There have been a number of changes to the Player Points System (PPS) in the PS4 NPL Victoria for season 2015, with the league introducing the modifications with the intention of rewarding clubs for their role in youth development.
Table of Player Points Structure for 2015
The most pertinent difference however will be the lowering of the cap from 250 points last season to 225 for this NPL season, which will be softened by a host of changes in other areas.
Within the new framework includes significant incentives for player movement through National Elite Pathway Teams – which include National Youth League, A-League, NTC, FFA Centre of Excellence or member federation institution program team – which ties in well with the inception of Melbourne City Youth and Melbourne Victory Youth into the NPL system.
With a suspected 40 plus players expected to make up each National Youth League squad – with both sides set to compete in the NPL 1 next season – the revamped system provides point incentive for other NPL clubs who are set to lose elite youngsters to the national league sides.
Other key focuses of the overhauled system include a significant aim to maintain parity between the promoted clubs and the more established ones in the top flight – by providing a promotion points cap bonus – as well as further clarifying the Visa Player rule, which in turn provides more playing opportunity for Australian players.
In terms of what remains the same as last season, the base 10 points per players will stay as a part of the PPS. The Loyalty Bonus will once again remain, which means players who have played at an NPL club for five years or more will see points deducted from their player total equivalent to one point per season beyond their fifth, with a total cap of -5 points.
Visa Players – anyone who’s not an Australian citizen or permanent resident of Australia – once again merit a 10 point increase in their total, with every club again only permitted to have two internationals registered.
The Home Grown Player rule has undergone a minor change, with the same -1 point total remaining for each season a player has been registered in the club’s youth team – at any level – up to minus five points. However in season 2015, the 15 game prerequisite per season that was required last year has been scrapped, which means a general decrease in the points totals of home grown players due to a more lenient guideline.
The other rules to remain the same from the NPL Victoria’s inception is the Marquee Player and Pathway Player rules, which allow professional players and elite youngsters to carry the minimum 10 points, with no further points added on regardless of them meeting the other criteria.
There have also been overhauls to the Switching Players and Youth Players ruling, with point penalties and bonuses respectively dampened and bolstered.
For Switching Players – i.e. transferred players – the points penalty has gone down from +8 to +5 for those players that have moved from one NPL club to another if the player in question has played more that 10 games for their original club the season immediately prior their move. For those who played less than 10 games, the points penalty has moved from +4 in 2014 to a meagre +3 for 2015.
Introduced for this season however is a new +1 penalty for any player who moves from the NYL to an NPL club that is different to the club they were at prior.
There is also a new +2 penalty for any Australian citizen signed from an overseas club.
For example in this instance, a player would incur the +1 penalty:
2014: John Doe registered at Northcote City (NPL)
2014/15: John Doe signs with Melbourne City Youth (NYL)
2015: John Doe signs with Port Melbourne (NPL)
For Youth Players, there has been a complete revamp of the system in place, with the old system offering a bonus of minus 3 – with a maximum of minus 5 – for players 18 years or under at the close of 2014.
The new system in place offers greater scope for players to carry fewer points, with the new starting age for youth bonuses starting at 23 years old. For any player 22 years of age by the close of 2015, one point will be taken off their player total. An extra point will be struck off for every year younger the player is with a maximum of five points taken off.
For example, in this instance, a player would benefit from a -3 bonus:
John Doe
Born: 28/8/95
Will turn 20 by the 31st December 2015, which is three years younger than the 23 cap
Points Cap bonuses look set to play a large role in the structure of NPL clubs in season 2015, with an array of bonuses once again on offer to bolster the total available points a side can carry into a season. Much like last season, a one-off bonus of +3 points – to be used either this season or next – to the total cap of 225 can be utilized for each Youth Player Advancement into a National Elite Pathway Team. This allows the club extra space for any registered youth player who moves to an elite pathway outfit.
Much like the Youth Player Advancement, the First Team Player Advancement allows a +8 point bonus to the total cap for each registered first team player who then moves on to play at an elite pathway outfit.
The final point cap bonus available is the Promoted Club bonus, which allows a +20 cap bonus for the two promoted sides Avondale Heights and North Geelong Warriors.
With all these point allowances, a squad size of a minimum of 20 players and maximum of 23 players must be registered with any unregistered youth players allowed to play a maximum of 40% of a clubs games without having to be promoted to the senior squad, and thus registered within the points cap.
To use an NPL club as an example, South Melbourne’s senior roster currently sits at 15 players signed on, with a further two yet to commit to the club. If we include the pair – Matthew Theodore and Chris Maynard – their list sits at 17 players with a total Player Points Total of 188 of the potential 225, which leaves 37 points free for a minimum three players to be registered.
But on top of that, we can also take into account the potential one-off bonuses that South Melbourne are able to take. Looking purely at the players that have spent the summer playing at NYL sides, there’s an extra 25 points that are up for grabs.
+3 Youth: Dion Paola (Melbourne Victory Youth)
+3 Youth: Stefan Valentini (Perth Glory Youth)
+3 Youth: Stefan Zinni (Melbourne City Youth)
+8 Senior: Andy Kejocevic (Melbourne City Youth)
+8 Senior: Andrew Mullet (Melbourne City Youth)
This essentially means that South Melbourne have a free 62 points to use on a minimum of three players, or a maximum of six, with a Visa Player spot vacant.
To explain a few points from South Melbourne’s player points draft, Dane Milovanovic earns only the +2 transfer points due to the fact he came from an overseas club (Maldives), despite holding an Australian passport.
Luke Adams, while having transferred from New Zealand and being a youth international, was Melbourne born and therefore doesn’t cop the 10 point penalty for being a Visa Player.
Andy Kejocevic – who is currently with Melbourne City Youth – is an eligible Pathway Player, denoted by the 0 in that column. This means that had he have earned any penalties, for example in a transfer, it would be rendered invalid. He also carries the maximum -5 youth bonus, despite being six years under the cut off age of 23.
For a full list of the Player Point System criteria, click here.