Bans hit player numbers for finals

QUEENSCLIFF is preparing to be short of players for this weekend’s D-grade semi-final but Portarlington expects to have enough numbers for its fourth XI following Monday night’s unprecedented tribunal hearing.

And the BPCA has not ruled out a police presence if both clubs win through to next Saturday’s grand final.

Penalties were delivered by the tribunal to eight players, including 12-month bans to Queenscliff’s Michael Farrell and Portarlington’s Liam Vagg for a brawl between the two sides last month.

Queenscliff is expected to be short when it hosts Barwon Heads after Michael and Joe Farrell were banned for the rest of the season.

But Portarlington president Peter Evans said the Demons would have a full quota for their clash against Jan Juc.

It’s understood Queenscliff lodged an exemption to the BPCA on Tuesday night for it to field players who had not played the minimum number of games.

BPCA senior vice-president Denis Bilston confirmed it had received the request from Queenscliff.

The minimum number of matches a player must play to be eligible for D-grade finals is five.

The Geelong Advertiser believes Queenscliff will be several players short as it finalises its semi-final side. It had requested another two players, who have only played four games, be

made eligible on the grounds they were not involved in the brawl on February 20.

In an ironic twist, the two clubs could meet each other in next Saturday’s decider, which Bilston said would prompt the BPCA to consider calling in a police presence.

However, the BPCA confirmed it would not allow the exemption request from Queenscliff as it does not have the scope in its rules to grant such wishes.

It once had the flexibility to consider requests but deleted the rule at its AGM in 2010.

Evans said it would be a challenge to replace its suspended group of players but Portarlington would have enough numbers for a full side.

“We’re probably lucky that we’ve got consecutive sides (B, C and D-grade) in finals,” Evans said.

“We’ve got enough people qualified but it’s about the availability of the people that are qualified. We will be able to field 11.

“There’s a couple of young fellas that have been playing up and down the grades. They actually ended up playing in our A-grade and they’re qualified for B-grade and so forth. They’ll probably come back down through the grades, which feeds back down and down.”

The BPCA says it would also not stop suspended players from attending finals.

Police investigations remain ongoing.