Is the Sydney Competition the strongest it has ever been?

[Mug Punter]

Wow, if this information is right, it would hardly seem to have been the financial coup that could have been expected for giving up ones Northern beaches dignity to align with the Great unwashed of Western Sydney - although I do believe that Quakers Hill is now officially a part of the Lower North Shore!

... maybe the Wolves board were not as clever as they seem. Could be time for a shake out ... or a tax audit!

I'm a traditionalist and I've always hated the way that Sydney clubs sell out their dignity for a set if football jumpers, an interstate visit and a whole bunch of empty promises....

The only one that I think was properly thought through was East Coast Eagles but even then I think they gave up way too much...

Of course the absolute dumbest of the lot was Balmain giving up their iconic Tiger for a set of purple jumpers.

Even North Shore. OK no one really noticed the change to the bombers but why not stay as the Bears as they had been for years. Campbelltown and St George both tried and failed...

I'm sure that Manly will revert to the Wolves moniker fairly soon...

All the same though, if you are on the committee of a club and someone (anyone) effectively offers you even $15,000 worth of value you need to listen and I cannot blame Manly for taking the bait, especially given the problems they have down there.

Being on a committee is a thankless task and the players at Manly should have a seriously good look at themselves if they want to blame the committee for taking the cash. I have it on sound authority that the End of Season Trips at Wolvetown are now so ambitious that the fundraising for these holidays now takes complete priority over functions where the money goes into the club's coffers as far as the playing group is concerned. Their last trip raised they raised well in excess of $20,000 from functions that benefitted a small group of players rather than the club as a whole.

It has caused a huge rift between the committee and an influential bloc of established players.

Whilst they are still winning it will be papered over but things aren't at all rosey down at Weldon. Go down there and you'll see any number of little cliques around the place having little snide conversations. Even that bonehead Adams seems to be hanging around the joint these days, god help them if he ever gets back on the committee...

[Footy Barista]

I'm facebook friends with Razzle, not great mates but facebook mates - Div 2 player/ coach, been down at the club for a million years & always seems to be in the thick of the action down at Weldon. In fact I think he was the one who organised the above mentioned footy trip. I alerted him to what was being written on here. With his permission I copy and pasted what he had to say.

"It's funny how on threads like these it's always from what I've heard & I know someone down there but very rarely is a name put next to a statement. Regarding last years footy trip to the USA, 22 players went, it was a 3 week tour of the states where we attended the USAFL national titles amongst other things, ran a coaching clinic, helped boundary umpire, run water etc, and also played an exhibition match. The muppet who quoted $20,000 is a fair way off the mark - in fact almost double. We raised $11,000. Of that $11,000 we were proactive in organising 4 saturday night events throughout a 22 week season, each time seeking the permission off committee members to use the club rooms.... When there was nothing doing in the rooms that night. A Ping Pong night, a 100 shot beer night, A mexican themed night & a Frat house night - those nights profited about $4500 in total toward the trip. The other monies was raised courtesy of a Punters Club from the 22 players that went on the trip, a preseason cricket day & one of the boys who won the tipping comp donated toward the kitty. Plus the committee offered us from time to time to run the BBQ or bar for the last hour (which we supplied all grog for) on the occasional match day...but only once or twice. It also needs to be said that we attended any club functions that the club ran for the benefit of the club. So if raising a few dollars for our footy trip is a crime then string me up and start hurling stones because I am guilty as charged your honour.

Where I may have gone wrong was getting up at Presentation night to talk about the historic trip & talked about some figures. I mentioned it was going to be a $100,000+ trip - but I was calculating the $2500 for Flights, travel & accom & another $2500 on spending money - per person 22 x $5000 = $110,000... Some of the committee may have been a little shocked at those numbers. Probably a mistake but we were proud of what we had achieved.

We are going to go back to the States this year where 21 of us will be doing the business again for a 2.5 week trip from hell. But to make sure no one is excluded we are also having a 3 day footy trip to Wagga where 40 players have committed to attend. "Small group of players" Ok big fella you believe that!! Lets not forget that none of our players are paid, unlike some other clubs, which is fine - good luck to them. But I don't think it's out of order to raise some coin to go away. Just because we are good at it & have some smart guys who organise the events shouldn't be seen as a negative. - And just quietly it was the best 3 weeks of our lives!!!!

Regarding the Wolves/Giants alliance I thinks it's fair to say that the players weren't thrilled with the switch - who would be??. But it hasn't really caused much angst at player level. The committee did what they thought was best for the club moving forward. We throw on the maroon & white jersey, still refer to ourselves as the Wolves & sing the same club song we always have when we have a win "We are the mighty Wolves". We just do it all in a Giants guernsey these days...It's not the end of the world. If I had a preference we'd be still the Wolves but at the the end of the day we are in the same boat - we play for Manly.

