POINTS OF DIFFERENCE
COLAC won’t have any issues naming its best 22, but the likes of St Mary’s and St Joseph’s are confronted with a weekly jigsaw puzzle as they endeavour to fit beneath the points cap. The Addy’s TOBY PRIME and JOSH BARNES examine all 12 GFL clubs and where they sit ahead of a new season
BELL PARK
THE Dragons have deliberately kept some room to move to stay open for a medium-sized forward recruit. But that hasn’t stopped Bell Park bringing in a range of new faces such as Luke Bull (Newlyn) and Christian Buykx-Smith (Williamstown).
POINTS CAP: 40
EXPECTED POINTS PER GAME: 32-37
CLUB SAYS: “We can probably fit one more in to be honest. The last thing I want to do is have headaches every week about who is in and who is out. We know the player that we need and what we can add so we will just keep working through that.”
— coach Shane Jack
COLAC
FAMOUSLY, thanks to a strong pool of local talent, Colac has rarely gone close to its cap. Expect the same again, given key signings Darcy Lang (Carlton, AFL) and Frazer O’Gorman (Central District, SANFL) are returning juniors.
POINTS CAP: 40
EXPECTED POINTS PER GAME: 26-30
CLUB SAYS: “We will be nowhere near the allocated 40. What it’s going to land at we are not quite sure yet. It takes out that level of not being able to pick your best side.”
— coach Rowan McSparron
GEELONG WEST GIANTS
WITH the majority of the 2019 list returning, the Giants are confident they won’t have any points issues this coming season. The club is hoping to lock in a group of recruits, including ex-Gold Coast Suns player Jacob Heron.
POINTS CAP: 44
EXPECTED POINTS PER GAME: 30-35
CLUB SAYS: “I think we will be OK. We have 44 to play with so if we can’t fit guys in under that then, well it will be a good problem to have.”
— coach Greg Mellor
GROVEDALE
THE Tigers have some wiggle room in their points cap but remain active in the recruiting space and hope to unveil some new additions before the bounce of the ball.
42
POINTS CAP: EXPECTED POINTS PER GAME:
CLUB SAYS:
35-42
“We’ll comfortably be under that (42) at the current time but obviously we’ve got a little bit going on recruiting wise. We definitely hope to be a little bit closer to that by the season starting with the people we’re speaking to at the moment.”
— coach Daniel Fraser
LEOPOLD
THE Lions have been active on the recruiting trail and should their contingent of young VFL-listed players all be available, it’s likely Leopold will need to shuffle its decks to stay below the cap. The club has spoken honestly with its new faces about how to manage any squeeze.
POINTS CAP: 40
EXPECTED POINTS PER GAME: 32-38
CLUB SAYS: “We are comfortable with it; a lot of these (recruits) are young and ambitious and we are going to support that in their footy. We have had those conversations with those guys (about points) already and we are comfortable we can manage those things.”
— coach Jason Tom
LARA
LARA expects to comfortably sit inside its points ceiling of 47 and has room to move should it land any further additions before the start of the season. Former players Bayley Cockerill (Barwon Heads) and Aiden Yelland (Southern Mallee Giants, Wimmera FL) were the latest recruits.
POINTS CAP: 47
EXPECTED POINTS PER GAME: TBC
CLUB SAYS: “We haven’t looked at it too hard. With the 47, we were going to be OK last year and a few of the guys that have come in are all onepointers, so we don’t see it being an issue for us.”
— coach Shayne Stone
NEWTOWN & CHILWELL
WHEN coach Damien McMahon put together a projected best 22 recently, it came to just 26 points. The Eagles are happy to continue to lean on homegrown talent, which leaves room for a big fish like former AFL Hawk Teia Miles or South Fremantle big man Angus McKay.
POINTS CAP: 40
EXPECTED POINTS PER GAME: 26-30
CLUB SAYS: “We are pretty fortunate, most of our VFL players are one-pointers so we
Glenn Keast are in a pretty fortunate position. We did a lot of recruiting in my first couple of years that filled some holes and those players are now onepointers. We don’t want to get into the position where we are compromised by points being an issue.”
— coach Damien McMahon
NORTH SHORE
NORTH Shore, with Lara, again has the most number of points to play with, given a maximum of 47 by AFL Barwon. The Seagulls rarely threatened 40 points in 2019 and expect to be well under their allocation this season.
POINTS CAP: 47
EXPECTED POINTS PER GAME: TBC
CLUB SAYS: “There’s probably nothing really out of the ordinary from any other year. We’re still talking to players. I know we’re nowhere near it (points cap). We’re that comfortable that it’s not a concern unless we roll into some big recruits in the next couple of weeks.”
— contract manager
David McDonald
Bell Park recruit Christian Buykx-Smith; and (left) St Joseph’s Spiro Alesios.
SOUTH BARWON
SOUTH Barwon believes it should have no selection problems fitting in under its points cap of 40. The Swans are yet to lock in their best 22 and will look to promote some young talent.
POINTS CAP:
EXPECTED POINTS PER GAME: 34-40
CLUB SAYS: “We haven’t delved too far into where we sit. We’ve certainly brought some new players in and some young talent that will develop into good footballers but whether they’re ready to play consistent senior GFL footy, it’s probably an opportunity to give a few of them a taste of it this year.”
— coach David Farrell
ST ALBANS 40
THE Supersaints are still expecting to announce more recruits soon and have brought in the talented Jeremiah Scrutton. The build under Ben Patrick will be steady, with youth a target.
POINTS CAP: 44
EXPECTED POINTS PER GAME: 30-35
CLUB SAYS: “We have got plenty of space in our points cap and it’s been something where we haven’t gone down that path so we have the ability to recruit people in coming years as well. The players that we have targeted are in an age demographic of basically 23 and under.”
— coach Ben Patrick
ST JOSEPH’S
ST Joseph’s will again be near its points ceiling of 40 per game. Spiro Alesios (North Shore), Ben Miller (Dimboola, Wimmera FL), Lucas Farrugia and James Goldsworthy (Portarlington) are among the additions up to this point.
40
POINTS CAP: EXPECTED POINTS PER GAME:
CLUB SAYS:
36-40
“We’ll be right up there, no doubt. One of the things we battle with is you’ve got eight or nine VFL-listed players, depending on which ones of them are free on a Saturday to play with Joeys versus playing VFL. We always utilise all our points. We haven’t recruited that many players this year — probably three or four players — and we’ve only lost a couple. I don’t think our points should be an issue.”
— football director
Peter Haintz
ST MARY’S
ST Mary’s will again walk a player points tightrope in 2021 but it does not expect to have any issues fitting its talentladen squad under the cap.
40
POINTS CAP: EXPECTED POINTS PER GAME:
CLUB SAYS:
36-40
“We would be over if everyone at the top end played, but with 12 VFL-listed players … the history says that doesn’t happen. We didn’t have one issue last year (2019) in terms of points, in that we didn’t have one game where we had to make a hard decision based on points.
We’re probably in a better position than last year in terms of our list. We’ve got more one-pointers. I certainly don’t think points is going to be an issue. I’ve got a side in front of me that stands at 34 points. I think we’re going to be fine.”
— co-coach Glenn Keast