By LIAM TWOMEY
WESTERN Region Football League president Bob Tregear said the league might look at decreasing the number of teams in Division One in the coming seasons.
While the top end of the ladder is as strong as it has ever been, blowout margins for struggling teams remain a concern.
Ideally, the league would like to keep 10 teams in Division One, however with the looming split towards three divisions approaching, that may not be possible.
“I think it (a 10-team division one competition) is the ideal if we can achieve it,” Tregear said.
“I think at the moment we could justify eight or nine in first division.
“That sort of move will have to be part of any move to a three-division structure. We would have to take at least one place, maybe two out of first division temporarily and try overtime to work back to 10 competitive sides in Division One.
“When you look at the top six or seven this year, it is as competitive as it’s been in my time here. The final five is nowhere near settled. There are probably eight sides that have a chance of making the eight at the moment.”
North Footscray has suffered a horror start to the 2013 season and remains winless at the bottom of the WRFL ladder.
The club also parted ways with high profile coaching recruit John Barnes.
Tregear said there wasn’t much that could be done from the league’s point of view to help the struggling club.
“They were adamant last year that they wanted to stay in first division even though they finished second bottom,” he said.
“It is too late once the season starts to actually change things around. It would destroy the whole draw in both divisions if you moved them now and they don’t want to move anyway. They are keen to keep going.
“They don’t expect to work any miracles. They know it is going to be tough, but they are very positive about it. Off-field they say they are going very well.”
One club which knows the struggles of heavy defeats in division one is Sunshine Heights.
Last year, the Dragons went through the WRFL division one season winless and were subsequently relegated to division two.
Sunshine Heights president John Stewart said he would like to see less teams in the top division.
“My personal opinion is that there is no point in having 10 when you’ve got two who are uncompetitive. The guys may as well have eight or even nine and a bye,” he said.
“The reality is, we would rather be down and winning a few games and being competitive. From the point of view of clubs that were coming to beat us each week, a lot of them probably would have preferred a bye to save on them injuring their players and basically give the guys a rest rather than come and take points that were practically inevitable but with a potential cost.”
Since dropping down, Sunshine Heights has won five of its eight games in division two.
Stewart said the club would be happy to return to the top grade if form warranted it.
“Off- field I am a lot more interested in building our junior program and making sure we are a thriving club with a view to participation over on-field success,” he said.
“That is what I will be measuring our KPI’s on. If we are able to compete and win flags at division two level, I am certainly not going to be one to say no, we are going to stay down.”
