LEAGUES across Southern NSW have informed AFL NSW-ACT officials of their preference to work with the player points system opposed to a salary cap, for now.
That was the message from Riverina, Farrer, Hume and AFL Canberra league officials at a meeting at AFL House on Sunday.
Presidents from the four leagues met with AFL officials to discuss this season’s implementation of the player points system, along with the possible introduction of a salary cap in the future.
ACT Southern NSW AFL regional manager Steven Mahar indicated leagues will continue to work with the player points system, opposed to rushing in a salary cap.
“(The feedback was) the player points is an easier system to work with than a salary cap,” Mahar said.
“AFL Victoria are working with their clubs around a salary cap but we don’t believe we have enough information to implement that in NSW and ACT at the moment.
“We want to make sure it’s done well.
“We have decided not to implement a salary cap. We will look again in 2017 and review it, before deciding whether to implement it into the future.”
Riverina and Farrer competitions are in their first year of the player points system.
Hume League has used their own version of a points system for years, but agreed to run the AFL version alongside their own in 2016.
All four competitions will run with the AFL version next year, including the Hume League, without any salary cap.
Mahar was reluctant to confirm the official number of points for 2017, although The Daily Advertiser understands it will drop from 46 to 42.
Mahar believes the early signs indicate the player points system has been a success.
“It’s easy to implement but whether it’s equalised the competitions, it’s too early to tell,” he said.
“That won’t be determined until 2017 or beyond.
“The feedback is that it’s a good system, and that it’s very black and white.”
No Riverina or Farrer League club has pushed this year’s limit of 46. Leeton-Whitton has the highest average of 40.5.
“We wanted to look at how the cap of 46 points has transpired across the Hume, Riverina, Farrer and AFL Canberra competitions, have a look at the averages from the first 10 to 12 rounds, as well as the range,” Mahar said.
“We wanted to see if the cap has had any effect on clubs being able to select certain players. We also wanted to get clubs used to points being allocated to players, leading into 2017.”
