PLAYERS recruited from the AFL Riverina Premier competition and AFL Canberra could be worth an extra point on their player points systems next year as officials look to give teams as much incentive as possible to turn their juniors into senior regulars.
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As it currently stands players recruited between the Riverina League and Canberra are allocated three points while across the rest of the state, including the Hume League, a 'premier league' player is worth four.
The change was originally intended to take place this year before COVID forced the implementation of recommendations from the AFL Riverina competition review to be delayed until 2022.
The move comes after a higher than usual number of Canberra-based players have signed to play in the Farrer and Riverina Leagues this year.
Canberra presidents have recently called for a uniform player point system to be adopted statewide, and AFL Southern NSW regional manager Marc Geppert said they're keen to give clubs more competitive reasons to boost their local talent pathways.
"The biggest reason we've got these sustainability and equalisation measures in place is to put more emphasis and onus on developing those junior pathways," Geppert said.
"In the majority of leagues across country football there's a premier or premium community player point, and this is something we will look to implement in 2022.
"As it currently stands AFL Canberra, Riverina League and Farrer League don't have that point in their policy, but the Hume League does. For example if a Hume club recruited a player from Ovens and Murray they're a four-point player, whereas if Riverina recruited from Canberra or vice versa they're currently worth three points.
"That's something that was due to come in anyway, but with the unusual amount of players coming out of Canberra this year that's something we will fast track for 2022."
Geppert said the extra point wasn't a direct response to the growing number of Canberrans travelling to the Riverina to play.
"We don't look specifically with what's happened with Canberra players, but this year is an unusual amount," he said.
"There's different reasons. Some have been offered more money to play in the Riverina, and other players have said they want to play country footy in front of bigger crowds.
"They're valid reasons, but one point we want to make is we do have an equal salary cap ($80,000) across the Canberra, Riverina, Farrer and Hume Leagues this year, which we haven't been able to do in the past.
"It's going to help but we need competitions to do the right thing and do it in the right spirit. If clubs are doing the wrong thing in terms of the salary cap, then eventually they'll be found out."
Geppert said the player spend of clubs will be scrutinised more heavily after a boom harvesting season.
"There's definitely going to be a stronger focus this year on the player spend, more so because we've got two different revenue streams (from club to club)," he said.
"A lot of rural clubs are going to have a strong year of income with the farming industry having a really good year, but on the flipside there's other clubs within towns who rely on small businesses who haven't had a good year.
"There's going to be a disparity for raising funds, so it's important we take that into account, and make clubs accountable for how they're spending.
"We're just looking to make sure people are on a level playing field in terms of raising money, but also how they spend money."
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