New fixtures on table

The SWFL match committee will present a draft set of revised 2020 season fixtures at next Thursday’s monthly league delegates meeting. SWFL general manager Simone Nani confirmed a range of discussions were held between the league’s executive and match committee members on Monday night, including what the format of a potential nine-round home and away season would look like. “The draft set of fixtures will be discussed at the council meeting,” she said. “However, it is all dependant on crowds being allowed to attend football matches. “One of things we addressed was the total home games for each club, because being a nine-round season, there would be a group of clubs which would have only four home games — while the other group would have five. “There were also discussions around Saturday games. We want to try and provide the opportunity for clubs, if we are having a season with crowds, to organise functions on a Saturday after matches. “So there was talk on what that may look like, along with running it by the juniors to hopefully generate a good outcome for the clubs.” The decision on which clubs will get five home games in the proposed 2020 season will be presented by the match committee next week, however it is believed Carey Park, Collie Eagles, Busselton, South Bunbury and the Harvey Bulls could get the nod. “The way we were looking at it was the clubs who finished in the top five last season would have four home games,” Nani said. “And the clubs who finished in the second half of the ladder would have five home games. We believe that is probably a fair way to look at it in the draft edition of the fixtures.” Nani reiterated although the draft would be ready, the league would wait on advice from the State Government and WAFC before releasing the final schedule to the public. “I think the release date is going to depend on what step we move to next — as per the State Government’s plan to ease out of COVID-19,” she said. “There probably would not be too much point in releasing a draft fixture if we did not believe we were heading towards a path of having crowds. “So the fixtures would be released when we get the confirmation of having a season.” Although nine of the 10 SWFL venues have the ability to accommodate a big number of cars around the ground, which could aid crowd social distancing measures, Nani said ultimately the WAFC would have the final say.