south melbourne?

[DST]

Ultimately the decsion to reign in costs and to play our reserves in Canberra was brought about by one thing, the Rugby World Cup.

While the club tried hard to see out the slowing of corporate funds before and during the World Cup the drop in revenue meant the hard decsions had to be made.

With that blip now over and the club seemingly being well run from a business side of things I would strongly suspect the Swans will look at putting their reserves back into the VFL as a stand alone team.

IMHO in order for us to better prepare our young players they need to be involved in a compertition that challenges them week in and week out and only the VFL, SANFL & WAFL and maybe the QAFL can do this at present.

DST

[barry]

Originally posted by liz
I seem to recall being told a couple of years ago - on a weekend when the senior and reserve teams were both down in Canberra - that the senior team had flown and the reserves travelled by bus.

Yeah, I heard they bused. Canberra's only 3 hours away, and chances are it would take you that long getting trhough the airports at both ends + flight anyway.

And its only ever 2nd week.

[robbieando]

Originally posted by DST
[B]With that blip now over and the club seemingly being well run from a business side of things I would strongly suspect the Swans will look at putting their reserves back into the VFL as a stand alone team.

Problem is Football Victoria have already in the past rejected moves by the Swans to have a stand alone team in the VFL "IF" it were to be based out of Sydney like the Swans want. The only way Football Victoria will allow us into the VFL is if we either, a) merge with a current Stand Alone VFL team or b) or have the reserves base themselves in Melbourne as was suggested in the orginal post in this thread.

Big problem there is the stand alone South Melbourne suggestion is too costly and the merger options are either Frankston (who don't want to merge) or Tasmania (which could prove even more costly than our deal with Port was).

IMHO in order for us to better prepare our young players they need to be involved in a compertition that challenges them week in and week out and only the VFL, SANFL & WAFL and maybe the QAFL can do this at present.

While its agreed the Swans reserves need more competition on the face of this years result's, I didn't hear any complaints the past two years when the Swans side failed to make the GF or win the minor premiership. Also we face the problem that the club isn't willing to spend huge amounts of money to play the reserves in a different league and the huge fact that most State Leagues in this country DON'T want us.

Something needs to be done yes, but lets not go overboard over the results of ONE season.

[adnar]

Originally posted by stellation
That would take a lot more money!

The QFL was made good enough for the lions in a reasonably short amount of time. Admitadly it's always been a better comp but it's comparble.

[apincombe]

Re South Melbourne

U R right about Sydney reserves playing in a sub-standard comp as the winning margins suggest. This is a real problem as it doesn't prepare the young players for the pace of AFL. The problem of basing a side in the VFL comp has always been that the players in Melbourne don't all train with the main squad. One solution is to fly the boys down each week but that is incredably expensive. When we had our agreement with Port Melbourne often times the players were not playing in the same positions as our coach wished. Another problem was that the other coach may have a very different style to Roos and unless the team is fully co-ordinated and based in Sydney this could be detrimental to the developement of the younger players. Yes I would like to see the reserves in a much stronger comp but only if the conditions of the agreement supliment player development. At the moment we have a few young blokes coming along who could be very important to us in the very near future. We need a strong tall backman or two and there are a few boys developing at the moment that could fill that role. The club has to be very careful how these youngsters develop. One other problem about playing in Melb is the money involved, if the AFL came to the party and subsidized the deal then I would have no problems with this but without financial support it would be impractical. The club has already experienced financila trouble and the viability would be dependant on sponsorship and AFL subsidies. But a great idea and well worth thinking about and hopefully the powers that be will have a look at it.

Tony P

[Foreign Legion]

Sorry to All in advance, but it ****s me when people talk about the cost of playing in the VFL!!!!

Can anyone name another non-Victorian side who plays in this league? I can and I can also name one who plays out of a COUNTRY bloody town - yet we can't afford it? Bull****.

Jeez it is SO expensive to fly nowadays - what a joke. I guarantee you that if the Swans had a stand alone team in the VFL we would get at least 2000 people to each game in Melbourne. Gotta be some way to cover costs there.

By the way, the VFL already has a bye each week so another team would be good for the comp.

We must face facts - AS THEY ARE - the ACTAFL is not good enough - never will be. Who cares if we win or lose the comp, that is not the point of it!!

Sorry....pre game nerves are getting to me!

[apincombe]

Swans in VFL

The onle interstate club in the VFL is Tasmania and they don't have an AFL club. The also have a footy mad public and lots of sponsorship for their side. The fact is they also get far better crouds than any of the Vics anyway. 2,000 people at a match would not even cover the strapping and trainers the club would end up with about $6,000 for this outing. Yes I think that the VFL would be a preferable comp but the club would have to cover the cost by Victorian sponsorship deals. The fact is Footy costs and you have to cover your ass or go broke like Fitzroy. I'm sure when all the deals are in place the club will play the reserves in the VFL.

[DST]

Originally posted by robbieando
While its agreed the Swans reserves need more competition on the face of this years result's, I didn't hear any complaints the past two years when the Swans side failed to make the GF or win the minor premiership. Also we face the problem that the club isn't willing to spend huge amounts of money to play the reserves in a different league and the huge fact that most State Leagues in this country DON'T want us.

Something needs to be done yes, but lets not go overboard over the results of ONE season.

Where the reserves finish or results are irrelevant as far as I am concerned. Even with us struggling in the past couple of years it is doubtfull whether the ACTFL is providing the type of opportunity our young players need to prepare themselves to step up to AFL standard football.

While ultimately if the player is capable of getting to the AFL and remaining there they will, I just think it is taking the young players more time under the current structure and when they do make it into the senior team for their first couple of games I don't think they are as well prepared.

Only solution is for the AFL to pump more money into the game in NSW and possibly have the top 4 clubs from both Sydney & Canberra join a super league and have a relegation process in place.

Otherwise we need to look at placing the players somehow in the VFL, whether that be stand alone or with another club.

DST

[Schneiderman]

As part of the "grand scheme" to get the NSW comp up to scratch, the AFL should fund a Sydney Swans Reserve team (and I think calling it a South Melbourne team is an EXCELLENT idea) playing in the VFL.

The $200,000 or so it would cost them would be better spent than how it currently is in NSW, as long as any fill-up players were NSW juniors. This way we could not only expose our players to a tougher comp, and strengthen the Vic ties, but it would also present opportunities for NSW youngsters to play in a more professional and powerful local league.

This need only last for a 3-5yr period, whilst other work is done to bring more juniors through the school systems. By then the NSW/ACT comps should have a stronger supply of talented 17-18yr olds flowing into it, and the Swans can then choose where they wish to continue their reserves.

That said, I am not overly concerned about the Reserves current domination in the ACTAFL. If it continues for another 12mths I may change my mind.