2011 State Under 18's Championship - Results and discussions

[CUTTERMAN]

They seemed to have a few first pick players out so was a good win.

[Grahaml]

16 years now without winning in a 4 team comp. WA 3, Country 3 and Metro 10 wins in those 16 years. Really says that we've fallen a long way back. I think, in a large part, because we're asking too much of the SANFL league clubs. They have a showstring budget, reliant on volunteers and are responsible for a massive chunk of football development.

The issue many seem to miss isn't the top end talent. Year in year out we produce our first round draftee share, but those guys are always going to go well. It's the next tier we don't seem to develop so well. I often wonder whether it shows in the number of SA kids who become good AFL players off rookie lists.

[Dogmatic]

16 years now without winning in a 4 team comp. WA 3, Country 3 and Metro 10 wins in those 16 years. Really says that we've fallen a long way back. I think, in a large part, because we're asking too much of the SANFL league clubs. They have a showstring budget, reliant on volunteers and are responsible for a massive chunk of football development.

The issue many seem to miss isn't the top end talent. Year in year out we produce our first round draftee share, but those guys are always going to go well. It's the next tier we don't seem to develop so well. I often wonder whether it shows in the number of SA kids who become good AFL players off rookie lists.

I think the TAC Cup is the major reason for SA not winning.
It is a quality competition with 250 plus players playing each week. The better players get to play seniors in the VFL too.

[PuttingBStorest]

Do you know in what years SA have finished in 2nd place?

16 years now without winning in a 4 team comp. WA 3, Country 3 and Metro 10 wins in those 16 years. Really says that we've fallen a long way back. I think, in a large part, because we're asking too much of the SANFL league clubs. They have a showstring budget, reliant on volunteers and are responsible for a massive chunk of football development.

The issue many seem to miss isn't the top end talent. Year in year out we produce our first round draftee share, but those guys are always going to go well. It's the next tier we don't seem to develop so well. I often wonder whether it shows in the number of SA kids who become good AFL players off rookie lists.

[Mr Beefy]

16 years now without winning in a 4 team comp. WA 3, Country 3 and Metro 10 wins in those 16 years. Really says that we've fallen a long way back. I think, in a large part, because we're asking too much of the SANFL league clubs. They have a showstring budget, reliant on volunteers and are responsible for a massive chunk of football development.

The issue many seem to miss isn't the top end talent. Year in year out we produce our first round draftee share, but those guys are always going to go well. It's the next tier we don't seem to develop so well. I often wonder whether it shows in the number of SA kids who become good AFL players off rookie lists.

I think the TAC Cup is the major reason for SA not winning.
It is a quality competition with 250 plus players playing each week. The better players get to play seniors in the VFL too.

They aren't allowed to play VFL while playing TAC.

[tigerpie]

when the 18's comp started one club talked about playing a trial against one of the TAC cup teams but the money for travel accomodation wasnt there.would liked to have seen how we matched up club v's club. not having seen the standard of TAC although i'm told its very good i would think glenelg would do ok seeing as its won the last two premierships.

with regards to the second tier lads i think the state selectors pay too much emphasis on the clean cut,robot like players and the lads with a bit of character dont get a look in. these lads get disillusioned ,despite playing quality footy for their SANFL club,with playing at the elite level. if they reward the players who consistently play well for their clubs,rather than the school prefect type,every time, we may see more of these lads drafted. i know of several lads from three different clubs who have been told by the coach that they arent required at state level because they dont fit the "mould". this is despite playing consistently well for their respective clubs.

anyway well done to the lads to finish second again,maybe we could go one better next year.

[nickname]

I don't understand why anyone gets caught up in wanting to win this thing. It's clearly not about winning games, it's a talent showcase. SA winning every game by a point wouldn't mean we had the best kids in the country anymore than losing every game by a point would mean we had the worst. Besides which Vic Metro would be drawing from a pool of players about 4 times that of SA's if those numbers reflect the population difference.

[leftlegger]

I don't understand why anyone gets caught up in wanting to win this thing. It's clearly not about winning games, it's a talent showcase. SA winning every game by a point wouldn't mean we had the best kids in the country anymore than losing every game by a point would mean we had the worst. Besides which Vic Metro would be drawing from a pool of players about 4 times that of SA's if those numbers reflect the population difference.

agree!

[has been]

Some good points above tigerpie and others. It is a difficult one and always will be topical. The fact is outside of young Wingard as a stand out there would be around 60 kids in the SANFL comp that are good enough to play. It gets down to what Mr Phillips wants as he runs the show. Kids playing good ressies footy here can't get a crack so go figure but as many scouts tell you it is from here on that they peruse the local comps and look for the kids ready to take the next step. many of this current state group have had a crack at ressies and struggled so as a particular interstate scout said that is noted as well. Seems to be that if "someone likes you" you are half way there. The good thing is at the end of the day cream will nearly always rise to the top. Will be interesting to see if his prediction of on 3-4 of this years team getting picked up and another 3-4 from non participants. Good luck to all the boys having a go.