GCA open to public listings

THE Geelong Cricket Association says it will consider revealing the finer details around the promotion-relegation standings, with president Barry McFarlane declaring that the clubs can decide.

Amid calls this week from Thomson champion Grant Dew for more transparency, McFarlane said clubs would have an opportunity to influence the decision at a meeting next month.

The final standings for promotion-relegation are based on a two-year rolling average calculation that factors in on and off-field performance across all levels of the club.

The GCA releases the order of the clubs, but not their final scores.

Clubs get to see a breakdown of their own results and have the right to challenge their own score, but they cannot see any other club’s.

“We have asked the clubs before, but there’s never been a majority that have wanted the GCA to publish the results,” McFarlane said.

“We have a meeting coming up in May, and if there’s a motion on the books and the majority of clubs are calling for it, then we’d have to seriously consider it.

“But there hasn’t been an overwhelming push by clubs to have that information sent out to everybody, that’s the stance at the minute.”

McFarlane conceded the GCA had been reluctant in the past to reveal details of the club assessment.

“I know there’s members on the management committee that don’t want it, and we’d have to take a vote, but from my perspective I think it’s fraught with danger in some respects,” McFarlane said.

“Clubs will say ‘We missed by a point here and we missed out on a point here’ and that’s the sort of stuff we don’t want to happen, that’s why we keep it in-house.

“It just starts a lot of discussion and clubs will complain about what they did get and what they didn’t get. But if the clubs want it, we’ll consider releasing that information.”