Seagulls looking at league switch

By Peter Sweeney
TOORADIN-Dalmore may switch football leagues at the end of the season.
The Seagulls – tired of being at the bottom of the ladder in the Casey Cardinia Football League and not envisaging “a lift” in the foreseeable future – are looking at moving to the Ellinbank and District Football League.
The club has also investigated joining the Nepean division of the Mornington Peninsula Football League.
In confirming the “switch study”, Tooradin-Dalmore president Derek Genoni said the preference of the club would be to remain in Casey Cardinia … “if it was a two-tier” league.
“We would love Casey Cardinia and Ellinbank to be two-tier leagues,” Genoni said.
“Both these leagues have some very strong clubs and some clubs who are struggling and finding it difficult to compete.
“The leagues should be evened up.
“Yes, we’ve had and are having discussions on our future and are looking at where we would be best suited.
“Nepean is no good, because there’s no netball and we have to look after our netballers.
“We are exploring our possibilities and we will talk about any move at our annual general meeting.
“We are at the bottom of the ladder … and don’t like it. The points system in the Mornington Peninsula league isn’t conducive to a level-playing field and the small clubs suffer.
“We don’t have enough money to compete with the big clubs. We have an internal salary cap which was created by our budget. We could put in another $100,000, but how’s that going to help us in the long term?”
Genoni said the Seagulls had had “a terrible” season because of injuries.
“They’ve (injuries) killed us this year. Before the weekend, players in our senior group had missed 56 weeks of football through injuries,” Genoni added.