Five Ovens and Murray club will carry extra points next year

Wooden spooners North Albury and Corowa-Rutherglen will play with the maximum points allowed in 46, with Wodonga (44), Wangaratta Rovers and Myrtleford (42) also granted extras by governing body AFL North East Border.

A number of factors are involved in collating player points with all teams starting from a base of 40.

"There's a number of aspects, including geographics, demographics and playing statistics across certain year periods, like three or five," AFLNEB region manager Zac Guilfoyle revealed.

The winning statistics over the last three years makes interesting reading.

Corowa-Rutherglen boasts the poorest record with 20 per cent, followed by North (21), Wodonga (22), Rovers (35), Yarrawonga (47), Myrtleford (51), Lavington (62), Wodonga Raiders (65), Wangaratta (82) and Albury (88).

Two O and M clubs appealed their decision, but both were unsuccessful.

Myrtleford, which finished fourth after the COVID-shortened season of 13 games, had applied for an extra four points, but received only two.

Rovers applied for two and were granted that after a third place finish.

"What last year demonstrated for us was that when we didn't have some of our recruits, we still did struggle," Hawks' president Wally Pasquali offered.

"We still need to top up our list to be competitive in the league."

The statewide points system was introduced for a number of reasons, including the equalisation of competitions.

While there's no doubt the O and M is a tighter competition, the biggest bugbear remains the hefty points attributed to a 'bush' player tackling a higher league, while Rovers had an issue with a youngster's allocation, although they were overall satisfied.

"Elijah Amery, he was worth four points, which is really unfair," Pasquali added.

There is no avenue of appeal.

Fifteen clubs across the region's four leagues applied for points.

In Tallangatta and District, teams also have a base of 40 with Wodonga Saints now on 46 and Mitta United 42.

In the Ovens and King, clubs have 42 points with North Wangaratta boasting (46), Moyhu (46), King Valley (44), Goorambat (44) and Whorouly (44).

The Upper Murray starts from 42 points with Federal and Corryong both on 46.

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Meanwhile, the extra point allocation for a top five best and fairest player has been removed.

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