The figures I read in that thread were laughable - To my knowledge the Giants originally offered a cash kicker but was rejected by the AFL. So once again to my knowledge no cash traded hands. My belief the lure of an AFL alliance was hard to say no to. They found us a sponsor but that wasn't a huge amount either. We actually lost our Major Sponsor late last year due to change of management. In the 1.5 years since it happened it's fair to say the Giants have under delivered on their promises they tabled but it certainly doesn't cause any arguments or fuss from the people I talk to. Maybe it does in the board room, I dunno. But we as players have full trust in what they are doing. Maybe a few ex players who haven't played for a few years hate the concept but none of the current crop"

- There you have it folks, straight from one of the horses mouth. I don't really want to bother him anymore on the topic. I believe he is currently in Spain about to Run with The Bulls in Pamplona. Braver man than I am!!

[mountainsofpain]

I don't blame Manly for taking what the Giants had to offer, why wouldn't they?

I simply don't get how the Giants can get behind a senior club on the northern beaches, all but ignore senior clubs in the west and then have the gall to call itself a western Sydney club.

I was curious to find out the amount of the Manly sponsorship simply to ascertain the size of the dump that the Giants are taking on said senior clubs in western Sydney.

[Pmcc2911]

It does seem pretty dumb all round but judging from Footy Baristas mate it doesn't seem to bother many at Manly.
You right the ones that should be pissed are the clubs in Western Sydney.

[andreww1]

How financial are all the Sydney clubs? Are any in danger of going under or would the AFL bail them out?

[Mug Punter]

How financial are all the Sydney clubs? Are any in danger of going under or would the AFL bail them out?

Most live a hand to mouth existence. The fact that players shell out $400 - 500 a season to play says it all. Most are now pretty much fully amateur. Wests are the only one with a licenced club not that you'd know it given the rabble they are this season.

Every now and then you'll get a club throwing silly cash about but it is surprising how rarely it pays off. Balmain paid silly money for years with their ill gotten gains and won a couple of flags but soon imploded. Wests threw similar money a few years ago but had Eynaud as coach and lost the unlosable GF. Very few now pay any major payments beyond coaching staff. I have it on good authority the premiers of the last couple of years barely pay any players

They survive though and amazingly I can't remember the last time a club went bust financially, probably Northern Eagles in the early 90s and that was a grubby affair due to internal mismanagement that is best not discussed here.

Over the decades of my involvement in Sydney football I have never heard of the NSWAFL ever helping out a struggling club. Their interest below PD is minimal. They are an absolute disgrace and their behaviour with Balmain and Town over the last two years just illustrates this....

[Pekay]

Explain Northern Eagles to me, catchment, home ground, colours, names etc. I've seen it about in the history books but never known much more.

[tara]

Explain Northern Eagles to me, catchment, home ground, colours, names etc. I've seen it about in the history books but never known much more.

Blue and gold and st ives show grounds from memory. Last time I played them was 23 years ago so could be very wrong

[Mug Punter]

Explain Northern Eagles to me, catchment, home ground, colours, names etc. I've seen it about in the history books but never known much more.

Born out of the St Ives club who really dominated the SFA - they were cherry ripe for SFL, had a licensed club in the pipeline and the works but North Shore exerted all their influence to kill off those ambitions and effectively the club at senior level. They have continued to be one of the strongest junior clubs in Sydney over an extended period.

http://www.stivesafl.com/about-us/club-history

Named Northern Eagles in 1988 to try and get the support of the strong Forest. Survived for 6 seasons and were disbanded in 1993 after severe financial mismanagement saw them forced to close. Kevin Eynaud, former Reserve Grader at North Shore and A-grade sniper, was coach for all six seasons - later achieved mediocrity at Mac Uni, North Shore, Wests and Pennant Hills and now again at Wests.

Think they made the finals once in their history.

West Coast Eagles strip, played out of the worst ground in the SFA at St Ives Showground (a far cry from Acron Oval) where it was not uncommon to have large deposits of horse @@@@ scattered at regular intervals across the playing surface.

Have never worked out why St Ives juniors have never tried to get the seniors up and running - that upper North Shore is a huge catchment area and with Hornsby-Berowra having a decent junior club and a growing catchment area.

[justabaraker]

Here's a new take on this thread - the SFL has put out a list of the top 20 players for the year. Do they make the Comp the strongest it has ever been ?

