GSFL clubs to fill league side with players from minor grades if hit heavily by COVID rather than forfeit

Great Southern Football League clubs will bring up players from the minor grades to fill their league side, if one club is hit drastically affected by COVID this season. The clubs all agreed to share players in 16s, colts and reserves fixtures, in order to make sure they field a full league team each week. All six clubs and GSFL directors met on Wednesday night to discuss a COVID plan for the 2022 competition, which is sure to be affected by players contracting the virus or being forced into isolation. Railways coach Mark Bayliss put the topic on the agenda last week, saying if six or more league players are ruled out then a league match should be called off and each team awarded two points — rather than one club being forced to forfeit the fixture. GSFL president Terry Eaton said one of the outcomes to come from the meeting was placing a priority on clubs bringing up players from minor grades to fill their league teams should they be affected. With 16s, colts and reserves expected to bear the brunt of depleted squads as a result, clubs have agreed that if a team presents with less than 12 players available on any given day, the opposing team will do their best to share players to make up the numbers and constitute a game. Eaton said they didn’t want to jeopardise other grades games not going ahead as a result of borrowing players for the league fixtures. “We all agreed that it’s important the league and colts sides play their fixtures as best they can,” he said. “If a team is down to eight or nine players, then it would probably constitute a forfeit on the day but at this stage we just want the other games to be played for points as normal. “If a team has 16 players all up, with 15 on the field and one on the bench, that’s all right for the game to go ahead.” With the ongoing threat of COVID in the region, Eaton stressed the need for co-operation and compromise among the six clubs. “The meeting was very positive and all the clubs were on board with assisting teams like Mt Barker and Denmark-Walpole which I thought was really heartening to hear,” Eaton said. “All club presidents attended which was great. “We just need to run the season as best we can and for everyone to communicate if something happens unexpectedly.” One other point discussed at the meeting was around finals eligibility for players. It was agreed that a player needs to only play four games to be qualified for finals. “In terms of whether a player qualifies for finals fixtures, we’ve decided as long as they have played four club games they will be eligible to play finals,” he said. The opening round of the new season begins on Saturday with several clubs already impacted by COVID ahead of matches on Saturday and Monday.