Increase to interchange numbers sparks debate within Hampden league football ranks

With early conjecture surrounding each club's positions, The Standard spoke with every senior coach over the course of the first month of competition to gather their thoughts on the rule change, with a majority confirming they weren't in favour of the move.

Of the 10 clubs, three senior coaches at South Warrnambool, Warrnambool and Cobden were in favour of the change, with six - North Warrnambool Eagles, Koroit, Hamilton Kangaroos, Portland, Camperdown and Terang Mortlake - against it. One - Port Fairy - said the addition came as a surprise but was content to work with it.

In round one, Koroit played three on its bench in a loss to Cobden (which had four), with several coaches predicting times this season where a "gentleman's agreement" would be made and both teams running with three on their bench.

Hampden league president Shane Threlfall said one club had requested the increased interchange, with the league's decision based on information received by all 10 clubs.

While several clubs questioned if there had been a majority in favour of the move, Threlfall said initial feedback from each of the clubs highlighted that majority but conceded there had been a shift in opinion from some after a decision had been made and in the weeks leading up to round one.

"Post-a-few weeks later, we started to get some information in from clubs that maybe they didn't want it anymore," Threlfall said. "I think that was, they'd had some practice matches, seen how it worked, seen their numbers weren't as strong as they were hoping and asked us to have a re-look at it.

"But we felt the decision had been made and it was pretty close to the start of the season, that we didn't want to go back on our original decision."

Coaches who voted against the rule argued the main reason for opposing it was the limited pool of players to draw from.

"The number one issue in community sport, let alone community footy, is numbers," Koroit premiership coach Chris McLaren said. "We might have three teams who were pretty keen to have four on the bench and have pretty strong numbers... but reserves numbers have been a struggle ever since I've played here.

"It's been hard work, year-in-year-out and week-in-week-out to make sure you have a team. A lot of clubs are under pressure with our numbers. Our population and people around here, we just don't have the volume. I think it's completely unnecessary."

Camperdown coach Neville Swayn felt now was not the right time to introduce the change, despite his general opinion being in favour of four on the bench.

"All of these other clubs are in the same boat as us where they're struggling to field reserves, so I don't know if it was the right time to do it," Swayn said. "My argument was I'm either pulling a reserves or an under 18 player when they're struggling for numbers."

Terang Mortlake coach Ben Kenna, who deemed the decision "strange", agreed.

"It's dragging a number from somewhere," Kenna said. "You field sides but you've got to scrape a bit more."

Port Fairy coach Dustin McCorkell said the move did not faze him from a senior perspective but he could see ramifications for the reserves competition.

"Certainly last year, it would have really hurt us," he said. "This year we do have reasonable numbers in the 12pm game... but I can certainly understand other clubs around that are struggling with numbers. I think we've really got to think about the 12-o'clock competition because there are a lot of teams really working hard, so to take another number away from them can definitely hurt."

The idea of reducing reserves to 16 on the field rather than 18 to counterbalance a larger senior bench is understood not to have been supported by a vast majority of the clubs, which some coaches conceded was a contradiction of sorts when opposing a larger senior bench.

Warrnambool coach Dan O'Keefe, who held strong views in favour of the change, said while he felt for clubs who were experiencing tough times fielding their reserves, his biggest compassion lay with players he had to notify wouldn't be getting a game that weekend.

"If we're talking about participation, the less numbers we have on the bench the harder it is for players to play," he said. "A lot of the reserves, they're not there to play at the highest level, they're just there to play with their mates... and we're restricting them of that.

"These are players who train all summer and are part of the club and just because we're lucky enough to have a lot of numbers at our club... when they've put in the effort but we actually can't play them on the weekend, and we're talking 10 (at Warrnambool), that's where I've got compassion for. I know we're an anomaly... but I hate the idea of having players miss out."

O'Keefe, along with South Warrnambool coach Mat Battistello, also made the argument that as one of the state's major football leagues, changes should be made to bolster the quality of the competition.

"Every other high-level competition in Victoria play with four on the bench," O'Keefe said. "We want our senior product to be as best as it can be."

Battistello, who only saw positives to the move, agreed it made the senior competition stronger.

"I just think if we're going to be a divvy one competition we need to live up to divvy one standards," he said. "Lagging behind and only being the (top flight) competition out of 10 that plays three on the bench... VFL and GFL (Geelong) have been doing this for 10 years.

