Divisional Structure - Your early impressions

[Norris Lurker]

I can't see how teams switching divisions mid-season could possibly work.

If UTS and Manly were to go up this week while Balmain and Wollongong went down, how would the ladders for those divisions be calculated? Would UTS's points and percentage go up to Premier Division with them, automatically making them top of the league? Or would they take over Balmain's 4 points and lesser percentage? Or would it be done on match ratio over the remaining rounds? And if on match ratio, would that be fair on a team like Wests who have already had good wins against Balmain and Wollongong to have those results annulled from their match ratio and percentage?

[Tom Wills]

The Big Picture

Norris, think of the big picture.

How good would a game this weekend be with UTS vs. Syndey Uni or Manly vs. North Shore in Premier. And what about Mac Uni vs. East Coast or Penno in Div 1.....now that would be interesting.

To answer the devil in the detail the season would effectly start again this weekend. Each team would enter the new comp with no win or losses or percentage... and yes the draw would not be even for the rest of the year, but if the AFL can cope with an uneven draw we can.

[BeeEmmAre]

Norris, think of the big picture.

How good would a game this weekend be with UTS vs. Syndey Uni or Manly vs. North Shore in Premier. And what about Mac Uni vs. East Coast or Penno in Div 1.....now that would be interesting.

To answer the devil in the detail the season would effectly start again this weekend. Each team would enter the new comp with no win or losses or percentage... and yes the draw would not be even for the rest of the year, but if the AFL can cope with an uneven draw we can.

I can't see how you would find more than one or two clubs (if that) that would agree to cancel the first five rounds of the season just past.

[tara]

Tom there is a pre requisite in place for teams to be admitted to Premier Division so what you are suggesting will not happen.

I dont know how much you know about Sydney AFL but this restructure is going to take a few years to settle. You are making a judgement based on five rounds how about letting the dust settle? At the beginning of the year most would have had Campbelltown near dead last in Prem Div myself included until watching them preseason - not the case to date though is it.

Norwest couldnt compete 12 months ago in the Division you are suggesting they move to. The players that they were missing in the last two years are back after they dropped a division - who says they will stay if you send them up again.

UTS in you model should be included in all five divisions as they would still have at least 20 missing out even with 5 teams.

Ourselves are only just into our third year of rebuiling the club - I expect to be back in Division 2 within 3 years if we continue on the same path with developing kids to eliminate our reliance upon the armed services.

Id expect Campbelltown to be back in Division 1 within the same timeframe if not sooner so long as the retain their kids (theres only so many they can lose).

Also you relegate Sydney Uni back from Divison 1 to 2 and Division 2 to 3 love it - best suggestion ever . Almost as good as suggesting Sydney Uni play their under 18's in the Challenge Cup .

[Pace To Burn]

Why do we have to wait a "couple of seasons" to fix a blatant problem with the strucutre. Sydney AFL should be congratulated on the courage to introduce the new divisions, and should be equally brave and restructure now for a great comp for the rest of the year. Forget all the crap about Premier clubs being exempt from relegation; in Vic amatuers some of the most successful clubs in the history of the amatuers have had to deal with relegation.

Over the few years I have played against and watched teams in Premier, 1st Division and 2nd Division, anyone who thinks UTS (definitely) and Manly (probably) would not hold their own in Premier league is not watching the same games.
To take the discussion to the next level here are my first 3 divisions.
Premier
1 EAST COAST EAGLES
2 WESTERN SUBURBS
3 UNSW/ES
4 PENNANT HILLS
5 CAMPBELLTOWN
6 NORTH SHORE
7 ST GEORGE
8 SYDNEY UNIVERSITY
9 UTS
10 MANLY-WARRINGAH

Div 1
1 BALMAIN DOCKERS
2 WOLLONGONG
3 MANLY-WARRINGAH
4 UNSW/ES
5 PENNANT HILLS
6 NORTH SHORE
7 EAST COAST EAGLES
8 MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
9 SOUTHERN POWER
10 UTS

Div 2
1 WESTERN SUBURBS
2 WOLLONGONG
3 ST GEORGE
4 HOLROYD-PARRAMATTA
5 SYDNEY UNIVERSITY
6 BALMAIN DOCKERS
7 EAST COAST EAGLES
8 UNSW/ES
9 NOR-WEST
10 UTS

I think by next season you will see a vast improvement in even games across the divisions, i dont think it will take 3-4 seasons maybe two at the most. The problem is that if the clubs dont nominate each year what divs they want to be in and simply stay in the same one ,(unless they win and move up or come last and move down), you will still have sides winning easily or getting belted depending on who they recruit or loose from year to year. As Tara said just because a club had a bad year in a paticular div this year if they recruit well they could dominate the next year if dropped a div or struggle if promoted and they loose players. As for UTS and MANLY, have a good look at there results after they have played all the sides in Div 1 as already they have only won a couple of games by small margins and the top reserves sides from the premier div clubs would only be competitive against one or two sides in premier div(without beating them)IMHO

[humphrey bear]

The English soccer promotion/relegation sytem has been going for over 100 years and still some teams dominate different leagues and others are non competitive some seasons.

Thats life in sport as teams improve and others lose players

Suggesting aborting results and starting again after 5 rounds is ludicrous. Give it time.