Camden Out. Who's next?

[knownothing]

Camden are out of 18's comp.

SportingPulse Homepage for Sydney AFL

Are there other sides ready to throw in the towel?

[Bert]

Good on Camden for having a crack.

[nugget]

Heard a few weeks ago that Macquarie Uni U18's were in trouble but I haven't heard anything since?

Would be happy to be told otherwise if this isn't the case.

[ShortHalfHead]

Ummmm..pity about Camden, makes a bye appear in the draw again. I did hear a while ago that Holroyd-Parramatta were struggling somewhat. Hope that has been rectified though as we don't need another team biting the dust.
I think the Sydney comp will not get any larger for the next few years with better players being enticed to the "Clubs that offer huge opportunities" and scholarship players being herded away from their regions to play in elitist squads. Just means their lesser credentialled mates from junior days stop playing the game altogether. I think it will be a shrinking comp for the next few years

[coronaextra]

could the afl look at restricitng numbers at bigger clubs such as penno and east coast, in the hope of forcing "lesser credentialled" players to turn to struggling challenge cup teams?

just a question

[Norris Lurker]

It's a shame Camden couldn't get enough players to get their U18s team up and running; although it's better they pull out now rather than during the season.
Hopefully they'll be able to have another go next year. And for this year, hopefully the players they did have will be able to get a game somewhere.

[tara]

It's a shame Camden couldn't get enough players to get their U18s team up and running; although it's better they pull out now rather than during the season.
Hopefully they'll be able to have another go next year. And for this year, hopefully the players they did have will be able to get a game somewhere.

I dont know how many they had but we were running around with 13 in our first four games last year. The decision was made to not give up but keep pushing and looking at any avenue we could to get kids including approaching PYC's etc. At the end of the day persistance and perserverence paid off for us. I would have waited right up until the last minute before pulling the plug - whilst maybe making everyone elses life easier regarding the draw etc with the decision they should only worry about themselves. Like you Norris I hope they get it off the ground next year - the more clubs with 18's the better for the senior competition in the long term.

[tara]

could the afl look at restricitng numbers at bigger clubs such as penno and east coast, in the hope of forcing "lesser credentialled" players to turn to struggling challenge cup teams?

just a question

Why? So long as the players are all from their own region good on them for making themselves an attractive option for kids to play sport. Do you really think a kid from Penno or the Hills are going to travel to Campbelltown, Parra Balmain, etc for training when they may be reliant on a parent or public transport to get themselves there?

At least these teams didnt send letters out every talented kid they could find in Sydney and ask them to join the Collingwood Under 18's Academy. Im sure Pace, DLH, Monty and others must be thrilled at the prospect of kids from their club and region playing for Collingwood in the Challenge Cup not the Premier Cup. Thats done more harm to the competition than anything else.

[Doormat]

It's a shame

Tara, don't agree with you holding out until the last minute this would create even further disruption to each comp.
It is strange that kids will travel back the other way for training 2-3 nights/week Tara, when the Black/white or Gold & blue is shone in the eyes.

What has done harm in my eyes is the way clubs like Uni & ECE just get away with it. Lets face it you don't have to send letters out do you?
Kids are being spoken/convinced/offered money too swap over at rep carnivals aren't they Junior & Student

Why? So long as the players are all from their own region good on them for making themselves an attractive option for kids to play sport. Do you really think a kid from Penno or the Hills are going to travel to Campbelltown, Parra Balmain, etc for training when they may be reliant on a parent or public transport to get themselves there?

At least these teams didnt send letters out every talented kid they could find in Sydney and ask them to join the Collingwood Under 18's Academy. Im sure Pace, DLH, Monty and others must be thrilled at the prospect of kids from their club and region playing for Collingwood in the Challenge Cup not the Premier Cup. Thats done more harm to the competition than anything else.

[tara]

Tara, don't agree with you holding out until the last minute this would create even further disruption to each comp.
It is strange that kids will travel back the other way for training 2-3 nights/week Tara, when the Black/white or Gold & blue is shone in the eyes.

What has done harm in my eyes is the way clubs like Uni & ECE just get away with it. Lets face it you don't have to send letters out do you?
Kids are being spoken/convinced/offered money too swap over at rep carnivals aren't they Junior & Student

Doormat we had 13 kids taking the paddock as I said for the first four rounds, should we have packed it in? By the end of the season we managed to push the eventual premiers al the way and led with about 5 to go on the clock.

I will admit that if you only had 5 or six then pulling the pin a month out is probably the right thing to do but at the end of the day id me more worried about doing the right thing for my club before the competition. Its not like your doing anything against the spirit of the game.

I agree that the inducements are rediculous but limiting the amount of players a club can have wont fix the system.

[DLH]

What has done harm in my eyes is the way clubs like Uni & ECE just get away with it. Lets face it you don't have to send letters out do you? Kids are being spoken/convinced/offered money too swap over at rep carnivals aren't they Junior & Student

We had six players attend the carnival in Coffs Harbour recently and all but one have now left to play for either one or the other of the clubs to which you refer.

While I don't have a problem with kids wanting to have a go at the highest level they can, if the represenative concept is used as nothing more than a recruiting tool for certain clubs, then we'll have second thoughts about sending any kids along in the future.

What's worse is that when these players' team mates hear that they've gone elsewhere, a lot of them decide that they won't bother playing at all.

[knownothing]

We had six players attend the carnival in Coffs Harbour recently and all but one have now left to play for either one or the other of the clubs to which you refer.

While I don't have a problem with kids wanting to have a go at the highest level they can, if the represenative concept is used as nothing more than a recruiting tool for certain clubs, then we'll have second thoughts about sending any kids along in the future.

What's worse is that when these players' team mates hear that they've gone elsewhere, a lot of them decide that they won't bother playing at all.

Is that penrith? Are they in trouble?

And word is Macquarie Uni will also tap the mat in 18s.

[DLH]

Is that penrith? Are they in trouble?

And word is Macquarie Uni will also tap the mat in 18s.

No, our (Penrith's) numbers are fine, but with four of our best kids off to ECE and two other scholarship boys to Sydney Uni, the talent base has been diminished somewhat.

Holroyd-Parramatta are the ones I'd be concerned about, I think they might be struggling for numbers.

[stellation]

We had six players attend the carnival in Coffs Harbour recently and all but one have now left to play for either one or the other of the clubs to which you refer.

While I don't have a problem with kids wanting to have a go at the highest level they can, if the represenative concept is used as nothing more than a recruiting tool for certain clubs, then we'll have second thoughts about sending any kids along in the future.

What's worse is that when these players' team mates hear that they've gone elsewhere, a lot of them decide that they won't bother playing at all.

Do you know for certain that they were recruited at the rep carnival? If so someone needs to step in and sort out some kind of agreement to stop that, in my industry I've noticed that some conferences are starting to put in "no poaching policies" so that people can rest assured that they're not sending people off to be poached- sure they build networks and may then follow up on things post the conference, but it limits the opportunity of badgering people all day for a few days straight.