RWO Game Day Thread - Round 8 - 28th-29th May

[Tom Wills]

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[Rowdy#8]

[QUOTE=Nuttsy;819721]

Your right, the problem is at the Junior level not the Senior level. For Example Camdens Senior Coach would be the equivalent of Most if not All of the other Premier Div Coaches. The problem is the Junior Coaching at most clubs and as you said the Academy. For Example the coaches actually running the academy programs have little to no real experience. Not there fault at all that they have been put in charge but seriously the people appointing them need to have a good hard look at it. I as well as many other parents i know, including a former AFL listed player who's son made the state side recently, have knocked back the offer to put our kids in the academy, especially at a cost of $500 per kid to have less qualified coaching then they get at their junior club.

Until the AFL gets serious about development, including combining the Western Sydney and Harbour Junior competitions at competitive ages, the better the quality of footballers coming through to the senior ranks you will then see. Especially out west

You raise some good points Nuttsy. 2 things on the juniors:

1. There are currently 38 u17 teams across 5 divisions in Harbour and West comps, yet only filter into 13 u19 teams. I understand the transition is tough at an age where kids are getting jobs, partying, and other priorities, etc, but we need better conversion rates than that from junior ranks to senior ranks. Most of the lifting here probably needs to be done by the senior clubs in creating the engagement between junior and senior clubs and making the transitions appealing to the kids. As other posters have said, some clubs are currently doing this better than others.

2. As Nuttsy mentioned, the AFL needs to scrap the Harbour/West divide in the junior comps. There are a few strong junior clubs in the West, but more that are in development stage. What you get in that scenario is that the strong clubs only get competitive games when they play each other (once every 3/4 weeks). Kids can only learn so much when they are winning most games easily and only getting the odd competitive game, and on the other side, it is hard to keep kids engaged in the developing clubs when they cant compete with the bigger clubs. Bringing the Harbour and West junior comps together (travel and logistic issues aside) will allow those stronger clubs the chance to play competitive games every week and help with the learning and development process. This would also allow the developing clubs the opportunity to play against teams of a similar standard (with more divisions available to them) keeping more kids engaged and sticking with the sport.

[andreww1]

Seems like we have an issue with using quote's today!

If junior clubs are seen as the foundation of the strong clubs, it would be interesting to see if Sydney AFL would explore amalgamation between junior/senior clubs into single entities/brands in some cases. Give the administrators of senior clubs direct responsibility for executing the growth and development grass roots football.

As a kid you wouldn't picture yourself from the Maroubra Saints playing Senior footy for any PD team in the Eastern Suburbs but how could we condition that earlier? We all know that it is a great privileged to be represent your club in a premier division game. I think it'd be great for establishing some loyalty to a brand from an early age.

I know Pennant Hills juniors is also the branded as the Demons. Are they separate or same entity?

Good idea but I don’t think it is practical from 2 perspectives:
1. All senior clubs have multiple junior clubs that feed in to them so that would require junior club amalgamation which is not practical or desirable.
2. It would add to the already heavy workload of senior club administrators if junior team management was added to their list of responsibilities.

One of the old timers at my club told me that many many years ago Wests had 3 or 4 junior clubs in their area. However one year Wests said if any junior players wanted to play Wests Colts/u18s they needed to be playing for Wests juniors. As a result the other clubs lost 3 or 4 of their best players who all went to Wests juniors, which then led to the demise of the other junior clubs in that area. As a result Wests colts/U19s have struggled for numbers ever since. So I think your proposal would lead to a similar scenario.

It does take quite a bit of work but if senior clubs are prepared to engage and support junior clubs, along with the junior players and parents, then they will get an above average influx of juniors coming thru each year.
Cheers


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