purch wrote:SnappyTom wrote:I still contend the style and standard of games this season is a clear rung down on the last few seasons.
Sorry to quote you on this ST, cos you are not alone in terms of comments on this site. But this has been on my mind for quite a few weeks now.
Is the supposed "drop in standard" of SANFL - sited by many posters - due to the overhaul in the SANFL structure? i.e do away with the U17s and U19s and take up an U18s approach.
Has the AFL finally achieved what it has always wanted to achieve?
No apology required.For mine, there are two themes at play here - and I'm the first to accept constructive criticism of my diatribe; alongside additional comments on where others seriously think
our SANFL is headed:
U18s replacing U17s and U19sYou'd have to suspect the standard initially would be better. I am only concerned that we wouldn't have seen a Shannon Hurn play in 2 league GFs as an eligible U19, however (there would be others that have done this too).
Time will tell how the quality of young players sticking to their clubs pans out.
Changes to AFL that will influence SANFLI suspect we'll see a four man bench some day (at least at league level), so from a
standard point of view that's 9 extra players in league sides that wouldn't have been there before, possibly 18 (two per club) if the ressies get an increase also. Or will we see an eligible reserves player allowed 50% ressies match, and become the fourth bench for the league.
The other
standard impact will come from the two new AFL teams - that's 80 players that will be in the system not currently there. So some of our fringe players (a Jeremy Clayton, Brett Backwell, Simon Arnott type) might just make it, rather than strengthening the SANFL as has been the case. If we suggest just 18 of those 80 come from the SANFL system alone, that would be another two players in every side that wouldn't have normally been in the SANFL.
There has to be some effect on the overall
standard of the comp - U18s to a lesser degree.
Perhaps
my only concern with Healy getting the gig at North follows with Heals being in the AFL system, especially in 2008, where the
zone structure took hold. We've seen it in North's game this year, there are differences between the CDFC and NAFC styles. As a mate of mine said yesterday, you can hardly tell the difference in styles between AFL and SANFL now, unlike a few years ago - and i'll use 2003 as the glaring example - where there was an absolute difference. As a Brisbane member I got to see both my sides win flags, but play with vastly different structures, attitudes and game-plan (god I hate those words!). For those at the hallowed turf of
The Ponderosa yesterday, if you watch patches of the second and third quarter IMHO it reflected the mini-league. The arm wrestle saw a rolling flood; at three distinct stages of the second quarter there was no player
in either fifty zone. About half the players at the ball, in close; the other half within a kick and a half of the others. Of course, Elizabeth Oval is massive, so it's a lot more obvious. I just sincerely hope the style of the SANFL doesn't get to be a reflection of the horrid AFL, as it just doesn't look good (or work) at our SANFL level.
Apart from that, Healy will be a great coach - he was a great leader at our club!
As a few others have said, there are also generational changes afoot. We, for instance, have only eight players from even the 2005 premiership going around, three of those from five years earlier. The hope is that each new generation is better at commencement level than those before. I fear, however, this is not the case.
ST...
