KERANG has contacted AFL Victoria in a bid to have its preliminary final win over Tooleybuc Manangatang reinstated.
The Blues recorded a big 10-goal plus win over the Saints only to have the result overturned after it was discovered that Kerang had fielded an ineligible player.
The Central Murray Football Netball League acknowledged that Under 18s player Jake Schroeder’s appearance in Saturday’s game at Barham was due to an administrative error by club officials and not as a result of any malicious intent on the Blues’ behalf.
He was found not to have played the minimum number of games prior to this year’s finals series and removed from the game at quarter-time to take no further part.
While acknowledging that Kerang might have initially been told only its first quarter total would be removed — resulting in a still-very-big win to the Blues — CMFNL manager Scott Wishart stood by the league’s decision which he said resulted from sanctions clearly mandated by the competition’s by-laws. Players from both sides were told after the game that the result had been overturned according to the rules.
“The by-laws are very clear that if a club plays an ineligible player during finals they forfeit that game,” he said.
“The CMFNL believe in no way did Kerang mean to do anything untoward, it was an honest mistake on behalf of the club. But the by-laws are very clear,” he said.
Wishart said the issue was unrelated to controversy earlier in the finals series when a number of Kerang players played senior and reserves games on the same weekend.
He said yesterday afternoon Kerang had informally notified the league it would seek to appeal the decision.
“Kerang has notified us they would be looking into their options but haven’t cited anything formally yet,” he said.
Kerang president Andy Gray confirmed the Blues had been in touch with AFL Victoria in a bid to find grounds on which the decision could be appealed.
Tye Manuel, Jesse Clark, Phil Birchmore, Nathan Wilson, Anders Hird and Gregor Campbell were named Kerang’s best on the day.
Birchmore has played all 19 games, while Wilson has managed 16. Hird has played seven times.
After playing key roles in last year’s senior side before being struck down by injury, Manuel and Clark have sought to work their way back into the Blues’ first team through the seconds.
Clark has shown a degree of success with six games in both grades, while Manuel’s seven reserves games have not yet earned him a spot in the senior line-up this season.
Gregor Campbell has been the success story of Birchmore’s stated desire to build a more legitimate second XVIII.
Campbell has played eight reserves games and broken through for 11 senior games, including a minor role in the second semi-final against Swan Hill.
The Saints managed goals only through Josh Standen (2) and Ben Jones (1) yesterday.
A regular seniors player, Jones was eligible for reserves on the grounds that the Saints’ senior team was also playing on the day.
