Gerald Lynch
Clubs could face death if something doesn’t change in the Western Football League, says one division 2 senior coach.
One coach has expressed that serious discontent is rife among its senior playing group, and said the 14-team division 2 structure is causing former division 3 clubs to lose more than just games on Saturdays.
He is the second coach to speak out about concerns for clubs and the competition.
“What the league doesn’t look at as well, no one wants to train before games against these top sides, so when Thursday comes along, you do team selection and are lucky to get half a dozen staying back, so you’re losing money behind the bar, you’re losing money with dinners,” they said.
“Then on Saturdays, after the game everyone goes home because when you lose by 200, who wants to stay back and talk?
“We’ve got functions during the year, but morale’s dead so there’s no money coming in then as well, it’s killing clubs.”
The coach, who didn’t want to be named, said it has been hard to keep fronting up to training nights and game days, as it feels as though nothing they can do or say will change the fate when coming up against top tier division 2 clubs.
“I woke up on Saturday, I’ve got my bag, I’ve got my coaching stuff, and I just thought what am I doing?” they said. “Like what am I even going to do as a coach?”
They said the merging of divisions has killed the league as being an option for top division club’s junior players seeking more senior football, as well as older players looking for a lower league to play in rather than retiring or moving into a super rules or thirds competition.
In division 2 this season, the average margin per game is 102 points as of round seven.
In matches between a side that would have featured in division 3 if the league didn’t restructure this season against a side that would have been in division 2, the average margin is 165 points.
Last year, the average margins in division 2 and 3 were 54 points and 71 points respectively.
As per a report sent to clubs late last year, the league said it understood that 2024 may be a teething period as clubs settle into the new structure.
“Following the club transfers of Deer Park and St Albans to the Essendon District Football League (EDFL) at the end of the 2022 season, the league engaged an independent consultant to complete a thorough review of the current WFNL football competition structure,” the report said.
“This review was also instigated by a number of clubs who were adamant that significant changes were required to the divisional structure model. There was a large amount of feedback through both workshops and surveys that supported a move to a two division model of football with 80 per cent of the clubs indicating that this would be the preferred model for 2024.
“Furthermore, 70 per cent of clubs also indicated that the ideal number of teams per division is 10 and then the next highest response was 12 teams.
“We will also be able to reassess division 2 and potentially a division 3 beyond 2024 upon further movement of clubs or teams.”
