Should SA play Tassie next year?

[Dogsbody]

Tasmania defeated Queensland in their inter-league clash at the Bellerive Oval by 49 points earlier this afternoon.

Now that the Statewide competition is back, should the SANFL consider playing against Tassie next year? I reckon they could eliminate the three-year byes completely.

[mighty_tiger_79]

well given the costs involved and reading the article in the sunday mail and what Chandler had to say i would suggest that these state games will be stopping in the near future

[Big Phil]

Interesting to read the stance on State League matches from Darren Chandler at the SANFL in the 'Ben, Bec & Buzz' segment of today's Sunday Mail...

POOR OLD STATE

The South Australian footy public has already watched State-of-Origin die, but are state matches involving the SANFL, WAFL and VFL set to follow them into obvlivion ?

State League boss Darren Chandler conceded that economic pressures were forcing the SANFL to consider the future of interstate clashes.

"If things have got to go, then (we have to question) what are the benefits of state footy?" he said. "I love it but I'm also trying to balance the figures."

Chandler said the league remianed committed to state matches, but said questionswere being raised.

"It doesn't really prove one state's better than the other," he said.

"It's one game and it's not a state game as such, not a State-of-Origin, it's just the best players that are playing from that comp.

"We had 14 players from outside South Australia in the state game this year."

For the first time in a number of years, players taken to Perth for the clash with the WAFL a fortnight ago weren't paid for the match.

Chandler said with further funds, state footy would remain indefinitely.

"We have to ask, 'What are you trying to achieve?' when you outlay $40 to $50 grand on a program with travel - where is the value in it ?

"We don't play next year so there's plenty of time to work out where we're sitting."

[Sojourner]

Considering that last time the SANFL played Tassie they were beaten, I do wonder if the reason they have not had a re-match is because the SANFL are afraid of what might happen to their so called reputation of being the second best competition in Australia. I would suggest that after losing to W.A they might be looking towards a lesser opponent than Tassie to boost their reputation....

[am Bays]

I would suggest that after losing to W.A they might be looking towards a lesser opponent than Tassie to boost their reputation....

Victoria???...

[SABRE]

Is that right, 14 players from our state side came from outside of SA ?
No wonder we lost. You can't expect the same 'fire in the belly' from outsiders.
Some may disagree, but I would like to see all these encounters played under 'state of origin' rules.
Bring back the biff !
Playing real footy is one way to bring crowds back from plastic AFL.

[Wedgie]

Does anyone know how the Tassies are currently going in regard to the structure of their football? Its appeared to have been a real haphazard sort of a mess in the last 20 years with no stability.

[magpie in the 80's]

Does anyone know how the Tassies are currently going in regard to the structure of their football? Its appeared to have been a real haphazard sort of a mess in the last 20 years with no stability.

from AFL TAS: website

AFL Tasmania will officially launch the new competition on April 1 at Launceston's Country Club Casino, with AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou and Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett in attendance.
The new competition will start on April 4 with dual southern premier Glenorchy hosting triple NTFL premier Launceston at KGV, and Burnie travelling to Aurora Stadium to tackle the Northern Bombers.

There will be 10 teams in the new state league. The South will be represented by North Hobart (Demons), Clarence (Kangaroos), Glenorchy (Magpies), Hobart-Sandy Bay (Tigers) and Lauderdale (Bombers).
In the North, the teams are North Launceston (Bombers), South Launceston (Bulldogs) and Launceston (Blues), and on the North-West; Devonport (Magpies) and Burnie(Dockers)

LADDER AS OF MON 8th JUNE

http://www.sportingpulse.com/comp_info. ... 0&a=LADDER

[Dan The Man]

Considering that last time the SANFL played Tassie they were beaten, I do wonder if the reason they have not had a re-match is because the SANFL are afraid of what might happen to their so called reputation of being the second best competition in Australia. I would suggest that after losing to W.A they might be looking towards a lesser opponent than Tassie to boost their reputation....

Yes but football in Tassie was far stronger in 1995 than it is now.If SA played Tassie now the result would be horribly one-sided in favour of SA.
We should play Tassie next season but to make it a bit even SA should only pick SA origin players.

[TaurusSirius]

I reckon you're on the money, Dan. I was at the 1995 game, and I was at Bellerive on Sunday; the former would have beaten the latter by ten goals.

Having said that, despite widespread initial skepticism, the new revamped Statewide league seems to be travelling OK by all accounts. Disappointing that only 2879 turned up for the game against the QAFL, but an ordinary weather forecast (actually turned out not too bad) following several days of even more ordinary weather probably put many off.