20. Tom Larby (UTS)
19. Alexander Wynn (St George)
18. Kieran Wright (Pennant Hills)
17. Taran Etto (Western Suburbs)
16. Blake Anderson (East Coast)
15. Jamie Vlatko (East Coast)
14. Kieran Emery (East Coast)
13. Damian Bonney (Manly Warringah)
12. Matt Carey (Pennant Hills)
11. Anthony Robertson (Manly Warringah)
10. Blake Guthrie (St George)
9. Andrew Browning (East Coast)
8. Stuart Turner (East Coast)
7. Paul Bevan (Western Suburbs)
6. James Brain (Manly Warringah)
5. Jack Dimery (East Coast)
4. Brayden Fowler (Manly Warringah)
3. Connor Petterson (MW)
2. Andrew McConnell (ECE)
1. Trent Stubbs (ECE)

[justabaraker]

8 of the top 20 are from Baulko, another 5 from Manly. So 13 of the top 20 are from two clubs.
It might be that those two clubs are as strong as we've had (but I still think back to Birdy's Campbelltowns and Balmains, and Ron Thomas's Wests).

There are certainly some quality units in the list and I reckon the SFL has pretty well nailed it. Probably agree with 11>1, but the lesser end of the list could be debatable.

The list is pretty much the group that smashed Canberra in the Rep game a few weeks ago, and I thought the Canberra team was stacked with their best talent - it wasn't long ago that Canberra was beating our Rep teams so I'm thinking that our best is better than it has been in the past.

[saviour01]

I know Jordan West only plays the last half of every season due to playing college basketball, but gotta feel he's a tad unlucky. I thought he did a job on the Aaron Woods bloke from ECE who I think polled at 8th. Plays almost a whole game in the ruck every week. Stories about his old man, use to run 12km to training and then run it back home after - also played whole games in the ruck.

Bryce Addison will probably win our best and fairest this year, has really stepped up. Thought he did well in the rep game too.

Gutters maybe could have gone higher. I get that Matt Petering only played 3 games and he flies home all the time to play in the VAFA with his old club, but the bloke is a gun (just checked, 5 VAFA games, 4 times in best on this season, 18/10 last season and 16/12 in 2013).

[Mug Punter]

8 of the top 20 are from Baulko, another 5 from Manly. So 13 of the top 20 are from two clubs.
It might be that those two clubs are as strong as we've had (but I still think back to Birdy's Campbelltowns and Balmains, and Ron Thomas's Wests).

There are certainly some quality units in the list and I reckon the SFL has pretty well nailed it. Probably agree with 11>1, but the lesser end of the list could be debatable.

The list is pretty much the group that smashed Canberra in the Rep game a few weeks ago, and I thought the Canberra team was stacked with their best talent - it wasn't long ago that Canberra was beating our Rep teams so I'm thinking that our best is better than it has been in the past.

It's hard to believe now how good those Campbelltown outfits were, plus they had good juniors....

The wins against Canberra would be more reflective the parlous standard of the ACTAFL more than anything else but I agree there are some good juniors.

In 10 years with a decade of academy products playing in the comp I think the comp could well be at an all time high but for mine those hard nut teams would smash a team like Manly

[Hole In Bucket]

It's hard to believe now how good those Campbelltown outfits were, plus they had good juniors....

The wins against Canberra would be more reflective the parlous standard of the ACTAFL more than anything else but I agree there are some good juniors.

In 10 years with a decade of academy products playing in the comp I think the comp could well be at an all time high but for mine those hard nut teams would smash a team like Manly

The 3 teams mentioned were full of mercenaries who all disappeared as quickly as they came when the money disappeared. They were strong teams, the comp wasnt strong then.

I dispute there were many Campbeltown juniors bar McLaughlin and Kershaw . The year before Bird?Murphy and the chequebook came were hopeless. They were awful again for a few years when all the players left. Then the chequebook came again with Brunton and they were good for a couple of years again. We know whats happened since and there are plenty of rumours that plenty of the players were paid what they were promised.

Same with Balmain, paid for Zochling, Ash Reade, Ash Thompson etc and when the money dried up the players disappeared quickly and the club was rooted.

The comp was strongest early to mid 2000's when Penno, Baulko, East, North Shore and Stgeorge all had good teams and competition was even at a good level.

[justabaraker]

I had another observation on the SFL Top 20 this year...
16 of them come to us with experience in stronger comps so just 4 (Etto, Wynn, Wright and Carey) are raised local and stayed local.

It shows a good blend that our comp is getting good (but not brilliant) players from outside to bring on the locals. I like that.