By JARROD POTTER
FINALS footy will be played by twice as many Youth Girls footballers under a revised structure set out by the South East Juniors.
The 10-team Youth Girls competition will be split after 2 August, forgoing the scheduled final round of the home-and-away season to instead create two pools of finalists for the first week of finals on Saturday 9 August.
Teams ranked first through fifth will vie for the Youth Girl first grand final, with teams 6-10 battling it out for the second.
South East Juniors general manager Shaun Connell confirmed the switch in structure on account of the great disparity between the top and bottom of the ladder and clubs concerns that players might be discouraged from playing out the remainder of the season.
“I have been reviewing this year’s competition along with some concerns from clubs on the unevenness of the competition in the one divisional structure and was looking at ways of addressing that imbalance as well as having regard to how the competition may look beyond this year,” Connell said.
“This is not the first time this concept has been suggested and the trial of the finals model is just a small piece in a wider consideration of female football which will assist with planning and the immediate retention of current players within the SEJ as well as attracting new players.”
Connell said keeping players in the sport and ensuring the lower-placed sides don’t lose out on players towards the end of the season was a key factor for the switch.
“In terms of the immediate retention and recruitment of female players we felt that including all teams in a finals series would be seen as a positive initiative as every team’s season is still alive regardless of their ladder position,” Connell said.
“We are hoping that this will ignite additional interest in the immediate competition and be more motivating for girls to keep engaged and attracted to female footy.”
The switch in finals structure for Youth Girls will also serve as a trial to see if this model could work in other South East Juniors divisions in coming seasons.
The Youth Girls competition is set to be augmented again in coming seasons with the potential addition of under-12 and under-15 competitions.
REVISED FINALS STRUCTURE
POSITIONS 1-5
9 August: ELIM/QUAL – Game 1: 2v3 (QF), Game 2: 4v5 (EF).
16 August: SEMI FINALS – 1 v W1, L1 v W2.
23 August: PRELIM FINALS – L3 v W4.
31 August: GRAND FINAL.
POSITIONS 6-10
9 August: ELIM/QUAL – Game 1: 7v8 (QF), Game 2: 9v10 (EF).
16 August: SEMI FINALS – 6 v W1, Game 4: L1 v W2.
23 August: PRELIM FINAL – L3 v W4.
31 August: GRAND FINAL
