Gleeson floats ideas for shorter BFL season

TORQUAY coach Dom Gleeson believes the majority of local footballers would be happy to “play tomorrow” to get the 2020 season started.
A decision on whether AFL Barwon competitions, including the Bellarine Football League, gets under way could be known by the end of the month as COVID-19 restrictions begin to be eased in Victoria.
Gleeson, who has been in charge at McCartney Oval since 2015, has suggested reducing quarters and extending interchange bench numbers to help ease the physical toll on players.
“I do worry about the injuries that could probably occur just through not training and doing the fundamentals as much as what we should have been doing,” he said.
“I think two weeks is probably sufficient enough. But, in saying that, let’s just get it started when we’re able to, and let us deal with that.
“There’ll be certain ideas around the length of the quarters just to prevent injuries; I think that’d be a good idea as well.
“Maybe a couple more on the bench. They’re just a couple of ideas that come to mind that may help us get through the season very early days.”
Running the season into October remains a prospect, with cricket authorities open to delaying their start.
That could mean a nine-round BFL season – where every club plays each other once – could start in late July.
Meanwhile, Drysdale has raised $9,036 for Geelong-based grief support service Hope Bereavement as it honoured the memory of premiership player Ryan Gatgens.
Gatgens, who played in the Hawks 2009 and 2010 flags, and won the 2004 best-and-fairest, lost his battle with mental illness in August last year.
Last Saturday, Drysdale footballers, netballers, past players and supporters, as well as some members of Geelong Umpires, joined forces to collectively run to Uluru.
The combined kilometres logged came in at 4,886km – more than double the 2,319km from the Hawks’ Mortimer Oval base to the monolith.
“What an absolutely amazing day it’s been for the Drysdale Hawks footy club, netballers, juniors, past players and supporters,” president David Walder said on Facebook.
“Our aim was to get to Uluru, which is 2,300km. Darwin is 3,745km, so I think we’ve just about finished up in Bali.”
Tom King is the editor of krockfootball.com.au. Head to the website for more regional football coverage.