Under19, Under18, Under17 ??

[Aerie]

I think the WWT proposal makes plenty of sense. League, Reserves and U'19s all on the same day. Reserves these days is just about an underage competition anyway and it must be draining the actual 19s and 17s of plenty of talent, not to mention school and state representative footy. Having the underage game at the same ground should also create a better club environment.

[whatever]

piss school football off.

a lot of toffs who just want to pump up their own egos.

[croc11]

The problem is as a few people have mentioned - you can't have an elite comp whilst college footy is still there - kids at Under 19 level are still at school these days and if they have left school they are in their first year of work and uni which is always a difficult year and transition, and if you can't play 3-5 lads because of college rules and 2-3 players who struggle because of work, then you can't have an elite level comp. Having the 18's as an elite level comp makes even less sense because Port, Glenelg, Sturt and the Eagles wouldn't be able to field a quality side each week.

So 1. is simple - get rid of the College system BUT they (collges) will not budge because many of them believe that they produce better players ... work that one out, even if they do all the training with the league clubs

So 2. Why do we need to change the system if you cannot change 1. If it is about how many players are drafted from WA and Victoria - well Victoria have more players to start with and perhaps it is a cycle with WA and we also need to remind ourselves that AFL is a lucrative sport and kids from all over Australia are now seeing their chance to play AFL, and that it isn't exclusively a 3 state thing like in the past. The SA Under 12's I am led to believe lost to Queensland this year or last - in the past an unheard of thing, but now numbers of players in those states has jumped markedly.

Perhaps it is also because we are panicking at losing in the Under 18's, but do we really look at our best kids that closely - many looking from outside would attest that perhaps the 18's in 08 is not the best chosen group for some time!!! Many would argue for, but just a question to pose!!!

Unless we can come up with the best competition and solution - why change just because the AFL want you to and will throw a few bucks at you - fix No 1 first and then you can come up with the elite comp for the 18's, but if you can't change that, you are only tinkering around the edges and you will never see the late bloomers and kids from the country because of the distances to travel and the prospects of jobs.

I think change is a great thing - but you need to have something foolproof in place and I hear that the 5-4 split is starting to fracture somewhat with even Westies with all their Victorians, starting to think that the current system may not be all that bad.

To change you would think that the vote should be 7-2 for or 8-1 : 5-4 or 4-5 suggets that clubs know that if you put enough work into their zones, that it can pay huge dividends. Lazy clubs will vote for this because it looks good on paper and is easier to manage - less volunteers which is a huge issue...but you don't vote for this on that issue - keep the quality coming through and the SANFL should stop being lazy and worrying about their $100m stadium - the kids are far more important to the future of the game than having nice offices.

[am Bays]

I was in favour of moving to an U/18s but having donme some research on why my club wants to keep teh status quo I am now in favour of keeping teh 17s and 19s.

my clubs arument is that having a zone located so far away 3 hr drive from the Mount, it is better for teh kids to finish year 12 (U/17) and then come up to Adelaide and have two years in teh junior grades U/19s and then move up.

In teh past I gave the example that only one kid in my first stint at teh Bay played all of 19s then went on to league footy. That kid was a country kid who finished school came up for two years at 19s then graduated to reserves and league.

Change it to U/18s with a few over age kids limits clubs with zones located far away from Adelaide (Port and Glenelg) to bring tehm to teh city and then nuture them to league footy. if it was U/18 clubs would only get 1 year (assuming they don't do yr 12 over 2 years) to assimilate them in to city living, develop their skills and see if they can actually play at a higher level.

IMO given teh longer time kids are staying at school if change is to be made it should be to keep the 19s and scap teh 17s. An u/18 comp to me would disadvantage kids from teh county especially those kids who live at least half a days drive from the city.

[MightyEagles]

I can understand why changing it to an u/18s or just having just u/19s is favoured by a lot of people, but I have my own reasons why I want it to stay the way it is, which is that I want to stay away from a few people.

[Mickyj]

I can understand why changing it to an u/18s or just having just u/19s is favoured by a lot of people, but I have my own reasons why I want it to stay the way it is, which is that I want to stay away from a few people.

Not me I hope ME
Would make it a very long day If we got to the ground to watch the u19's seconds and league.

[MightyEagles]

I can understand why changing it to an u/18s or just having just u/19s is favoured by a lot of people, but I have my own reasons why I want it to stay the way it is, which is that I want to stay away from a few people.

Not me I hope ME
Would make it a very long day If we got to the ground to watch the u19's seconds and league.

Not you, just some other people that I can't stand, it would be a long day if we watched 3 games, I watched 3.75 games the other week when we played Central. I watched the 17's, 19's, Reserves and 3qtrs of the League game.

[Mickyj]

I can understand why changing it to an u/18s or just having just u/19s is favoured by a lot of people, but I have my own reasons why I want it to stay the way it is, which is that I want to stay away from a few people.

Not me I hope ME
Would make it a very long day If we got to the ground to watch the u19's seconds and league.

