – Premier competition (e.g. BFL) to non-premier competition (e.g. CHFL)

Add 1 point – Transferring to a club playing in the same competition as the previous club

Add 1 point – Any player who has transferred to three or more community clubs in the past 36 months

AFL Goldfields general manager Rod Ward admits the tracking of a footballer’s best and fairest history is a “grey area” within the player points system, but has revealed measures will be taken before next season to address the issue.

Under the current system, extra points are allocated to a player if they have achieved a top five finish in a senior club best and fairest or finished inside the top 10 in a league count in the previous season.

This penalty is only activated if a footballer decides to move clubs.

As it stands, the player is responsible for informing the recruiting club of his history.

“That is probably the one grey area now,” Ward said.

“It is very hard to prove, but having said that, in football, everyone knows someone. And if a player is being misleading about best and fairest results, the chances are, sooner or later, they will trip themselves up.”

Ward said despite recent evidence of widespread errors in player point allocations within the Central Highlands Football League, he was pleased with how the system was tracking across the region.

“I said two weeks ago when I did the interview (with The Courier), that I was delighted with how it had gone,” Ward said.

“I'm still very happy with how it has gone. I would have preferred that this situation (in the CHFL) had not arisen.

Ward said the system would only get easier to manage in forthcoming seasons.

“I would have a great deal of confidence in saying that moving forward from year two onwards, that this system will be quite simple to manage,” he said.

“Now that the initial points have been in, once they've got them right, moving forward they will be very, very simple to manage.

“If a player stays at a club, it's a one point reduction.”

Ward said the system had already shown an increase in player retention at clubs.

“Those players that have shopped themselves around in the past and moved from club, to club, to club, they will find their points tally increase at such a point that they become less attractive to clubs,” he said.

“The consistent feedback from clubs and volunteers has been that the escalating player payments are putting an unreasonable amount of stress on volunteers.”

Ward said this year’s “soft launch” of the salary cap – to be implemented in full across the state’s community leagues next season – had been a positive move.

Coaches from the Central Highlands Football League clubs embroiled in the player points system controversy have called for greater clarity around the value of players from the beginning of the season.

Both Hepburn and Springbank had been found to be in breach of their respective points limits in games after the league reevaluated the point value of one or more of their players, while Ballan was forced to leave new recruit Dylan Prozzo out of its side on the weekend after his value was bumped up.

Ballan coach Justin McConnell said while all clubs throughout the league were trying their best to abide by the new system, the complexity of the points values had made it difficult for club volunteers to ensure players were listed correctly.

“People are trying to do the right thing, but there’s just so many variables which make it hard,” McConnell said.  

While only two CHFL clubs have breached the points cap, AFL Goldfields general manager Rod Ward told The Courier  that “most, if not all” clubs throughout the league had players incorrectly valued.

The Ballarat Football League will include each player’s value in the footy record this weekend for the first time to provide fans and officials alike with greater certainly around player values, with the Maryborough Castlemaine District and Riddell District leagues following suit next weekend. 

Hepburn coach Jason Olver said making the player points information available in the record from the start of the season would have prevented some of the league’s headaches.

He noted the mistake on the weekend where former Gold Coast Suns player Louis Herbert was listed as four instead of six points as a prime example of how more eyes on the system would help to minimise mistakes.

“I want everyone to be on an even playing field so you’ve got to get the right outcome,” Olver said.  “At the moment supporters still don’t understand it, because it’s hard enough for clubs to get their heads around it.”

The reevaluation of players throughout the season has also posed problems for clubs who have been unable to field their best 22 players despite being under the points cap at the start of the season.  

“When we recruited we thought we had our points allocated correctly,” Springbank joint-coach Michael Searl said.  

CENTRAL Highlands Football League president Eddy Comelli says the player points system is too complicated.

And he says the introduction of the statewide policy – and the impending salary cap – is making it increasingly difficult to attract volunteers into the sport.

