AFL Victoria is set to trial a measure aimed a closing the gap between suburban football clubs with financial clout and those on shoestring budgets.
A combination of a salary cap and points system has been mooted for next season, but the new framework is still in its infancy.
A working party has examined the escalating costs of player payments in local leagues and how they impact on a club’s bottom line.
AFL Victoria general manager Steven Reaper said the working party had examined a range of possible solutions in order to develop a robust and flexible set of guidelines.
He said any salary cap mechanism needed to incorporate both demographic and geographical challenges faced by individual leagues across the state.
“A salary cap needs to be supported by other measures, such as a player points system or an alternative equalisation provision, to have the desired impact on escalating player payments, and it must also be enforceable,” Reaper said.
The Western Region Football League had to take its own equalisation measure last season, introducing a third division to ensure clubs in the lower reaches of the competition were matched.
In 2010, the issue made national headlines, when North Sunshine was obliterated by 401 points by Albanvale in one of the most lopsided games in history.
Western Region Football League chief executive Bob Tregear said he was open to the idea of his league being part of the trial phase.
“Clubs are looking for a way of regulating player payments and minimising player payments,” he said.
