BROKEN Hill football will have a switch up this season with all four clubs being able to take part in the finals.
It was reported during the week that the shift will take place across all grades starting from the juniors through to senior men’s and women’s football.
According to Colin Casey, football operations coordinator, AFL Broken Hill, the move is designed to reduce the likelihood of forfeits and keep the competition competitive.
“It seems a bit odd, final four in a four-team competition,” he said.
“But it’s all about engaging the bottom sides for the whole year because there’s a distinct drop off from the feedback we get from the clubs.”
AFL Broken Hill president, Andrew Schmidt said they have had a final four in the finals in previous years.
He said they had been talking with the four clubs about it since last year.
Normally the team that finished fourth would be eliminated from the competition and the second and third teams would play for the grand final position.
The team that finished minor premiers would go straight through to the grand final.
“Now we will have the first two teams play off with the winner going into the grand final,” Mr Schmidt said.
“The third and fourth teams will play, and the loser will be eliminated.
“This will see the loser of the first game and the winner of the second game play off for a spot in the grand final.
“In previous years, we’ve had clubs say to us that they struggle come finals time.
“We want to keep the interest in football throughout the year.
“This was decided last year.”
Mr Schmidt said the grand final will be pushed to a later date.
“The grand final will be on September 13.
“We won’t be having football on the Mundi Mundi Bash weekend as we’ve learnt it’s just too hard.
“So, we won’t be playing that weekend.”
