Depleted Billabong Crows pull pin on football fixtures against Osborne

The Crows have been decimated by injuries in recent weeks and have a further 13 Victorian-based players unavailable across the club this weekend due to the state's lockdown.

Billabong Crows president Kevin Martin feels the league's decision to play this weekend, despite a seven-day extension to the lockdown, has handicapped his club.

"It's not our fault we've got to go to Victoria to get players. We're minus three coaches to start with and all up we've got about 13 footballers and three or four netballers out," Martin said.

"Jason (senior coach Jason Kerr) and our seconds coach is in Victoria and our A and B grade netball coach (Millie Ferguson) is in Victoria.

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"Our netballers have got six sides that are going to play finals, so we've got to think of them to make sure they get a chance to play for wins."

However, Lockhart president Bob Mathews believes clubs should have factored in the risks when choosing to bring in players from Victoria this season.

"If you're going to recruit footballers from Victoria when there's already been two border closures, you have to accept the risks associated with that," Mathews said.

"I find it frustrating the logic of recruiting across the border when there's been border closures. Surely that would have entered their mind.

"I don't see why we as the Hume league should cover them for the mistakes they made in recruiting. That's how I look at it."

The NSW-based competition will resume this weekend under the match ratio method, where ladder positions are determined from the amount of wins divided by the number of matches a club has played rather than premiership points.

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