Albury-Wodonga Football Association shelves plans to introduce interchange

The association considered a shift from the traditional three substitutes rule to allow coaches an unlimited interchange, but has opted against it less than two weeks out from the start of the season.

AWFA president Mark Leman said the rule will be revisited ahead of the 2022 campaign.

"We're doing so many changes and we're introducing things like Sports TG (online administration program)," Leman said.

"Just to get Sports TG operational and iron out the bugs we may have this year is going to take time.

"We want to keep it really simple and next year we'll have a better system.

"We were just a bit rushed to get it all organised this year. It's baby steps as we say."

The decision has come as a relief for several senior coaches across the league, including Wodonga Diamonds' Daniel Griffin.

"I think it's a great idea to put it on hold," Griffin said.

"I'm a bit of a traditionalist, and, to be honest, I'm not a fan of the idea of interchange at senior level.

"If anything, I'd rather see it go to five substitutions instead of three because I think interchange would take a bit away from the senior game."

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Griffin believes an interchange would work against the clubs who have prepared well for a league campaign.

"I think it decreases the incentive to do a proper pre-season when you can just play 10 minutes on and off whenever you want," he said.

"It might sound silly, but at times it's a bit of a battle of attrition.

"Some teams are fitter than others and wait for that moment to run over the top of a tiring opponent, with interchange, that element would be almost lost."

A change that has been approved is the age groups for junior competitions.

With the 2020 season abandoned due to COVID-19, the association has upped its age limits to ensure no-one misses out.

Clubs will have the chance to field under 12s, 13s, 15s and 17s in the boys, while the girls age groups are under-12s, 14s and 17s.

Divisions one, two and three are open age.

This year's senior ladies league will again be a standalone draw with only five teams in the competition.

St Pats, Wangaratta, Albury United, Boomers and Albury Hotspurs' women are set to play 80 per cent of matches with their clubs.

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