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Town's Prem and Div 3 teams lost by a combined 263 points today....from my experience in Western Syd footy, blokes/kids losing by these amounts every week tend to lose interest very quickly and be 'unavailable' more regularly than they would have (almost understandable really). I reckon come mid season they will be struggling to field a Div 3 team.....would love to see how many they are getting on the track every Tues and Thurs, not many is my bet. It is a great shame because a healthy Sydney AFL needs a successful (not just on field results) club in the South West along with another club from the 'true' west. Penrith, Moorebank and Camden are all bouncing ahead and I've got a thought that one of these three clubs should be the next club promoted to Prem's should Campbelltown end in failure. Just my thoughts...
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U honestly cant use the mercenary call...
look at the likes of ur Balmains.. east coast and north shores.. been doing it for years.
Sydney Football lives off mercenaries!
There is a minut few clubs in premier division that could say theyve have had success purely through junior development in the past 10 years.
pennant hills and st george may be the only ones.Last edited by YoungKanga; 23 April 2012, 01:08 PM.Come On Boys Make A Noise...Comment
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Balmain, Easts, & Norths have clearly bought flags with mercenaries.
The difference is that they dont have a junior base due to their geographical position. In the last 35 years Campbeltown has been the biggest growth area in the country. That means a bucket load of juniors and the CFC have failed miserabley in capturing any of them because they have been poorly organised and completely missed the boat. Imagine what Peter Physick and co would have built if they had the Campbeltown junior base to fall back on.
Club has had no vision or direction and they are currently exactly where they should be.Comment
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correct hole in bucket.Comment
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Easts have the fastest junior base in the country according to people in that region whilst Im pretty sure it wasnt all that long ago North Shore has two teams in PD 18's - the junior comp in the SWS region is almost non existant at u16 level.Comment
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Ctown is in the heart of league territory.
they cannot be blamed for the fact the junior competition in the area has been diminished from something like 8 teams to no competition at all. from my knowledge only 1 combined junior ctown and then a very strong camden side have to go play in blue mountains and penrith comp for a game.
so before you go off critising the efforts of the few volunteers that are at the club get the facts straight.
Junior footy in the area has been going backward for decades through no fault of the senior club.... more the lack of effort from the AFL and the hugely strong presecence of league and soccer in the area.
"tara"s point pretty much backs this upCome On Boys Make A Noise...Comment
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Yes Tara you are correct. The Sydney South Under 16's comp only has 5 teams. All of the better players are drawn to the Harbour comp. The club like yours that work hard with the junior clubs and others only to see players get enticed to other areas to play even though they still live in the Sydney South or Campelltown areas.Comment
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To say that North Shore has hired mercenaries to buy a flag is a mile off base.
Take a look at the 2007 flag team with junior clubs listed where i can remember it.
17 of the 22 all from junior clubs in the region, 2 guys from other SFL clubs (Crosby / Meldrum) and other guys from interstate.
2007 Premiership Team
Backs: Brendan Fitzgerald (Hornsby), Ryan Meldrum, Chris Murphy(St Ives)
Half Backs: Mark Livy(St Ives) (c), Ron Wason (St Ives), Ryan Davis (Willoughby)
Centres: Dale Fitzgerald(hornsby), Jarrod Crosby, Anthony Lowes(St Ives)
Half Forward: Tom Hill (Willoughby) (vc), Michael Cowell (Forrest), Brent Barnes(St Ives)
Forwards: Matthew Parker(St Ives), Michael Sawyer, Chris McLachlan
Rucks: Patrick Brackin(St Ives), Adam Lord(St Ives), Ben Attwood (North Ryde)
Coach: Michael Hosking
Interchange: Daniel Kulk (Forrest), Ben Sheidow(Forrest), Lachlan Pryor(Forrest), Simon Davies
Rod Podbury Medallist: Ryan Davis (Willoughby)Comment
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Every AFL club, junior or senior, in Sydney is in the heart of League or Soccer territory. ... so that's not an excuse.
I'm afraid it's the old story of "the lord helping those who help themselves" ... if you sit back and wait for the AFL to help you ... you will end up with exactly what you've got!
The only place it IS happening is Blacktown, where there was no club, but now magically there is!
As i said earlier ... Campbelltown is NOT of any strategic importance to GWS (sorry, the AFL) ... so if you want a club in 5 years, you better stop whinging and do it yourself!
Interesting that Moorebank draw from the same juniors, and they have grown from nothing to 3 senior sides, PLUS they have been able to consistently field a competetive u/18's side in recent years .... What are they doing that you are not???
If I am not mistaken, they are probably spending most of their time planning for the future!
... Having a strong senior AFL club should be a positive thing for the local community, and influence participation growth of the code. That can only be done by engaging the local junior clubs and schools. Working out how to attract and keep good players is then not an issue. WINNING SENIOR PREMIERSHIPS IS MEANINGLESS ... but by working on the infrastructure and building the club from the bottom, those successes will come, and they will be far more satisfying. That success will then also be sustainable. Strong healthy growing clubs can not be sustained without either, that strong junior base (which can be built), or an endless supply of cash (which no-one in Sydney AFL has).
If things keep going the way they are, in 5 years time there will be a continued decline in AFL participation (regardless of what the AFL Auskick figures say) there will be no Campbelltown or Balmain, and we probably see a couple more clubs drop out as well.Comment
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I think very few clubs really that heavily on local juniors to fill their senior ranks. They all talk about how important local juniors are, but
ultimately, and I'm guessing a bit here, only about 20% at the most of U18s keep playing footy once they get too old to play U18s.
There are just all the usual distractions, jobs, study, girls, cars, beer and a lessening of parental influence that kick in once young blokes get to 18 or 19. That said, this years Div 1 U18s comp is already shaping up to be a very competitive comp with a number of
teams looking good with healthy numbers of quality State Zone rep level players on their lists. Hills Eagles, Sydney Uni, Illawarra, North Shore, St George, UNSW, Riverview and Pennant Hills all look very competitive.Comment
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I would guess that is more like the run off rate from u/16's (juniors) to u/18's (seniors), and that 20% roughly equates to the kids who have always been regional representative players, and who were always going to keep playing anyway.
The work needs to be done BY THE SENIOR CLUBS to get the next layer of kids, most of whom are probably never going to play in a Premier Division Flag winning side, to transition to senior football ... they are the administrators, coaches, volunteers and lower grade players that are missing from those dying clubs.
Once they become a part of the senior club, I would expect the retention rates would be fairly good, particularly in well run clubs, probably >40%, and the chances of them leaving the code, but returning after study, etc would be greater too.
Lose them as 15 & 16 y.o.'s and they are pretty much gone ... they will be social all aged soccer players before they realise it, when they should be Div 4 & 5 SAFL players, and making up half of your committee.
No coincidence that the u/18 teams you mention are all from well organised strong junior comps, and the senior clubs make an effort to engage with them.Comment
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Simple answer to that to keep players going to a better comp is to have a sydney wide under 16 comp. This was brought up a few seasons a go but canned by Bob Robinson and co. In fact Sydney South were canvassed regarding this idea and they knocked it back as well. Logic tells you that 3 or 4 divisions of different quality standards would also keep youth playing instead of giving it awayComment
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