18 A-side Footy Is Back In Sydney

[Oscar]

See www.eastcoasteagles.com.au for the news of Premier League football returning to 18 a-side in 2005 and the abolishment of the six Under 23 player requirement.

[BOY]

i rekon that is great news for the comp. but do people think that if injuries occur at some clubs they will struggle with their 17th,18th players and obviously their bench??

Any clubs signed any new players or lost players from last year???

[Troy G]

What's that saying, the more things change the more things stay the same!

Big Deal...Will it increase funding? Sponsorship? Media coverage? Members? Crowds?

Answer: No.

Enough already with tinkering around the edges.

[Norris Lurker]

It won't in itself make any difference to funding, interest or anything else like that. But it will bring the Sydney AFL into line with other major leagues around the country. And having 16 a side on huge grounds like Monarch meant there was far too much empty space around the ground.
I'm undecided on whether it's a good move. It has advantages as I've mentioned before, but it'll further test the depth of clubs' playing lists - and if some clubs are struggling to find enough players while others are having no problem, it could potentially lead to more lopsided results.
I doubt the abolition of the six U23 players will make much difference. Most clubs would probably continue to play that many U23 players anyway.

[shearer]

The reason 16 a side came in was to speed up the game, but as Norris mentioned on the bigger grounds it actually slows the game down.

Most sides play a real possession game and wait for a perfect option on the bigger grounds, thus slowing the game up.

18 a side will be good for the big grounds, but could resemble a league scrum on smaller grounds such as NSO, Drummoyne,Village Green, Bankstown etc.

It also means now that 4 blokes dont miss a match.

As for the under 23 rule, it wont affect many sides.I know Norths hada lot of under 23 in there premiership side and St George had about 13 from the GF side under 23.

[Pekay]

Originally posted by Norris Lurker
It won't in itself make any difference to funding, interest or anything else like that. But it will bring the Sydney AFL into line with other major leagues around the country. And having 16 a side on huge grounds like Monarch meant there was far too much empty space around the ground.
I'm undecided on whether it's a good move. It has advantages as I've mentioned before, but it'll further test the depth of clubs' playing lists - and if some clubs are struggling to find enough players while others are having no problem, it could potentially lead to more lopsided results.
I doubt the abolition of the six U23 players will make much difference. Most clubs would probably continue to play that many U23 players anyway.

PURELY OUT OF INTEREST-how many comps around Oz have a 16-a-side running around?

[Northern_Swan]

We went to it when Sydney did, but canned it for first grade pretty much straight away (I think we had 16 + 6 on the bench IIRC). Our Reserve & Under 18 grades still play 16 + 4 up to now.
I can't see that changing in a hurry, as some of the sides struggle with the full compliment of 20 in the lower grades, especially around school/uni holidays.