“It has to be simplified because you have got to understand that a lot of clubs change their administrators from year to year,” Comelli said.

“People move in and move out of football clubs.

“Some have got a capacity to grasp this sort of stuff and others haven’t.”

Comelli believes there should be better tracking of footballers and their playing history across the state.

“Otherwise, you are leaving it to clubs to get it right and there is no way known that it is going to be got right 100 per cent of the time,” he said.

“And that appears to be what has happened at the moment. Not just in the Central Highlands, it has happened in other competitions around the state.”

Comelli said there would be many other incorrect player point allocations throughout Victoria that are yet to be revealed.

“There would be heaps that haven’t been discovered because possibility a lot of the clubs where there are a lot of errors are nowhere near using up their whole entitlement of points,” he said.

“So nobody is bothering with it and it’s not being highlighted anywhere.”

Comelli admitted he wasn’t sure if the introduction of a points cap was necessary in the first instance.

“My overriding feeling is that it is far too complex,” he said.

The installation of the player points system in the Ballarat Football League has gone with through without any major dilemmas according to the competitions operations manager.

The league is yet to experience a breach of the points cap in its opening seven rounds of competition.

Operations manager Scott Carey said the clubs in the BFL was happy with the implementation of the system which aims to increase competition and minimise exorbitant player salaries.

“(The clubs) understand that it’s come in and it’s here to stay,” Carey said.  “You’re always going to be helping clubs because clearances don’t stop until mid year, but so far so good.”

BFL clubs have the bonus of participating in a premier competition, meaning any player coming from an outside league will not be slugged with an additional point.  

However many BFL clubs who act as the community club for VFL players face the challenge of staying within their cap when those players return.

Carey praised the effort clubs throughout the league had put into ensuring juniors rose up through the system to play senior football.

“Clubs have done well to create a culture where players coming up through the junior ranks want to stay on and play senior football,” Carey said.  “The BFL’s had that junior structure in place for a long time now.”

Carey said almost no players’ points value had been changed since the start of the year.

A survey conducted by AFL Victoria in 2015 showed an overwhelming majority of clubs supported the implementation of the PPS.

Disciplinary action over breaches of the player points system will continue to be at the discretion of leagues and regional governance bodies according to AFL Victoria.

While AFL Victoria said the overwhelming response to the implementation of the PPS throughout the state had been positive, “AFL Victoria appreciates the implementation of the PPS Policy in 2016 may result in unintentional errors  with the player points allocation from club volunteers as the industry familiarises itself with the new system”.

“Metropolitan Leagues and Region Commissions will have the discretion in 2016 to either  address any of these breaches in the PPS Policy through education and training, or they may decide to apply enforcement provisions,” an AFL Victoria spokesperson said in a statement.

It comes after AFL Goldfields sought clarification from the state body in early May over what punishments should be administered to clubs found in breach of their points cap.

Tim O’Connor says…

THE decision to include a point penalty for a player’s best and fairest history was one that had always been fraught with danger.

As it stands, policing this aspect of the system is near impossible. Top five finishes in a club count can be difficult to track and are often not publicly available.

But confirmation best and fairest history will be integrated into the online management database is great news (see page 69).

After all, if we are going to play by this system, we have to get it right.

Brendan Wrigley says…

While the goal of creating an equal playing field throughout each competition is a noble one, the importance of ensuring each player’s value is correct at the start of the season cannot be overstated.

Clubs have the right to recruit players with the goal of success on the field.  Central to this is a knowledge of what a club’s points cap is and what a potential recruit would be worth.  Changing player values mid-season completely undermines this.

David Brehaut says...

THE points system gets a huge thumbs up from me.

Okay, there are some teething problems, but once these settle down – and they will – this is going to save many clubs and ultimately competitions which have been gradually wilting as a result of financial strain.

As shown in years gone by, a salary cap on its own is never going to work in the country. There are too many loopholes.

The points system is clear cut and will level up  clubs’ recruiting requirements.