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Like a lot of old South Melbourne supporters, I am a Port Melbourne supporter and member as well. While I can see that this new plan may turn into a big positive for the Swans, I'm concerned about the fate of Port Melbourne. Port, Williamstown and some other current VFL clubs have tried aligning with AFL clubs in the past but eventually walked away from those arrangements. Port Melbourne has been aligned with both the Swans and North Melbourne. It shunned those affiliations because it didn't like being told by AFL clubs which players it could have, how long they were to be on the field, etc. There are - I think - 5 current VFL clubs that aren't linked to an AFL club. I hope they - especially Port Melbourne - survive this re-structuring. The concern is that stand-alone clubs aren't high on the AFL's list of priorities.
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TPP, list sizes, second tier comp, NGA's, AFLPA, a lot of areas of the game are complete quagmires at present and I'm not sure anyone has the answers, particularly in this new cash strapped competition.
Who is picking up the costs of running a VFL/NEAFL league? If it's not the AFL but the clubs, the northern clubs are at a massive disadvantage. AFL club alignments with VFL clubs has seen a lot of unhappy "marriages". Not sure this has been thought through by HQ, they need a working party, with Eddie Fatchins on it of course!Comment
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I wondered if they'd cut list sizes and instruct AFL clubs to form alliances with second tier club(s) that could be drawn on in times of need and work a bit like mature age academies. So we'd have less players on our list, but effectively more playing for a second tier club with some formal tie to the Swans. We'd get preferential access to those players.
Don't know if that's going to save any money?Comment
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Canberra Demons announce they won’t be participating in the new competition
Canberra Demons will not take part in the new Eastern Football League.Comment
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Assuming Sydney (and GWS) form standalone reserves/VFL teams, the interesting point of this new structure will be who do they fill those teams with? Apart from the AFL listed players who makes up the other 6-10 spots? Previously when playing NEAFL they would fill it with Academy boys and still be competitive. In an AFL reserves comp they won’t be competitive against mostly experienced big bodied footballers. Means that Academy players will have fewer opportunities to play Swans reserves which diminishes their Academy experience.
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The AFL site has just put out this article, about the new second tier competition, that will merge the VFL and the NEAFL.
East coast second-tier comp locked in
Unfortunately, I find much of it as clear as mud. If anyone knows a bit more about it the competition structure, could they please share?Comment
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Who knows how it might work, but am excited at the prospect of seeing the seconds play in Melbourne occasionally.Comment
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22 teams in a 16 round season. Means that some teams won’t meet each other in the regular season. And what will the finals cut off be. Top 8? Top 10?Comment
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Yes, but from that somewhat confusing article, I'm not sure if there are 22 teams? It says that there's 22 licenses, of which there's 19 stand alone clubs and 3 aligned clubs. From that, I'm not sure if the aligned clubs are supposed to merge with another aligned club? Which leaves a merged team of 3 clubs. Or are the aligned clubs supposed to merge with a stand alone club? Which means 3 stand alone clubs, won't actually be standing alone? Or if we do end up with 22 teams, then what's the difference between stand alone clubs and aligned clubs?Comment
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Actually, looking at this statement; "The salary cap is set at $200,000 for standalone clubs and $100,000 for AFL and aligned clubs."
And this list:
"Standalone Second-Tier Clubs: Aspley, Coburg, Frankston, Northern Bullants, Port Melbourne, Southport, Werribee, Williamstown
Standalone AFL Clubs: Brisbane Lions, Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Footscray, Geelong Cats, Gold Coast SUNS, GWS GIANTS, North Melbourne, Richmond, Sydney Swans
Aligned Clubs: Sandringham, Box Hill Hawks, Casey Demons".
I now suspect that Sandringham, Box Hill and Casey are each supposed to merge with a Victorian AFL club. Otherwise, why would they have a salary cap that's half that of Aspley, Coburg, Frankston, etc?
And with our salary cap of $100,000; I'm guessing that will be to give contracts to some sort of academy train on squad? I doubt if that would cover the contracts of our rookie list? And I assume that it would have nothing to do with the contracts of senior list players, who are playing in the reserves?Comment
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Sandringham, Box Hill, and Coburg are the aligned clubs of St Kilda, Hawthorn, and Melbourne respectively. Not sure why those three clubs aren’t running their own teams (cost?) but that would explain the salary cap differenceComment
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