Jones' stance comes as clubs begin to look forward to 2022 after it became clear the league's metropolitan-based clubs - Sunbury, Melton and Melton South - would not be able to compete for some time to come due to COVID-19 restrictions.

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It looks unlikely a return to community sport will be allowed under the rules set to ease for Melbourne residents around September 23, and with the BFNL required to provide clubs with a minimum 14-day training period the earliest a match could be played was October 9 - a week past the league's deadline for a grand final.

Jones said this season's minor premiers were happy to play on October 9 but were knocked back by the league.

"You know, it's OK for us to say we're minor premiers for 2021 but at the end of the day it's a bit of a flat feeling when you don't actually win something on the day," he told The Courier.

"We were prepared to roll the dice and say if they were prepared to play (on October 9) we were more than happy for that to happen but the season had to be finished up from what I heard.

"It is what is, I understand. We were the best side through the home-and-away season and we played everyone and only got beaten once. But, it would have been nice to do these finals.

"For the league to pull the pin on everything and not even go to that one week of finals, it's a bit flat."

The BFNL set a grand final deadline of October 2 in its pathway to a season conclusion released on August 17, days after the home-and-away season was abandoned and Melbourne's current lockdown was extended into a second week.

A sole grand final would have required community sport to be allowed in metropolitan Melbourne and for Melton to be able to travel.

The Bloods finished second in the home-and-away season, four points behind the Roosters.

Currently, the restrictions likely to ease in metropolitan areas when the state's 70 per cent first dose benchmark is reached are Melbourne's travel limits, rising to 10 kilometres from five, and outdoor exercise, going to three hours per day, up from two.

BFNL general manager Shane Anwyl said the league took uncertainty around restrictions into account when abandoning its senior finals series.

"We understand there was starting to be a loss of engagement from players," he said.

"If you looked at it in realistic terms, if we returned on October 9 it would have been 10 weeks since the last game. People have only been in hope for that period.

"We wanted to give some certainty so that people could know the senior competitions were not going forward and that they could get on with other aspects of their lives."

Melton president Brian McNabb welcomed the decision to abandon finals.

"The BFNL board was very supportive of Melton and Sunbury being able to be involved (in senior football)," he told The Courier.

"I know there's always talk of the bias between the 'Eastern Bloc' and Ballarat-based clubs, but you've got to have a level playing field.

"A level playing field is when you play each other, which we did, and there is no regard for either Ballarat or Melbourne. So, the board has handled it in a professional manner."

Anwyl said no thought was ever given to proceeding without the metro clubs.

"The thinking all along has been that the BFNL is made up of 11 clubs," he said.

"Geographically, they are quite spread out, but all of those 11 clubs have the same right to be in finals.

"It was never going to be a case of separating out (regional and metro) clubs. We had a number of clubs who through government restrictions were not able to compete. So, that affects the whole competition."

In total 15 finals sides across the league's three metropolitan-based clubs were affected by Melbourne's extended lockdown.

Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged regional Victoria could leave lockdown next week, but there is no guarantee on when community sport will return in the regions.

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