GOLDEN Rivers Football League clubs will compete in a 16-round season in 2016 – the shortest in the competition’s history.
The league’s working party will propose a preferred draw option to the remaining eight clubs at next month’s annual general meeting following Wakool’s decision not to field sides in all football and netball grades.
Premiers in 2013 and semi-finalists in 2014, the Hawks struggled on-field last year, finishing eighth with a 4-12 record.
However, it was a decision by nine players from Mathoura who had signed on for season 2016 – but stated their contracts didn’t stand when contacted at the start of the month – that led to the Hawks’ decision to spend this year in hiatus.
“From the experience I’ve had with the Golden Rivers Football League, it is a proud competition and it needs to keep going, but at the end of the day clubs cannot invent people to fill roles,” AFL Central Murray chairman, Alan Mitchell said.
“It is up the rest of the clubs to support Wakool.”
An 18-round season, consisting of byes for the AFL Victoria Country Championships in May and the Queen’s Birthday weekend in June, had been approved in November, but the loss of the 2013 premiers means a new draw will need to be developed.
“We had discussions with Wakool pre-Christmas about their situation, so we had potential draws ready to be put in place if this situation arose,” Mitchell said.
With the grand final scheduled to occur on Saturday, September 10, the league has at least two options to accommodate the 16-round season.
The opening round – originally scheduled for Saturday, April 9 – could be moved back two weeks to Saturday, April 23, with the three-week finals series kept in place.
A second option, which would see the semi-finals played on consecutive Saturdays in late August, would result in the opening round occurring on Saturday, April 16.
Meanwhile, players who had signed with the Hawks in 2016 will be given temporary clearances to play for other clubs in 2016.
“From what I can gather, most who had signed up with the club are happy to come back to Wakool in 2017,” Wakool Football Netball Club vice-president, Anne Hamilton said.
