Grading dilemma

Joeys chasing a place in the top six

ST JOSEPH’S senior women’s coach Steve Currie believes every team should play each other once before AFL Barwon’s first women’s competition is split into two divisions.

Grading rounds wrap up after Sunday’s fourth weekend of games, with Joeys one of a number of teams delicately poised.

From next weekend, there will be two divisions of six teams.

The general consensus is North Geelong, St Mary’s, Drysdale and Geelong West are the four premier teams in the 12-team competition, while Ocean Grove, Geelong Amateur and St Joseph’s are next best.

The Grubbers and Ammos meet on Sunday, as do Joeys and Drysdale.

Joeys have won their past two games comfortably over Bell Post Hill and Lara, following a 90-point loss in Round 1 to Geelong West, but Currie said there was no clear top six.

“I’ve got the gut feeling we’re in that six, seven or eighth (spot),” Currie said.

“Those two results, which have both been pretty convincing the last two weeks, probably make it a little bit more lopsided because of who we’ve played.”

Currie said there was a natural solution — every team plays each other once across 11 rounds before the two divisions are split, with five more games against sides in their new division.

“I think the league is not going to be able to grade it,” he said.

“They’re going to have, from the results so far, two clearly top teams (North Geelong and St Mary’s) and potentially three clear bottom teams.

“Then they’re going to have another tier, let’s call it Drysdale and Geelong West. And then they could have four or five teams that are all relatively close.

“If you split those four or five teams, two of them go up to the top six and get whacked around, while the other three go to the bottom six and dominate.”

In saying that, Currie would love to see his side play in Division 1.

“It’s my nature, I’d want the top six,” he said.

“You might come away and snag a flag in Division 2. (But) I’d rather develop the team, in this first year of the league, I’d rather push my team to develop under the pressure of playing good opponents each week.”