"Our core product is senior players, so wouldn't you want the quality of football to be better... the more players we can expose to that level of football the better in my opinion. The league has made the right decision and we push forward with it."

North Warrnambool Eagles and Portland coaches Adam Dowie and Jarrod Holt pushed back on the notion of aligning with other leagues. They argued the individual circumstances of the Hampden league was what mattered most.

"I go well, look at our context, don't just do it because Ballarat are doing it, or Bendigo, they're big cities with maybe the population to support it," Dowie said. "As a coach you have to think how it will help or disadvantage every club... and I just thought with numbers, where it's a bit of a stretch particularly with say reserves numbers and quality, that was going to be a challenge."

Holt was more forthright in his assessment.

"I understand why it was maybe thrown up there - a lot of the major leagues maybe have four but the reality is teams are struggling to field reserves sides," Holt said. "Overall (four on the bench) isn't really helping the league, is it?

"For some reason it's happened. We have enough players and it's fine but it's not just about us or about the teams who do have the players. I don't see the benefit to it apart from looking good because that's what the other major leagues do."

Player rotation was another issue raised by coaches. For Cobden's Dan Casey, the ability to give more players a run was a positive aspect of the change, with injured senior footballer Matty Kemp in charge of the Bombers' interchange in 2023.

"Numbers-wise (it helps), we've got too many and just with rotations it helps," Casey said. "We can play two under 18s in our senior side each week; if you only had three on the bench it would only be one or none. It gives us a bit of flexibility to do that. For the coaching group, it's a bit harder to get everyone rolling through but if we've got it running right, it's fine."

In contrast, Holt argued rotating players was a tough task with limited resources.

"It's not like we have four assistant coaches, heaps of guys on the bench and resources to rotate players," he said. "It's actually really hard work trying to rotate four players on the bench."

Dowie agreed, adding the extra time needed to rotate a fourth player took his attention away from the match.

"You don't want to find yourself sitting there and going 'how am I going to get this person on'," he said. "There was no doubt (round one) I spent more time, certainly compared to the last few years, looking at the board than I did watching the game. Some clubs may say 'I've got someone to do that specifically'... but I feel I'm the coach and I should be looking at where people are going."

For Hamilton Kangaroos, which is the only Hampden club with a sole playing coach (Cobden has both on-and-off field senior coaches), rotating players is also proving difficult.

"It puts more pressure on guys, or me as a playing coach, that are running the bench to be keeping moves," Kangaroos mentor Hamish Waldron said.

Waldron said he could see benefits to four on the interchange, including a change to each line and an extra player to cover in-game injuries, as was the case in the Kangaroos' season-opener against the Eagles.

"In some ways it worked out well for us but in other ways, you're pinching that player out of reserves and the quality does drop off pretty quick," he said.

The Eagles also benefited from a larger bench in round one but Dowie felt it didn't outweigh other consequences. "It's the same for everyone, if you cop some injuries early, you think 'I'm glad I've got four on the bench', but who knows, you might not cop any. It's just, where do you stop?" he said.

The six-time Hampden league premiership coach also brought up match payments, with teams' player point limits also not adjusted to cater for an extra player.

"Financially... if you're getting $80 a win, you've got an extra player, they play 18 games, that's an extra $1500," Dowie said.

Threlfall said the league was open to supporting an increase in player points - which is regulated by AFL Victoria - but had little feedback to suggest it was a concern for clubs.

"We were more than happy to support that and put a proposal to the AFL," he said. "But there was no feedback (clubs) wanted that to occur."

There has already been talk about a "gentleman's agreement" where both clubs could play three on the bench, and while it is yet to happen, some coaches said they wouldn't be surprised to see it eventuate this season.

Kenna said he was open to conversations with opposition about playing three on the bench some weeks, and had initially agreed to it with Camperdown for their season-opener before the Magpies opted for four.

"You potentially disadvantage yourself playing three (against four) and if you get an injury in the first quarter, you've got two," Kenna said.

Threlfall said the committee was open to receiving feedback throughout the year and would review the change moving forward, with the option open to any club to ask for a review of a decision once it has been trialled.

"If clubs are dead-set opposed to it there is always the option to change things in the future," Threlfall said. "But from my point-of-view I haven't had any negative feedback recently. It will be interesting to see what they think once they've had a season to look at it."

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