AFL Riverina is hopeful of securing representative fixtures for the Farrer and Riverina Leagues next season.
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Discussions are continuing towards a Riverina League rematch with AFL Canberra while the Farrer League could take on AFL South Coast.
But, amid waning interest in representative football, Barellan president Jeff Mickan has suggested a radical alternative in future: a 'crossover round' when Farrer League clubs play the Riverina League clubs in the corresponding ladder position, for premiership points.
"What you'd do is take the ladder position of each competition and have 1 v 1, 2 v 2, and so on, and play for points in your own competition," Mickan said.
Mickan said making the games count is important.
"I think you'd have to play for points because it's got to have meaning or it would be a debacle," he said.
"There are other questions - like how you decide who gets the home ground, when you'd take the ladder positions to determine the games, what grades play and whether you'd do it every year - I don't know.
"It's just a suggestion to freshen it up."
Mickan's proposal came in response to a league request for feedback on the future of rep football.
He stressed it needs fine-tuning but believes it's worth exploring at least.
"What happens now is that people don't take rep footy seriously. They want the weekend off," he said.
"If the objective (of rep footy) is to test the depth of your league, then I think this would show the differences and similarities between the competitions.
"In theory, if the Farrer is weaker, it might be harder to get Farrer League clubs interested if they think they're going to get beaten.
"But compared to the Farrer League playing the RFL I think it would be a better representation of how strong the leagues are."
Getting players to commit to rep footy has been a problem for some years, particularly those who travel to play or are concerned about injuries.
Mickan knows the 'crossover round' is a left-field suggestion but it would add a wildcard aspect to the season.
"It's a hard one (rep footy). The seasons are long already. After a while, when you're in the same league year in year out, it might freshen it up a bit. You get to play at a different ground, see different people, against different clubs," he said.
"There's a lot of fine points that need tweaking but I think it's worth considering."
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