Football has returned Season 2020 for Wanneroo Junior Football Club. June 26th saw the showdown of the year with a derby between year 3 Roos white and year 3 Roos black. These guys kicked off the season under lights in front of a good crowd on the Friday night. June 28th saw the continuation and return of football to Wanneroo Showgrounds and Edgar Griffiths with scratch matches being played all day with opposition from Ocean Ridge JFC and Joondalup Kinross JFC. Our year 5 and year 7 teams headed to Heathridge Park to take on ORJFC. The day was a great success, many happy faces even in the pouring rain, chips and gravy flowing from our canteen and the inclusion of the new canteen being run by Jess at Edgar Griffiths.
The beauty of scratch matches is it gives our coaches an opportunity to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the teams and make notes on areas needing attention. It provides opportunity for the players to go out and have fun and put practice into actions after a long waited start from COVID-19. Additionally, scratch matches provide an opportunity for umpires to get in the rhythm of making calls and get their eye in for the up coming premiership season.

All this was made possible with the help of Mitch Whan, Umpire coordinator and Natalie Sharman, West Perth Competition Director. Your committee worked tirelessly putting this day together which went off without a hitch.

The 2020 season will kick off on Friday night, 17th July 2020 with our girls, Auskick Saturday 18th then mods and opens on Sunday 19th July. For the games to run smoothly please ensure you speak to your team managers for where you are playing and at what time. With the shortened season there will be 11 rounds in total and the season shall end 27th September which is far better than we had anticipated.

11th Round will look like this:
Years 3 – 6 will have Round 11 fixtures created on the Monday following the Round 8 games.
Fixtures will be created to allow similar skilled sides to play each other.
Years 7 – 12 will have Round 11 fixtures created on the Monday following the Round 10 games.
Games will be created based on ladder position. i.e. 1 vs 2 (for Premiership), 3 vs 4 (for 3rd place) and so on.

I hope you all make the most of season 2020 and that everyone gets out and enjoys each game. Please get behind your coach and give as much support to your team as possible.

RULES AND REGULATION CHANGES
The final Junior and Youth Competition Rules and Regulations are being updated to reflect these changes. These will be uploaded onto Club Hub before Round 1 and will be communicated to clubs via their conferences.
This Circular can be utilised to confirm changes to volunteers and officials until the documents are uploaded.

Game Duration
In line with the AFL, WAFL and PFL competitions, game time will be also be reduced in 2020 Community Games. Game lengths have been shortened to reflect the interruption to player preparation and to minimise the effects of fatigue injuries.
This will also support the efforts with game change overs and social distancing requirements.
Year 3 – Year 6: 4x 15-Minute Quarters
Male Year 7 – Year 9: 4x 15-Minute Quarters
Female Year 7 – Year 12: 4x 15-Minute Quarters
Male Year 10, 11/12: 4x 18-Minute Quarters
Bench Numbers
An easing of restricted bench numbers will occur in 2020.
The 50% game time rule still applies.
• Year 3 through Year 6 remains the same (unlimited bench)
• Year 7 through Year 12 – Maximum of 7 players on the bench. This applies to Male and Female competition.

Last Possession
All junior leagues and competitions will trial the Last Possession Rule and there will be no requirement to appoint boundary umpires.
The WAFC is excited to trial a rule that has been used in other competitions across Australia, and the 2020 season provides us an ideal opportunity to undertake this pilot.
The home team will be required to place soft cones around the boundary line perimeter and players should be reminded to “play the whistle”.

Exemption:
Year 11/12 Competitions have the option to utilise Boundary Umpires at the discretion of the Conference Team and will still utilise the Last Possession Rule. This will be communicated directly from your Conference.