South Barwon has produced a re-worked GFNL fixture that would maintain an 18-game season in 2026 and “the integrity as a premier competition”.
Several options for this year’s schedule were discussed between AFL Barwon and the clubs late last week following Lara’s withdrawal of its senior and reserves football teams.
Among those proposals was an 18-round, 16-game season.
However, Swans president Tim Sherman says several clubs want to maintain 18 games across a 20-round fixture.
He says South committee member Steve Cadby worked over the weekend to develop a schedule that would bring Round 1 forward a week to April 11.
Round 2, save for the original Round 1 clash between Newtown & Chilwell and St Joseph’s, would result in four new matchups.
In other adjustments, the league-wide bye on May 23 becomes a full round of matches, including three matchups that weren’t previously scheduled.
There are also two additions in Round 9, including St Mary’s hosting South Barwon, with the return meeting at McDonald Reserve in Round 13.
It is understood AFL Barwon has a copy of South Barwon’s proposal, which will be discussed further by GFNL clubs later in the week.
“The 16-game proposal was the easy option, but we felt more work needed to be done to explore a way of being able to get an 18-game season off the ground with minimal disruption to all clubs,” Sherman said.
“Our proposal ensures all clubs largely maintained their nine home games as originally fixtured.
“It prevents issues around pre-booked functions. etc. only. Rounds one, two, seven, and nine have some changes to the original fixture, so disruptions are minimal.”
However, there are a couple of anomalies AFL Barwon have been asked to work through.
As with the original fixture published late last year, which was later adjusted, Newtown & Chilwell is scheduled to host Colac twice at Elderslie Reserve, and both St Albans-Leopold meetings are at St Albans Reserve.
However, it is widely accepted that an 18-game season is more equitable, with clubs having eight return matchups and only two single meetings.
“It further dilutes this yearly debate considerably, and provides a fairer draw, which is what we all want,” he said.
“We need to protect and maintain the integrity as a premier competition.
“No one wants to see an unofficial asterisk against the premier’s name, which we feel could be the case in a 16-game compromised fixture.”
With Lara maintaining a presence in the netball section, it is likely most grades will play a 20-game season.
However, with North Shore still absent from A-grade, that season would be 18 games under this proposal.
“We consulted our netball department,” Sherman said.
“They were certainly supportive of the proposal, knowing that there’s a compromise required around p playing a couple of extra games, and also a pro rata increase of the salary cap.
“They’ve had shortened seasons for a number of years, so playing a few extra games is probably appealing to them.”
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