Northern Football League

The Northern Football League will implement a stand-alone Division 3 competition from the beginning of the 2010 season, with the St Mary's Senior Football Club entering a senior team with the league.

The NFL received confirmation this morning that the St Mary's SFC will have the required amount of players to get a senior team on to the park in 2010, paving the way for a seven team Division 3.

The six sides that finished 2009 in Division 3 will form the stand-alone division, with the addition of St Mary's and a weekly bye.

The eight sides that finished 2009 in Division 2 will again form that division in 2010, with the exception of Macleod being replaced by Thomastown courtesy of Division 1 promotion/relegation.

Similarly to Northern Football League Junior competitions with uneven numbers, the positions on the Division 3 ladder will be decided on a 'Match Ratio' system (number of matches won divided by number of matches played).

Both divisions will have a Top Four finals series, with the Division 3 finals to be played over three weeks, and Division 2 to now be played over four weeks.

The NFL have also announced that the Division 1 finals will now be made up of the top five sides (http://www.nfl.org.au/league/news/306-2010-division-1-finals-structure-change.html), with the preliminary dates for the Grand Finals being: Div 3 - September 4, Div 2 - September 11, and Div 1 -September 18.

At the conclusion of the 2010 season, the Division 3 premiers will be promoted to Division 2, with the last placed team in Division 2 dropping down to Division 3.

A draft fixture will be sent to all club Presidents this afternoon, with the finalised, separate Division 2 and 3 fixtures to be released on nfl.org.au over the coming weeks.

Division 2 Sides

Diamond Creek

Epping

Fitzroy Stars

Lower Plenty

Mernda

Thomastown

Watsonia

Whittlesea

Division 3 sides

Heidelberg West

Hurstbridge

Panton Hill

Parkside

Reservoir

South Morang

St Mary's