The Young Saints has begun its Central West AFL campaign despite initial confusion over the start date.
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Ahead of the scheduled April 8 season opener, the first of 14 rounds, Parkes was struggling to attract enough players to compete in the senior men’s competition.
Late last week the Panthers informed the CWAFL they would not field a side, leaving seven teams – Bushrangers Rebels and Outlaws, Bathurst Giants, Young Saints, Cowra Blues, Dubbo Demons and Orange Tigers – to contest the premiership.
As the withdrawal left two teams with one less game of football over the 14-week season, it was decided to make the first two rounds a pre-season competition instead.
That meant the regular draw would have teams meet twice and have the same amount of byes.
Central West AFL operations manager Matt Johnson said the move was the fairest option for all teams.
But The Dubbo Demons were reluctant to risk their players in games that didn’t involve competing for points and applied for an exemption from the Central West AFL.
Their initial opponents, Cowra, had similar feelings so their game and the pre-season competition was cancelled.
We didn’t want to risk injuries for no points,” Demons co-coach Will Bunt said.
“It’s not ideal, we had been trying to focus everything on a start this weekend like fitness. We were trying to peak at the right time but that has been interrupted.
“We have a couple of players who are struggling with injuries so they can use the extra two weeks to get right.”
Young Saints President Derek Mayhew said teams who want to play trials until the season starts on April 29 are free to organise their own.
“We thought the fairest thing for teams would be for the competition to start on the April 29. We play the Bathurst Giants at home in the first round and we think if all players are available we should do pretty well,” he said.
“They finished last in 2016 and we finished second last but we think with our recruits we can come out on top, it should be a good test.
Because of the new start to the season, we have lacked some match practice but we have been able to set our own agenda with pre-season fitness and we believe an intra-club match will get us ready to go for the first round.
The season proper will now start on April 29 and run for 12 rounds.
Craig Thomson
I am a media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcasts. I am currently the Editor of Australian Community Media's Launceston Examiner.
I am a media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcasts. I am currently the Editor of Australian Community Media's Launceston Examiner.
