Clubs raise points of contention

GOLD Coast QAFL team coaches have called for AFL Queensland to consider changing some of the rules and interpretations around the player points system that was brought in this season.

With just over half of the QAFL season gone, clubs have a strong grasp on some of the challenges the new points system has created, along with the rulings that work well.

Those at the helm of Gold Coast’s state league clubs – Palm Beach Currumbin’s Jess Sinclair, Broadbeach’s Beau Zorko, Surfers Paradise’s Brad Moore and Labrador’s Liam Burke – sat down with the

Bulletin to discuss the system and what needs to be tweaked before 2020.

QIs it fair to say the greatest challenge you have all faced with the new system is with junior players getting slugged with two points because they have played elsewhere?

BEAU ZORKO: We have managed to make everything work from week to week but for me one of the issues we have found is with younger players who are moving from a junior club that isn’t playing in the QAFL, who are wanting to come to a QAFL club to play the best level of football they can. Unfortunately those kids are being penalised an extra point and going up to two points. I understand why the rule is in place because they want to balance out the talent. However, if there are younger players who are genuinely wanting to play the best level of football they can, as a club we don’t believe they should be penalised for that.

LIAM BURKE: If you want to have state level competition then you want to encourage kids to come give it a go. You don’t want to up their points and make it difficult to come from a lower league only to be stung with a couple of points through the transferred juniors rules, particularly if they are coming from outside of a QAFL club. It’s got to be a bit easier for them to come and have a go at state level competition.

JESS SINCLAIR: The biggest flaw is the juniors. For a lot of our juniors, if they went and played at another club when they were 12-14 and then came to Palmy when they were 16, 17 for colts, they are a two pointers. I don’t think it’s right. I understand clubs want to retain all their juniors but I think it’s unfair. Sometimes they might miss out on a game being a two-pointer and you want to promote youth as much as you can. That hurt us once. One of our guys pulled out and we wanted to put a colts player in but we didn’t even know he was two points. It’s ridiculous. I don’t agree with poaching juniors but if they want to go play with their mates, that is not poaching or any type of recruiting strategy.

BRAD MOORE: From our point of view it’s something that doesn’t affect us greatly because we are well under the points with the amount of homegrown players we have got and limited number of recruits.

QHow have you found trying to slot in players listed with NEAFL club Southport Sharks to the team when they come back to the QAFL through the season?

BEAU ZORKO: The issue we have found with it has been the adjudication of the NEAFL rookies who get three points. The way the system works is they are technically listed as Broadbeach players who are then permitted to play for Southport but the Sharks have the primary say on where they play their footy. The ambiguity comes in when guys like Andrew Boston, who has played in the AFL, are one point where as someone like Harry Arnold, who is playing his first season of senior footy, gets three. He is still eligible for the Rising Star.

LIAM BURKE: Another thing is when guys come off NEAFL lists they come into clubs with really high points (five). If we want to keep good footballers

in the state then you have to encourage them and make it easier to go back to their aligned QAFL clubs rather then sting them with a heap of points. It can costs them because clubs may not actively be looking to get players to hang around Queensland footy and keep the competition strong.

QHow have you found the amount of points given to your regular senior footballers who have shown loyalty to the club over a long period of time?

LIAM BURKE: This is an area I find a bit concerning. Someone like Jake Goldsmith has played 100 games at the footy club and seven of the past nine seasons here but for some reason he is worth three points under the senior community player. There is the “loyalty of service” rule to deduct a point each year but it would be good to backdate it for guys like Jake so it’s a true reflection of where they are at.

JESS SINCLAIR: I think some of the rules are so black and white they don’t reflect the true ability of players, especially guys coming from interstate. Glenn Screech didn’t even play footy last year but he is still four points because he played at Southport. Screech was originally five points but I rang the league and told them he hadn’t played at Southport since 2016 and that he was at Bond Uni for a year so they dropped him to a four. A guy like John Macansh has missed out around three times this year because of his points and that we couldn’t fit him in. We pick our best team and then tally up the points and make any modifications we have to, dropping guys on points.

QWhat have you made of the 51-point limit for team selection each week?

BEAU ZORKO: I think the points system has worked well. I think the limit at 51 is pretty right. It encourages clubs to develop their own talent and to ensure there is a nice mix of experience at the top end mixed with younger ones. It’s stopped clubs just going to Victoria because they will all attract five points.

LIAM BURKE: I think the points are probably reasonably fair.

JESS SINCLAIR: I totally get why they have done it and overall I think they have done a pretty good job. A club recruits around 10 or 12 players maximum per year, if that. I think there needs to be a committee set up who can look at each of the recruits and go, ‘OK, where has he played his juniors, where has he come from?’ and use the rules as a guide but also use some common sense. It would be easy to see who had won league medals or best and fairests or if someone got a couple of games in a good competition but largely played at a lower level.