Getting junior football and netball back important, says club president

Old Collegians leader Jason Moloney believes there could be a way to schedule junior matches if a line was ruled through the senior season.

Clubs are in a holding pattern due to COVID-19 restrictions with play suspended until May 31.

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The state government has eased training restrictions but AFL Victoria has asked clubs to wait until it hands down its guidelines.

Games, including those in the Warrnambool and District league, are still under a cloud with social distancing measures likely to eliminate crowds from senior games, subsequently putting financial pressure on country leagues and teams.

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Moloney, who also spoke to The Standard's The Main Break podcast about training, sponsorship and the benefits of online communication, said the Warriors wanted to get the best result for all parties. He said junior and senior players had "two different motivations".

"The kids, they just want to play football and netball," Moloney said.

"They just want a game and there's a lot less a club needs to organise and there's a lot less stresses in terms of finances.

"If we got to the point where there wasn't an appetite for say senior and reserves football but there was an appetite, in our league, for under 12s, under 15s and under 18s footy and junior netball, we'd look at that and we'd support that.

"Our senior playing group and our adult players, a lot are motivated by a community aspect and being involved in a club and hanging around and supporting your club."

Moloney said it was imperative children and teenagers got a chance to play their respective sports this season for some normalcy during a worldwide pandemic.

"Even if that manifested itself into something that wasn't as structured as a season, we'd be interested in having a look at it," he said of playing junior games.

"If the season didn't get up for some reason and we were able to organise ad-hoc type games for our juniors and even our seniors, that might be an option."

Moloney said training was just as important.

The state government has eased social distancing restrictions to allow groups of 10 people to train together outdoors. But AFL Victoria has advised against formalised training until it hands down its protocols.

Moloney said clubs needed to know how training would look with restrictions.

"How we quantify what an outdoor space is will be important," he said.

"How many people can we have on a large footy oval versus a netball court?

"That will really determine how our coaches and our players train."

Moloney said getting the tick to train again would boost morale - even if a season failed to eventuate this year.

"I think you're talking about two different things," he said.

"Training and getting the players active is one thing and I think there will be a cohort of players everywhere who will be interested in being fit and active again.

"In terms of playing, there is a lot that goes into that.

"We did respond to the survey from AFL Western District and our club is along the same line as everybody else - if we take the community aspect out of footy, where you watch a game before or after you play or hang around and support your team, and if you're not able to do that, it makes it difficult."

Moloney said off-field planning was also keeping Old Collegians busy as the Warriors "don't exist without our sponsors".

It's running the 'Warriors Unite' promotion and has already garnered two new sponsors.

"Our players were urged to go around to sponsors, purchase something, pop it up on social media and put up the hashtag Warriors Unite," he said.

Moloney said his club had also adapted to online communication, describing it as "a silver lining". He believes it will help with player, committee and league meetings in the future.

"We all travel from all over the district to sit in a room to talk about league matters," Moloney said.

"Maybe those sort of things can happen in an online environment."

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