Appendix “B” AAFL Reserve Grade 2018: Conditions

What and when: 28 minute, 14 minutes a half, 7-a-side minimum, 100m by 70m field, Reserve grade matches starting 60 minutes before and finishing 30 minutes before AAFL Senior matches.

Organisation: Reserve grade matches and teams can be largely player organised.

Team captain: Aside from carrying out his own role, the captain delegates and oversees all other on and off field roles.

Umpires: One umpire from each club. No player to umpire more than one Reserves match in the home and away season. Finals umpired by AAFL umpires.

Coaching: Reserve teams can be largely self-coached on match day with the assistance of Senior players.

Reserves Match Timing: 1st half, of 14 minutes duration, commencing 60 minutes before the Seniors’ match; 2 minutes to change ends then; 2nd half commences 44 minutes prior to the Seniors’ match. Reserves match finishes 30 minutes prior to Seniors’ match.

Pre-match arrival: No club is to require Senior or Reserve players to arrive more than 75 minutes prior to the Seniors match.

Finals: All Reserve grade teams play in the finals. Week 1 Reserve Grade finals are determined by the final Seniors’ ladder: i.e. 1 v 4, 2 v 3 and 5 v 6, so that Reserves play before Seniors in both Semi-Finals. Prior to the Seniors Grand Final the three Reserves “Semi” final winners will play a 3 match round robin (2 matches per team) with the winner declared Premiers.

Qualification for Reserves Finals: Playing 7 matches in the Senior team makes a player ineligible for a Reserves final when the Reserves are the only team from the Club playing on that day.

Playing Numbers Reserves: See Rule 13 above. 7 players on the field per side. More than 7 with agreement between captains. 3 interchange players. More interchange players are allowed if both captains agree; or, if a club has less players on a match day than desirable, the club can use more interchange players if they inform the opposition and the umpires. E.g. if a club has only 22 players, they may use up to all their players to play Reserves and Seniors.
Reserves’ Field Width and Length: 100 metres long and 70 metres wide. Longer and wider to accommodate more than 7-a-side by agreement between captains.

Field Markings and Goal Posts: Each club to set up one set of temporary goal posts for each match. Home club to set out boundary with cones and mark goal lines and position of goal posts with spray paint. Dimensions (other than distance between goal posts) can be approximate i.e. paced out from the centre square. Reserves’ matches can be played across the field or in line with the Seniors’ field with temporary goal posts equidistant from the marked centre square and circle.

Footballs: Home club to supply a match ball.

Team Roles: Captain, VC Gear, VC Team Sheet, VC Water-bottles.

Scoring: Goals only. No goal umpires. Field umpires to determine if a goal has been scored, keep the score and state the score before each centre bounce.