Gosford Tigers defeat the undefeated Cardiff hawks

[Coastal Boy]

The problem with a "super club" entering the SFL from either Central Coast, Newcastle or both is it would kill the local competition off completely. I think history shows that reducing the number of teams only weakens the sport. If it were to be done it would be at the advantage of Sydney footy most of all. Maybe the SFL would be better served by trying to get a side in the comp from the western Sydney region(Parramatta to Penrith) or up Manly way first.

[tara]

Originally posted by Coastal Boy
The problem with a "super club" entering the SFL from either Central Coast, Newcastle or both is it would kill the local competition off completely. I think history shows that reducing the number of teams only weakens the sport. If it were to be done it would be at the advantage of Sydney footy most of all. Maybe the SFL would be better served by trying to get a side in the comp from the western Sydney region(Parramatta to Penrith) or up Manly way first.

CB I understand your concerns about fielding such a side and I would have thought it better to have an existing side be the one to go. It would be a logistical nightmare trying to organise a new club from scratch not to mention that it would get noses out of joint everywhere and the fact that the NSW AFL is ill equiped to coordinate such a move.

Your suggestion for Manly in the north or Parra/Penrith wont happen in the short term. Firstly Manly whilst potenially able to do so as they would rather be dominate in First Div (SFA) rather than struggle in the Premier Div. Secondly both Parra and Penrith do not have the resource available to them let alone the players and such a move would kill off football in the western region of Sydney. Both clubs like ourselves are really struggling just to get 2 sides together at the moment. On a postive note Parra Penrith and South West will feature in the next two matches of the round in our final weeks - The Battle of the Spoon

[Jude4eva]

I would have to agree with Coastal Boy on this one. The BDAFL came into existence with the merger of the CCAFL and NAFL and as a result has had a number of beneficial results.

Things such as moving to have better administration for clubs, changing from being park football to a standard that is closer to the SFL. The BDAFL is becoming a league that players are actually returning from Sydney to play in and without the need for financial inducements!!!

I think that a "super club" from the BDAFL operating area would not be worth the time, energy and finances when a quality competition is in operation.

As the popularity of the sport is growing with the success of the Swans and junior clubs are booming, the focus should be on nurturing young players from Auskick through to Under 18's.

The BDAFL region has already produced some top quality AFL players such as Ray Hall (Woy Woy), Jared and Mark McVeigh (Killarney Vale), Troy Luff (Nelson Bay) and some up coming players such as current NSW Under 18 captain Craig Bird (Nelson Bay) and a couple of kids have already been signed by AFL clubs under the new AFL apprenticeship scheme.

To continue to produce quality players we need to have skilled coaches at all levels and develop a strong football culture. Only until these things are achieve, which the BDAFL clubs are well on the way to, can the thought of a "super club" be considered.

[Northern_Swan]

To summarise a few posts
Why not start up a new "super club" be it Newcastle, Central Coast, Combined or one of each.

This was tried in the late 90's/2000 when the NCC Hunters (later the Hunters "power" were in the Sydney Under 18's and then both the 18's and Premier Div Reserves, playing under the Swans Reserves, who were in Sydney div 1 at the time. The team (club) was being run by the BDAFL.

The problem was, some clubs supported it (Cardiff had upwards of 14 senior players playing at times), while others refused, and others simply didn't have the capability. The standard of footy was no better (being reserve grade), and given that the Swans had 8-10 playing for Port Melbourne at the time, players were more often than not drafted into the Swans side, meaning more players were required.
It all got a bit hairy when some local club's had big games on and refused to release players and the like, which in turn caused the whole thing to fall in a heap. That of course is not the only reason, but things such as a lack of support staff, supporters etc, made things difficult. Any person who joined the Hunters as a committee, support staff, coach etc, was essentially leaving a club to do so, and most clubs were (and still are) pretty light on in that area as it is.

That is not necessarily to say that a model such as this could not work in the future, however, in my opinion, there should be some things put into place, such as:
* Contracts for all players (which would mean it necessary to pay players). I would envisage a top teir of 30 players plus a top up list of about 10, with similar numbers for Under 18's
* A defined selection policy (i.e. you are a "hunters" players first and a "insert club here" player second)
* A need to create an incoming revenue stream of at least $100K per annum, without reducing any income stream for the BDAFL
* Play Seniors and Under 18's only as the Senior comp here would be sufficient standard of match practice.


In reality, it would take a lot of time, effort and money to get off the ground, and all of the clubs in the BDAFL have a lot of work to do to improve the overall standard of the comp both on and off the field, before we should be considering such a move.