Not you, just some other people that I can't stand, it would be a long day if we watched 3 games, I watched 3.75 games the other week when we played Central. I watched the 17's, 19's, Reserves and 3qtrs of the League game.

The wife would love it me and the lad out of the house for that long.

[ca]

I think it has to be U18's or U19's. I'm not really sure about an under 18's comp with say a max of 2 U19's per team. If it came down to it I'd go for it but I'd prefer one or the other but I’d settle for it just to get it going. As I said I don’t really go along with the theory of players being lost to the system. Players currently drop in and out of the SANFL to SAAFL all the time with no real problems.

I don't think the early game could start before 9am for two reasons; one for consideration for those playing but also it might drop the standard if the oval is too slippery. I also don't think the league game should start any later than 2pm, otherwise it just gets too dark in the last quarter this time of year. It also means presentations don’t start too late. So somehow they need to fit the U19's and reserves between 9am and 2pm. Not sure if that can be done.

Hopefully it will happens sooner rather than later.

[sturtpeter]

I concur with ca 100%.

[croc11]

Sorry ca and sturtpeter - surely its not about whether you can fit this so called "elite level" comp into the 1 day of footy...isn't this about what is best for the clubs and the kids. When it comes down to this sort of debate it really means that we have missed the point because we are then seeking the easy solution to benefit a few.

[Hawks22]

Forget it Folks ... The U/18 Comp is done and dusted ... It WILL go ahead regardless of what the clubs actually want! All will be revealed next month.

What the SANFL isn't telling you is what the AFL have offered them $$$$$$ to go to a straight U/18 and nothing else. This is the first step of the SANFL selling us out. AFLSA here we come

Read between the lines and try to figure out why the AFL wants us to go thru all this crap and change what has have made the SANFL so successful when within a couple of years the AFL is GOING to go BACK to U/17's and U/19's.

Clue : It has absolutely nothing to do with what is best for our clubs or competition !!

[MightyEagles]

Where's this proof that Victoria is going back to u17s/u19s, why would they do that? just to get us all mad and stuff.

[darley16]

Last months SANFL meeting had agreement from 7 of the 9 clubs to introduce U/18. This is short sighted in losing kids not only to the SANFL system but potentially to the sport as well as involving less parents/families with SANFL clubs that may become members, supporters, sponsors. I understand the reduced cost of fielding one less team but the greater cost to both the SANFL,the clubs and the sport is far greater. It's not as though the SANFL is struggling financially.
However, this is all influenced by the AFL plan of having one national U/18 comp to support the AFL with all state leagues reduced to amateur footy thereby not draining potential support and sponsorship from their product. Losing support from AFL back to SANFL as has been seen this year with crowd numbers is Dimitrio's worst nightmare.

[spell_check]

Last months SANFL meeting had agreement from 7 of the 9 clubs to introduce U/18. This is short sighted in losing kids not only to the SANFL system but potentially to the sport as well as involving less parents/families with SANFL clubs that may become members, supporters, sponsors. I understand the reduced cost of fielding one less team but the greater cost to both the SANFL,the clubs and the sport is far greater. It's not as though the SANFL is struggling financially.
However, this is all influenced by the AFL plan of having one national U/18 comp to support the AFL with all state leagues reduced to amateur footy thereby not draining potential support and sponsorship from their product. Losing support from AFL back to SANFL as has been seen this year with crowd numbers is Dimitrio's worst nightmare.

Who were the two clubs that opposed? And was there a vote on a U/19 team only? Or just an Under 18s team? Was the votes swayed by the sum of money that Hawks32 has alluded to? Sorry if you feel I'm bombarding you with heaps of questions, but whatever you (or anyone else) knows, it would be good to know instead of the SANFL keeping it in the dark. Particularly if this is all part of becoming AFLSA.

[whatever]

Last I heard the AFL had had 12 months to come up with a $$$$$$ figure but could still only say that it would be substantial.

To me substantial would be $50,000 per club

It will be interesting to see what the AFL calls substantial.

[cd]

As stated in our prefered position U19 to stay with modified season for U17 so they can play for school and local comps and not be burnt out.

[darley16]

Spelly, i know PAFC voted against it and forgotten the other, Norwood i think (maybe wrong) certainly my club SAFC voted for it. No knowledge of any money influences it was a round table vote for U/18 comp to replace U/17 & U/19, 7 in favour 2 against.

[Sojourner]

It wouldent have been unreasonable for the club to have canvassed their members thoughts on this prior to voting. South have not been successfull at league level for a long time yet have a rich history of doing well in the u/17 & u/19 competitions which is the same history that there yes vote shoots to hell.

[smac]

It wouldent have been unreasonable for the club to have canvassed their members thoughts on this prior to voting. South have not been successfull at league level for a long time yet have a rich history of doing well in the u/17 & u/19 competitions which is the same history that there yes vote shoots to hell.

The members got a vote when they elected the Board, who make the decision and instruct the CEO to vote a certain way.