Looks Like an Even Season Ahead

[Hawknik]

T-Rock - in my mind no Club can have 2 teams in the same Div. Hence the Div 4 team could not move up and the Div 3 team would stay there.

Whilst the Div 3 team may keep losing and hence qualify for relegation, they survive due to the "Club" performing well in the Div below them. That would then presure the Club to improve their higher level of playing personnel and performance while also putting teh Club at risk if their Div 4 team fell down and qualified for relegation to Div 5, then the Club is at risk of both teams dropping and hence movign to Div 4 and Div 5. The Club would be rewarded for having 2 sides performing at a similar level by having them in neighbouring Div's.

You would have to realise that no structure is ideal, but need a structure that is the most efficient, effective, fair and transparent.

With the players moving to Mac Uni I honestly believe that the culture of the club and off field structure offered a string movement for them. Albeit, agree that locality was a string factor too in their decision.

There will always be issues attracting players to "regional" areas of the comp, but at least as a "regional club's performance (on and off field) improved, then the Club would be able to offer a higher quality of Div to play in, hence making it more attractive to KEEP players, whilst also improving ability to attract players from outside the Clubs geographical area and further increasing sponsorship worth, hence, monetary ability to attract players.

To say the league has to do something, Clubs have to be willing to look in the best interests of Sydney footy and the league would need to take a dominant role and make tough decisions that Clubs would have to deal with. Obviously some input from Club's but the final decisions would need to come from the league.

Possibly a "steering committee" (representative of league, Clubs etc) involved developing a strategic proposal and mock draw could be developed.

[tara]

Otherwise there will be a drop in player numbers and possibly an increase in the number of teams in second division just to be competitive.

There wont be an increase in teams in Div 2 for the sake of being competitive.

The AFL is clear that no stand alone clubs will be allowed in Div 2. The only expection has been us(since this was introduced) and we are on a very tight time frame to return to Div 1. They should go a step further though if fair dinkum and force any club from Premier Div competing with more than one side in second Div to play in 1st Div.

My only advise to other teams struggling is not to expect anything from the AFL but to do it all yourself - put into place initiatves for the long term and see them through. Short term goals aimed at immediate success dont pay dividends in the long run.

[T-Rock]

I agree Tara. But what I was saying is if a club (like Camden) that is stand alone has a drop in player numbers and couldn't field two sides then the only alternative would be to go into div 2. I 100% agree that clubs should be made to compete in the highest division possible and not be allowed to have red, blue, gold or pink versions of the same club in second division.

Also agree that it is up to clubs to ensure their own success, by having U18's, alligning with a higher division club or by attracting players with $$$ (where possible)....but the league still has some responsibility to provide a competitive competition that will help clubs stay prosperous, and keep the game strong in Sydney.

[Pace To Burn]

T-Rock - in my mind no Club can have 2 teams in the same Div. Hence the Div 4 team could not move up and the Div 3 team would stay there.


There will always be issues attracting players to "regional" areas of the comp, but at least as a "regional club's performance (on and off field) improved, then the Club would be able to offer a higher quality of Div to play in, hence making it more attractive to KEEP players, whilst also improving ability to attract players from outside the Clubs geographical area and further increasing sponsorship worth, hence, monetary ability to attract players.

.

This promotion relegation would never work as it would be too difficult on clubs logistically to organise as you could possibly have three teams playing at three diff venues( Eg a senior side in Premier, Reserves in 3rd Div and an U/18 in 5 Div) as was said before. The clubs in the city are always going to find it easier to recruit as people who move to sydney with work will 9 times out of 10 move to the inner suburbs. The uni sides well they speak for themselves as basically everyone that attends is in the right age group to play footy and they also probably pick up a few guys here and there that are nat athletes that would never have considered playing footy but have mates from uni who get them involved. The sides out west may have short term pain at the moment to compete but in the next 5 years that should start to turn around as the junior competitions are much stronger(at least in our area where they have gone from having 10,12,14,16 to now having 9,10,11,12,13,14,16 as well as huge Auskick nos. The battle is for each club to get involved with the juniors and make sure the kids dont walk away at 17-19 years as happens often.

