Coach suggests scrapping finals in Hampden league Sunday competition

It comes as the state government's five-day snap coronavirus lockdown - introduced on Thursday night - forced the league to call off play this weekend.

"My idea would be as long as the seniors are still playing home-and-away matches, I think we would be better off, our kids just playing home-and-away (matches), just playing more games," the coach told The Standard.

HFNL under 16s, under 14s and under 12s football is played on Sundays.

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The 15 and under reserve and 13 and under reserve netball competitions are also mostly on Sundays.

The final round of the regular season for those junior competitions is on Sunday, July 25.

But the coach said the league should consider aligning the rest of the Sunday competition with the senior HFNL fixture and play until August 21.

Hampden league senior football and netball is played on Saturdays and August 21 is the date of the final round of the regular season, barring changes to the fixture.

By following the current senior fixture, all Sunday competition teams would end up with extra games this season rather than just those which make finals.

"If we miss next week (as well due to the pandemic) and go straight into finals, a lot of kids around the area have only played 11 games of footy in two years," the coach said.

"So are we better off, for the next five weeks, instead of just going into finals, just following the seniors and play Sundays?

"So whoever the seniors play - just keep doing what juniors do - so that all kids in the area get another five games."

The coach added a fixture change could be good for clubs because it gave all grades at a club the opportunity to keep playing rather than just the teams that make finals.

"In today's climate, I just think kids playing footy, netball or sport in general is more important than winning premierships," the coach said.

The coach suggested the Saturday junior football and netball competitions be left as is and that they still play finals.

Under 18.5 football is played on Saturdays, as is 17 and under, 17 and under reserves, 15 and under and 13 and under netball.

These grades all follow the senior level and play the regular season until August 21.

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