Werribee Centrals co-coach Nick Smith ponders his team’s finals fate. Photo: AL PACKER/KROCK FOOTBALL
Melbourne’s lockdown has left a local footy team’s premiership hopes hanging by a thread.
With finals fast approaching and epidemiologists predicting a lockdown extension, Werribee Centrals could be excluded from the Geelong District Football League’s season conclusion.
The only one of the competition’s 12 clubs based in metropolitan Melbourne, the Centurions are in a “unique situation”, according to their co-coach Nick Smith.
“The league’s made the decision that, if we’re not out of lockdown by next weekend, they’ll move on without us,” Smith told Footyology.
A recent meeting of representatives saw all 11 regional Victorian clubs vote to play finals from August 21. The verdict was made despite AFL Victoria’s COVID-19 framework recommending “the team with a higher ladder position…be deemed the winner” in finals matchups.
Werribee Centrals finished fourth after 12 home and away games – one win ahead of its fifth-placed opponent East Geelong.
“We don’t understand how our league’s been able to make this decision,” Smith said. “Why aren’t [they] following that recommendation? Most clubs don’t even care; they’re just voting to keep going with the finals.”
If Werribee Centrals’ legal advice fails to bear fruit, East Geelong will be handed a walkover elimination final victory.
“It’s due diligence for me to make sure we’re not unfairly dealt with,” Smith said. “It doesn’t make sense to me that the other 11 teams in the competition decide your fate,” Smith said. “If my season’s over, then I want your season to be over as well.”
The club has taken its case to AFL Victoria.
With a number of wins equal to second-placed Bannockburn, Smith says his team would be “a legitimate chance” of winning its seventh GDFL premiership.
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Smith, whose co-coach is Rhyce Prismall, said his players were “shattered, upset [and] angry” after hearing the news.
“You feel for the players because it’s purely because of geography that you might miss out on a chance of winning a grand final,” he said. “We didn’t do anything. We just live in Werribee.”
Melbourne’s case numbers have remained too high for restrictions to be lifted and Smith understands finals can’t be continually postponed.
Smith says the GDFL must consider cancelling “all finals” if Melbourne’s lockdown continues, not just those of his own team.
If the lockdown isn’t extended and the finals go ahead as initially planned, Werribee Centrals will go into its game having not trained for over a fortnight.
“Even our best scenario is horrible,” Smith said. “It’s not fair for us to play a team that’s been training, but [the GDFL should] at least give us the chance to play.”
Smith would be “OK” with the minor premiers Inverleigh winning the premiership if some finals couldn’t be played.
The club’s finals-bound reserve, colts and netball teams have also been affected by the area-based restrictions.
League president Neville Whitley said the GDFL was “sympathetic to Werribee Centrals’ plight” in a recent statement. “It is not the GDFNL or Werribee Centrals’ fault that they find themselves in this position,” Whitley said.
