It’s a strange anomaly for the Hampden league heavyweight, which is thick in the hunt for a fourth consecutive senior footy flag.

Under the AFL Victoria points system introduced across the Western District region in 2016, every country and community league was allocated a points cap, and each player assigned a points value based on experience, their movements between clubs and other factors.

Hampden league clubs were assigned a player points cap of 40, with Port Fairy, Portland and Hamilton Kangaroos granted additional five-point allowances this season.

The Saints have consistently sat between 38 and 40 points this year and averaged 39, according to the SportsTG results website.

McLaren said injuries to ‘home-grown’ players – who are only worth one point – had driven the Saints’ points total up.

“The problem with having our injury list – ‘Tempy’ (Isaac Templeton) has been out all year, we’ve had (James) Gow away a lot, Will Couch, Jayden Whitehead, Tom Mugavin – they’re all one-point players,” McLaren said.

“The better our team gets, the more our points will go down.”

Flag hopeful Port Fairy was given a points allowance of 52 when the cap was first introduced, which was quickly brought into 50, and reduced to 45 this season.

“The way I understand it, they want everyone to be on the same points eventually,” Seagulls coach Brett Evans said. “So I’m not sure how long we’ll be able to hold onto the 45 for.”

Evans said the cap meant clubs had to be smarter with their recruiting, targeting the best players they could afford on a points-basis to fill specific voids.

The Seagulls are averaging 43 player points a game, having twice maxed out at 45.

Evans said the points cap had only once forced their hand at selection, though it also impacted on which juniors they could bring up into the senior team – a sentiment McLaren echoed.

“A couple of the under 18 kids have got high points,” Evans said. “It’s stopped us playing (them) a couple of times. Previously, they’ve come from other clubs.”

The points system aims to promote junior development and encourage clubs to focus on player retention.

Regardless of what level they’ve played at, a player is worth just one point when they return to their ‘home club’, where they played junior football.

South Warrnambool capitalised on the ‘homegrown’ clause when it brought in big guns over the off-season.

Ex-VFL players Liam Youl and James Hussey, who would normally cost a team five points apiece, cost their home club just one point.

Despite bringing in a host of new faces from last season, the Roosters are averaging just 27 points a game, ranking them equal sixth in the league with Terang Mortlake.

Portland and Hamilton Kangaroos both have an increased points allowance of 45, intended to help them recruit to counter geographical difficulties, yet have the lowest averages in the league with 21 and 23 respectively.

In the Warrnambool and District league, where the cap is 45 points, reigning premier Nirranda leads the way with an average of 43. It will hit the 45 points on Saturday.

“This is probably the first time since the points have come in that we had to pick the team based on not only form, but points,” Blues coach Shane Threlfall said.

“There was probably one player we hoped to bring in, but didn’t have enough points.”

Ladder leaders Old Collegians and Kolora-Noorat are averaging just 33 player points per game – the equal second lowest in the league, along with Allansford.

South Rovers has the lowest average player points per game, with 28.