Rep Games

[tigers_town]

I think it would be a good idea to extend rep games to U28'a also or even like reserves or U21's / 23's . what do you think

[Rafters]

In Cairns, they have an u/23 rep team & they play the curtain raiser to the Seniors rep match.

It works very well for them in fostering the younger generation as well as provide an extra rep game for another league - not to mention the interest it would generate for supporters to come along & watch.

Imagine a great day of rep footy at say Henson Park:

1pm Sydney u18s
3pm SFA rep game
5pm Sydney u/23s
7.30pm SFL rep game

[Batman]

Under 23 rep game is simply a silly idea! As it is, the rep team does not generate a whole lot of iinterest. There are numerous players that are not interested in being considered each year and who subsequently do not play. I would say that this would generate even less interest.

If anyone had been to the night game of rep footy for the 2005 season at Henson they would have clearly seen the lack of interest. There was approximately 100 people there....including players families etc which by any standards is a poor crowd.

Sorry gents but have to disagree with you there.

[swansrock4eva]

Yeah but the thing that always astounds me is a little thing called PUBLICITY or lack thereof - without publicity you won't get people's attention, and without their attention you won't get their attendance.

[Pekay]

Originally posted by swansrock4eva
Yeah but the thing that always astounds me is a little thing called PUBLICITY or lack thereof - without publicity you won't get people's attention, and without their attention you won't get their attendance.

its a matter of riding the wave of interest the Swans have generated this year and previous years. a few articles in the big papers the week beforehand wouldnt hurt. and well done Rafters on giving the SFA a mention...the Central West only play over the mountains after all.

[goswannie14]

In Victoria I think they have one weekend during the season for rep games...would that format work in Sydney/NSW?

[Joe Dirt]

Originally posted by goswannie14
In Victoria I think they have one weekend during the season for rep games...would that format work in Sydney/NSW?

They actually have that here as well.

.....................

There's no real need for the U23 Rep game IMO. If you look at the calibre of players that played this year. Players like Lord, Stanton, Davies and Barrett all played this year. Its excellent experience for these young players to play in big games and show their stuff. If these guys played in the U23 match, i think it would take some quality out of the senior match.

[Norris Lurker]

This year we had 2 weekends off for rep games, with only a couple of weeks between them. Particularly for teams that had a bye during those intervening weeks it made that part of the season a bit disjointed.
I'd probably favour reducing that to just the one rep weekend next season.

[Rafters]

There's no real need for the U23 Rep game IMO. If you look at the calibre of players that played this year. Players like Lord, Stanton, Davies and Barrett all played this year. Its excellent experience for these young players to play in big games and show their stuff. If these guys played in the U23 match, i think it would take some quality out of the senior match. [/B]

In Cairns the priority is that they select the best side possible for the seniors - regardless of age - if the young guns are good enough then they obviously wouldn't be picked in the u/23 side.

[Coastal Boy]

IMO an U21 or U23 Sydney Rep side is a good idea. It gives another opportunity for the younger group to stay interested in rep footy when they are at that age when most arent good enough to make the senior team but with a bit more experience will come on in future years. Who cares if no one turns up. It's all for the players anyway. Yes, I do know lots of people make themselves unavailable. I heard the Black Diamond league used to suspend players for 1-2 games if they did not turn up to training or play in rep teams and apparently this worked well. If you are out there Northern Swan you may wish to expand further on this and why it was not enforced this year.

[Northern_Swan]

I heard the Black Diamond league used to suspend players for 1-2 games if they did not turn up to training or play in rep teams and apparently this worked well. If you are out there Northern Swan you may wish to expand further on this and why it was not enforced this year.

I can remember the BDAFL threatening to suspend players for non- participation (it's in the by-laws), but can't actually remember it happening.
I do remember it happening in the old NAFL and it caused a rather large incident though.

The two years that player availability has been an issue for the BDAFL has been in 2003 when we played the RFL and pretty much took down a second rate side, and this year when the BDAFL played the Hume.

For the BDAFL, the underlying issue is that to get to the Riverina, the players need to take a day off Work or Uni. For some people that is no problem but for others it can be quite difficult.
I think that most of the clubs this year encouraged their players to make themselves available but the final 22 did contain 8 Cardiff players, 9 Terrigal players, 3 from City and NIL from Killarney Vale. Funnily enough these KV players were too "injured" to train with the side, but made miracle recoveries to take the field by the Saturday. To balance that out though, two Cardiff players didn't play due to "work committments" (IMO 1 valid, 1 not)

From what I hear the two clubs who heavily supported the Rep teams pushed for the suspension by law to be enacted, however the league chose not to act.
Why, I do not know.

For what it's worth, the Under 18's rep side (who lost by a kick after the siren to the ACTAFL) were plagued by the same problem. From a squad of 40 odd players, the side ended up picking itself, and we needed to drag in 2 of the Under 16 side stars to achieve that. I firmly believe that if some of those players made themselves available we would have won quite comfortably (I say that without knowing who the opposition were missing)


What I do know is that the BDAFL pumps a lot of $ into its rep teams and i guess the only way we will truly be recognised as an AFL region is winning games against big opposition.
This year was a big step and if we keep producing quality through our junior ranks it will all go well for the future of footy in our region.
Hopefully in 06 we will get more rep games and achieve well in those. From what I hear we will be taking on the same opposition in both Seniors and U/18 and it is hoped that we will get a crack against Sydney as well (that is a Sydney second XVIII or U/23)