The Essendon District Football League has confirmed that its premier division will move to a five team finals structure next season.
The league released its dates and structure for the three senior men’s divisions for next season on Thursday.
The premier division had just the top four teams playing finals to this point, but will go to a top five next year. This year five teams were in the running to play finals until the final round.
The finals in the premier division will now be played over four rounds, removing the need for a pre-final bye. Meaning, the top side will now get a week off.
The season will again run from April to September in all three competitions, with Good Friday games to take place on March 29.
Premier division, which will remain as a 10 team competition, sides will again play 18 games with a bye week being introduced in the middle of the July school holidays for an additional weekend off.
Maribyrnong Park will head into division 1 after finishing bottom this year with division 1 premiers Deer Park coming up into the premier division.
In division 1, Westmeadows and Glenroy will drop to the bottom division, with Oak Park coming out of division 2.
With division 1 now being an 11-team competition and division 2 being a nine-team competition, each side will play 16 games. Division 1 will remain a top five finals series and division 2 will remain top four.
Each division will play their grand finals on separate Saturdays, which was the case this year.
