Football Wagga’s associate clubs are set to this week deliver their verdict on whether players can be dual registered with Wagga City Wanderers.
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Dual-registration was hotly debated last season, particularly during a finals series that saw Young Lions skipper Duncan Cameron and Wagga United stars Prince Thompson and Tyler Allen sidelined by the governing body for having played too many Wanderers fixtures.
Newly re-elected Football Wagga president Tony Dobbin is confident that a dual-registration compromise can be made and agreed upon by the clubs but said it “wasn’t a matter of just saying yes or no”.
“Wanderers have made it clear that they have no problem with players dual-registering but there are a few factors to consider,” Dobbin said.
“Things like fee structures can change and we’ll need to look at how we go about sorting Football Wagga costs for fields and referees as well as Capital Football payments and there’s a whole process that needs to be examined.
“Really, it’s down to the clubs to decide whether they want dual-registrations.”
Dobbin suggested concerns around dual registration could be founded on player availability, particularly during finals.
“Look, it’s a diverse range of views where some are saying absolutely not and others are saying players should be eligible if they’ve played a certain amount of games.”
Tolland president Maurie Hogan said the club’s position supported dual registration but expressed concern over junior scheduling.
“We don’t see any difference with seniors being dual registered but I think it’s highly unlikely that juniors would be dual registered and that’s mainly out of fairness to the kids,” Hogan said.
“We’ve got to provide games to our juniors but Wanderers fixtures will clash with a lot of those games and we wants teams to always have opposition.
I see Wanderers as a great pathway for those kids but they can’t be always missing club games if they’re playing rep football as well.
- Tolland president Maurie Hogan
“I see Wanderers as a great pathway for those kids but they can’t be always missing club games if they’re playing rep football as well.”
Hogan added that the club would support the final decision regardless.
“We’ll be saying yes to it but whatever is voted by the majority is what we’ll stick to.”
Wanderers director of football Brendan Flanagan remains a supporter of senior dual registration but stressed Wanderers must be considered a player priority.
“I said it back in 2017 and it’s the same now in that players need to prioritise their commitments for Wanderers,” Flanagan said.
“It’s a higher level, not just a different grade.”
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