The path for players in Picola District Football League wanting to depart for an affiliated competition will be a clear one, after AFL Victoria announced they will be worth one player point when clearances officially open today.
This latest development follows what has been a long-running feud between the league and the governing body surrounding a proposed affiliation agreement in November.
The two parties were ultimately unable to come to an agreement by the December 31 deadline, meaning the league will enter the 2023 season as an unaffiliated competition.
Therefore, similarly to when the league lost affiliated status in 2018, AFL Victoria has decided all players wanting to leave the competition would carry one player point, making it easier for rival clubs in surrounding leagues to fit them in their allocation.
AFL Goulburn Murray general manager Shaun Connell said this was put in place to “not disadvantage” those players wanting to play in an affiliated league.
“From our end, the state policy guides us on how the rest of the affiliated leagues deal with players from unaffiliated clubs wanting to join them,” Connell said.
“In this region with the Picola league, who are now unaffiliated, any player coming into our competitions will be one pointers which has been the case for many years.
“The thinking behind this is that we don’t want those players wanting to be part of an affiliated league to be disadvantaged.”
Through the duration of this saga a host of players such as Jonty Wardle, Jhett Cooper, Trent Herbert and Xavier Stevenson had already made the move from the PDFL to the affiliated Goulburn Valley League.
However, with clearances not officially opening until February 1, Connell said all of these new signings coming out of the league would be classified as one-point players after their moves become official with the governing body.
“Any of the player movements that occur when clearances open on February 1 will be applicable to the updated points allocation,” he said.
“So all of those players that left the Picola league and signed with affiliated clubs prior to that will still fall under that updated points allocation, as they will not officially be cleared to their new clubs in the eyes of the AFL until after February 1.”
But while many may see this as a blow to the league, competition operations manager Shane Railton held a vastly different view.
He said the points implication did not have any negative effect on the league in 2018 and was confident of a similar outcome this time around.
“The AFL made us aware that (the updated player points allocation) would be the case recently and for a body that is supposed to be in charge of looking after the game it is pretty childish really,” Railton said.
“For us, our whole competition could be impacted, but based on what happened in 2018 I can’t recall hardly any players leaving, so for them to think it will negatively impact us is mind-boggling.
“We are confident once again it will not have an adverse impact on us and are excited to forge ahead into an exciting 2023 season.”