Greetings & salutations all,
Sitting on the couch last night enjoying a refreshing beverage when I thought I would give the crystal ball a bit of a polish to try and see what next year has in store for the AFL Victoria State League. This is what appeared.
The time - November 2013. The subject - AFL Victoria House Media release. The title - A Brave New World for the AFL Victoria State League. The Reporter - Leigh Howard.
AFL Victoria have today announced a major revamp of the AFL Victoria State league. "Given that Richmond and the Western Bulldogs have decided not to renew the alignments with Coburg & Williamstown respectively, resulting in a 16 team competition, AFL Victoria is proud to announce a reimagining of the best state league football competition in Australia" AFL Victoria spokesperson Mr Stan Antguts stated. "Season 2014 will see AFL Victoria State League represented by 16 teams across two conferences, the VFL & the VFA" Antguts announced. "The VFL will be represented by the following 8 teams - Geelong, Collingwood, Essendon, Footscray, Richmond, Northern Blues, Box Hill & Casey, whilst the VFA will be represented by - Williamstown, Port Melbourne, Coburg, Frankston, Bendigo, Werribee, North Ballarat & Sandringham". "The creation of two conferences allows for a more equitable draw with each team playing their own conference rivals twice and the other conference once, resulting in a 22 round reason". When questioned about the finals Antguts explained "The top four teams in each conference will play a finals series based on the McIntyre final four resulting in a VFL & VFA Premier who then play for the AFL Victoria Championship". Antguts added "This finals structure also provides flexibility to schedule a VFA/VFL all star game featuring the best players from each conference that aren't involved in the championship game". "This gives VFL & VFA listed players an additional opportunity to impress AFL recruiters leading into the annual combine & draft".