[Hawknik]

"never work" , "too difficult" - in the first sentence. Something needs to happen, and whatever that is means that Clubs that re in this current generation may need to put themselves out and take a bit on the chin for the greater good of the game - with the support of the league.

We CURRENTLY have teams playing at different venues AND we made it work. Other Clubs do too.

And I agree with your thoughts on where players will play. However, if someone like Penrith were able to keep their U18's and develop the Club through the grading system to be in a competitively high quality league AND have a competetive side (as you say the development is there and occurring, it just needs to be harnesssed) then they will continue to strengthen PLUS attract greater support.

The battle is in the junior clubs and having a Club develop allows that Club to be more attractive.

[Pace To Burn]

"
And I agree with your thoughts on where players will play. However, if someone like Penrith were able to keep their U18's and develop the Club through the grading system to be in a competitively high quality league AND have a competetive side (as you say the development is there and occurring, it just needs to be harnesssed) then they will continue to strengthen PLUS attract greater support.

The battle is in the junior clubs and having a Club develop allows that Club to be more attractive.

Clubs already have the oppurtunity to move up divisions as seen with both Wollongong and Sydney Uni once they are strong enough so this already exists. If there were more clubs capable of moving up in the future to the higher divisions im sure the league would accomadate as i have never heard anyone say there is a restriction on the amount of teams in Premier Div. The thing with doing this is that the clubs need the structure and depth to remain long term. I dont think it would benefit anyone with clubs going up and back year in year out. I think the ideal thing to see in the next few years hopefully we would be only two divisions with firsts, reserves and 18s at all clubs and maybe two or three of the stronger teams from first div moving up to premier div once the larger junior player numbers move through. If we can have one club in premier Div and one from 1st div in each area than players can get a game at whatever level they wish to participate.

[mountainsofpain]

Just looked at the results from yesterday.

Here is how the two sides from the west playing sides outside their area went (Camden and Holroyd played each other):

1st Grade
Sharks 27.23 d Penrith 5.0
Manly 33.14 d Nor-West 7.8

2nd Grade
Sharks v Penrith - no score given (not sure what is going on there)
Manly 22.17 d Nor-West 3.2

82 goals versus 15.

This sort of imbalance has been happening for far too long for it to be just the fault of the clubs. There are clearly deeper problems in play.

[BeeEmmAre]

I wouldn't be surprised if Penrith forfeited the twos MOP - we both have the same problems, players who won't travel to away games.

[Pekay]

It is true, wasn't the best feeling being pummelled by MAnly, but they certainly picked yesterday to hit their straps...They were awesome...
But as for numbers, we had about 12 unavilable, 3 pulled out the night before but we still went to Weldon with two full teams, and enough blokes to run water, boundary and goals, so numbers aren't a problem for us when we travel, was the same at Cronulla in Round 1.
I'd say Penriff did forfeit the twos which is a shame, and looking at the team list, they had a few back up from 18s as well.....For the record, i'm all for the grading system, especially for the western teams in Div 1, and one or two even in Prems....will take alot of work to happen, but thats what they get paid for at head office..

[Norris Lurker]

The idea of grading teams, with promotion & relegation, has been floated before and has some merit; but with a couple of amendments. Relegation could be a disaster for a well-run and well-managed team that's going through a bad patch on the field.
An idea I've had to get around that issue is that Club of the Year points could also be thrown into the mix, with a team that achieves a benchmark number of Club of the Year points getting immunity from relegation. In the same way, to prevent a team getting promoted ahead of themselves, a team isn't eligible for promotion unless they get a specified number of Club of the Year points, even if they win the premiership.

[DLH]

Penrith forfeited reserve grade.

We've got a large number of injuries and players who are unavailable, and coupled with the long trip it was always going to be an issue.

Given we started Round 1 with thin numbers, this was always going to rear it's head at some stage.