WITH regional Victoria in lockdown, Ararat and District Junior Football Association has made the decision to scrap the final round of the season.
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ADJFA president Shane Jenkins said the cancellation was unfortunate, but it wasn't the end of the season just yet, with the league determined to play out their finals series.
"We only had one game to go anyway, we've just cancelled that. As soon as we get the go ahead we'll continue with our finals series, whether that be late September or early October. We're prepared to keep going with that."
"We're hoping at this stage we'll play a three week finals series, which we intended to play initially. It just depends on how late the season gets pushed back. We'll just need to be flexible. We may end up playing just one game, a grand final or we might play two rounds of finals, we're not sure.
"If we don't get back at all, the side that finished on top will be crowned premiers, but we don't want to go down that track, we'd love them to play off for sure.
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Jenkins said cancelling the final round had little impact on the finals, with the composition of the top four teams already "set in stone".
"There's one side clearly on top, a clear second side and two sides close behind. It won't make any difference to our finals makeup whatsoever."
According to Jenkins, the junior league players are keeping up the enthusiasm and will be ready to play "tomorrow, if we had to" he said.
"I know a lot of kids are still making the effort with their exercise, one of the five reasons to leave home. There's kids up at Richardson Oval training, just running around a bit, keeping their finger on the pulse."
Jenkins said the junior league had a few advantages over senior leagues if football were to resume.
"We're not traveling, we're not worrying about kids coming from different areas. They're all local kids.
"Kids are very resilient, they don't have to train for three weeks so they don't get injured in a big game. They're ready to play at the drop of a hat.
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