PLAYER points, women’s footy and community camps were just some of the items on the agenda when AFL NSW-ACT heavyweights visited Wagga this week.
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AFL NSW-ACT state managers Sam Chadwick and Dean Connors visited their Southern NSW staff on Monday and Tuesday to plan for the next 12 months.
Chadwick – state manager of football operations, governance and policy – and Connors – state manager of regions and programs – met with staff to discuss the strategic plan for the future.
The introduction of the player points system in the past year has been one of the biggest developments at community football level in some time.
Chadwick, who has history working with player points systems, hopes this one will start to take effect over the next 12 months.
“The points system is 12 months in and the points cap has been reduced this season,” Chadwick said.
“These next 12 months, is really suck it and see. What we’ve done so far is a good starting point but where we’re at now is to see it working, clubs will start making recruiting decisions based on the points cap.
“The cap was that high that it didn’t really matter in the first 12 months, as everyone was getting used to it, but as it gets reduced we should start to see it come into effect.”
AFL NSW-ACT will soon appoint a new statewide female football manager as they look to up the ante in that area across the state.
The new AFL Women’s League will hold their inaugural season in February and Chadwick said growing the female game is a priority in the Riverina.
“We want to grow female footy, across leagues and clubs,” Chadwick said.
“The Southern NSW market has that really strong relationship between football and netball so we have to work out how to work around that, while growing women’s footy.”
Connors said the AFL’s primary goal is simple.
“Fundamentally, we need to spend more time educating staff, participants, volunteers…because even though the game is in a great place, we want to make our game the leading code, not just in Southern NSW, but in every region in the state,” Connors said.
“We want to be the most professional with the best product, they’re the ultimate goals.”
Connors wants to see results from AFL NSW-ACT’s community and school programs flow on to junior and senior clubs.
AFL NSW-ACT will also undergo a statewide project of reviewing governing, financing and resourcing of all leagues. The goal is to find the most effective governance model.
