CAN’T WAIT FOR THE FIRST ROUND OF THE PARKLEA 2022 SEASON
Hi everyone. Hope you dodged Covid, if not hope you have fully recovered.
Super excited for the season to start. While it may sound a tad negative we will all breathe a sigh of relief it we can get through the entire season without any interruptions after no football in 2020 and half a season in 2021.
To repeat what I said last year community health is more important than our football so we have no alternative than to abide by the government restrictions. Once again the league and clubs will follow the AFL Vic ‘return to training and games protocols’. I’d like to think this year the constraints will be relaxed to a fair degree and less difficult for clubs and the league to implement given it appears we are over the worst of the Covid epidemic.
For the second consecutive season we will field an 11 team competition and this has necessitated a 20 round season with two byes for every club to enable all clubs to play nine home and away matches with our grand final this year on 17th September.
Also we have reverted back to U/16 &18 age levels after fielding at 16.5 & 18.5 last year.
To compensate for the teams that cannot field at junior level we will again produce a ‘make up game timetable’ to ensure our underage boys get to play as many matches as possible.
We have a number of newcomers to the league, firstly EDFL secretary Peter Smith who will be an asset with his extensive management skills while four of our clubs have new Presidents – Tracy Stephens & Shelley Brown (Longwarry), Rob Campbell (Nilma), Dale Chippett (Nyora) & Brett Tonkin ( Trafalgar). We have two new Secretaries – Sheryl Walters (Nyora) & Lachlan Barwick (Lang Lang). On field five clubs have new coaches – Bob McCallum (Buln), Paul Alger (Nilma), Dale Serong (Longwarry), Chris Doria (Poowong) & Tom Hallinan (Trafalgar). Good luck to all!
Senior wise while Ellinbank won the minor premiership in 2021 I am sure it will be hard pressed to win the 2022 flag as I am hearing positive reports from Buln Buln, Lang Lang and Trafalgar. I’d like to take the opportunity to congratulate the Bloods on their competiveness in their first season in the league last year. It was a real disappointment to see we never got to see how Trafalgar would have fared in the finals after performing outstandingly well throughout the season. Can’t write off Poowong or Neerim South either. Looks like Longwarry the 2019 premiers have lost a lot of players and may come back to field. Irrespective who holds the premiership cup aloft I would be more satisfied if the teams at the lower rungs of the ladder last year rise up and make the finals or be consistently competitive.
Again the EDFL will not field a senior Interleague team due to the 20 round home and away season. Similar to last year we have not heard if AFL Vic Country will roll out the Worksafe Country Championships. We will field an U18 team at the Gippsland Junior Carnival at Morwell on 29 June but once again have been informed there will be no U16’s at the carnival this year. We are currently doing our best to arrange an U16 Interleague match against another league.
With regards to the AFL Victoria regulations the team salary cap of $65k and the Player Point System (PPS) rules remain unchanged which will see an eight point differential this season with our minor premiers Ellinbank with a cap of 38 and at the other end of the scale Nyora and Yarragon with 46.
This season we are transitioning towards the EDFNL - a merger of the EDFL with EDNA. Last year clubs adopted the merger and the new name. This year we will operate provisionally as the EDFNL until we officially sanction it in the later months of 2022. Finally I would like to wish all clubs, officials, volunteers, and supporters, EDNA, the GUA and all our league sponsors all the best for a successful 2022.
The EDFL is really pleased to announce that our major sponsor Parklea is back on board again.
Parklea is an Australian owned company leading the way in property development in Victoria.
We are also delighted to announce a partnership with radio station SEN 91.9FM who will broadcast an EDFNL match every week between 2-5pm every Saturday. Confident this partnership will generate more interest for our league amongst the community and be mutually beneficial.
Big thanks to our other sponsors John Duff & Co, Physioworks, MP Gary Blackwood, Warragul Gazette, Warragul Downtowner, Hip Pocket, Robin Hotel Inn, Wolf-Telstra Partner, and Body Fit Training Warragul, whose logo will be on the league footballs this season.
The Warragul Country Club will sponsor our MVP award this season for the second successive year. We would also like to announce a new award and sponsored by the Warragul Downtowner for the ‘Community club of the year.’ Please support our league sponsors as well as your club sponsors.
Recent years has witnessed improved competiveness within our league across all grades and look forward this trend will continue. Hope your clubs can achieve all of its targets this season.
The start of the season cannot come quick enough!
Roger Gwynne
Chairman
EDFL Board of Management
Last Modified on 30/03/2022 13:14
