River Murray Football League talk

[anzacspirit]

mannum are in a tough situation we can't seem to please everyone. We would love to not have to bring in players and use that money on the club, however when you lose over a dozen A grade players over the last two years for us to remain competitive we need to get others in. If we aren't competetive then the townspeople will lose interest and we will also lose sponsors it is a double edged sword. Maybe the RMFL should make it that only locals can play for each team, no one outside of the respective towns can play, would that make it fairer? How does everyone propose to make this competition fairer for ALL clubs, stop having a go at Mannum and start coming up with ideas. Geez it's hard pleasing you guys

[RyderCourtney]

mannum are in a tough situation we can't seem to please everyone. We would love to not have to bring in players and use that money on the club, however when you lose over a dozen A grade players over the last two years for us to remain competitive we need to get others in. If we aren't competetive then the townspeople will lose interest and we will also lose sponsors it is a double edged sword. Maybe the RMFL should make it that only locals can play for each team, no one outside of the respective towns can play, would that make it fairer? How does everyone propose to make this competition fairer for ALL clubs, stop having a go at Mannum and start coming up with ideas. Geez it's hard pleasing you guys

Well i never have liked the Murray Bridge teams so lets get rid of them and then play amoungst ourselves

We could even keep it a top 5 so everyone plays finals and everyone is happy

[biffboy]

mannum are in a tough situation we can't seem to please everyone. We would love to not have to bring in players and use that money on the club, however when you lose over a dozen A grade players over the last two years for us to remain competitive we need to get others in. If we aren't competetive then the townspeople will lose interest and we will also lose sponsors it is a double edged sword. Maybe the RMFL should make it that only locals can play for each team, no one outside of the respective towns can play, would that make it fairer? How does everyone propose to make this competition fairer for ALL clubs, stop having a go at Mannum and start coming up with ideas. Geez it's hard pleasing you guys

I think what Mannum need to concentrate on is finding a way to stop losing local players or even recruits who only hang around for a year or two. It's crucial to keep these guys happy as they're the ones who put money over the bar and help create a social atmosphere around a club.
When a player is lost, they blame other clubs and the cash on offer when really they are digging their own hole. Why would a local play for nothing knowing that there are guys earning massive $ who don't train as they should and get in there car and head back to town after the game. Clive Waterhouse is a perfect example of this and he has created a lot of Mannums problems as it stands.
I don't know how you would stop these players leaving, maybe better incentive awards or more of them instead of stuffing more money into over paid players from town who play for cash not the club.
Jervois are in a similar boat and Ladhams has dug them a hole, hopefully Coulter can pull them out of that as he seems well liked and respected amongst the group.
As for the $30k loan it has me a bit miffed, but I don't know all the facts so won't comment.
I just hope All the clubs can get through the tough times as I would hate to see the league disappear. The points system is OK and fair, we just got lucky as we had a freak group of locals come through at the right time just as the points system was introduced. Maybe other teams should get a few extra points, I just don't see how using them all on old players past their best will ever work for a team in the long run.

[anzacspirit]

I'm not sure why the club getting a loan is even an issue to everyone else, it is being used to upgrade the premises which is all part of a larger plan to make the MFC strong off the field. I would doubt many of the RMFL clubs would have a large bankroll to call upon and pay for things to get done. Would our club be begrudged if we applied were allocated sporting grants? There is nothing stopping any other club applying for interest free loans in an attempt to improve their own club. As for your comments re keeping local players biffboy I couldn't agree more and we are working on those incentives to keep people at the club. The reasons for people leaving are varied, obviously many have followed quinny, some have retired others have moved on to other parts of the state. We really want to improve on our junior development and retaining the great kids we have coming through and we are implementing things this season to improve on that as well.

[biffboy]

No one would have an issue with the loan if it weren't for the $100k spent a year on players. Clubs like Mannum say they can't compete financially with imps or ramblers but I can tell you we would kill to have that kinda cash to spend.

[Monopoly Man]

From the outside it looks like Mannum are just doing good business in securing the loan. Its never good to lose local players but honestly, the players Mannum have lost are hardly capable of taking them to the top so recruits are a must. I think Biffboy is right though re Waterhouse, Mannum look to have paid the price with Quinn and co due to that. On the other side of the coin though Mueller and Hall have been great recruits for them that have stayed a while.

[anzacspirit]

No one would have an issue with the loan if it weren't for the $100k spent a year on players. Clubs like Mannum say they can't compete financially with imps or ramblers but I can tell you we would kill to have that kinda cash to spend.

i'm not sure who is saying we can't compete financially , we certainly don't have the great depth of players that the two bridge teams have, if we did then we wouldn't be forking out for players.

[Moleman]

Some really interesting things going on in the world of RMFL this week!!

Mid Murray Council have given the Mannum footy club $42600 in interest free loans in the past 5 years which 1 councillor responded to by saying & I quote "I see from their balance sheet that the Mannum Football Club does quite well, & is paying close to $100,000 to players each year. We need to stop giving funds to football clubs who pay professional players when they have the earning capacity to fix their own facilities. Why dont they cut some players? After all they haven't won a premiership in 10 years & could afford to pay for it themselves"

The second is the greed & total disrespect the RMFL has for any heritage of the game. Own New leagues Best & fairest is now to be called the Murray Valley Standard Medal. Obviously some sort of deal has been done, & once again the leagues finest minds have put $$$$$$$ in front of what is right.

RMFL have a 7 team league & 5 play finals for revenue only, as the set up is the laughing stock of the states footy
RMFL allow loop holes for some clubs to exploit & say its for the betterment of the league, but really its so these same heads can go to interleague meetings & say "We have Andrew McLoad playing in our league"
RMFL back down at the first sign of trouble, & don't stand behind our tribuneral

I think its time that the League committee remembered that they are in a position or roll, to serve the clubs, not the other way around!! I wonder if the Medal name change even went to a vote by the 7 clubs, & if it did, were those seven clubs delegates given the opportunity to go to their members & ask for opinions, because thats the way it is supposed to work isn't it?????

"It was put to the club delegates and it was a unanimous decision."

Voted unanimously by club delegates – I suppose it is up to club delegates to vote on behalf of their members interests.
One club abstained from voting – maybe they weren’t prepared to vote without more feedback from their members, an option other clubs have at their disposal.

[Goldberg]

One club abstained from voting – maybe they weren’t prepared to vote without more feedback from their members, an option other clubs have at their disposal.

Perfect!!! Someone gets what I was meaning. From what I can gather, the Vote was "Sprung" on the delegates, & MAYBE only 1 had the wisdom/strength to say "Hey maybe I should get the opinion of my club before voting on this" Which is the way it should be handled.

Thats why I put in my last sentence "Were those delegates given the opportunity to speak to their members" & I think the answer is NO. They were put under pressure to vote that meeting.

[Look Good In Leather]

I also found the article about Mannum very interesting.... My first reaction was similar to that councillor - they can afford to pay out all this money in player payments but need to borrow money from the council to upgrade the clubrooms - something smells funny!! You did miss the rest of the quote though Goldberg about the gun players being good for the young guys at the club... Would be more interesting to see what some non football Mannum residents think of that sort of money going to a football club paying out so much to players.


As for the Standard Medal - not a big fan of that being changed either - it's been the mail medal for something like 80 years!! - but I'm sure in the article it did say that the vote had gone back to all the clubs and it was decided then to change it...

Probably not necessarily a bad thing, currently the medal is named after a city paper (The Sunday Mail) and instead will be named after the local paper that actually covers the league.

[Bustarhyme]

[quote="biffboy"][quote="anzacspirit"]mannum are in a tough situation we can't seem to please everyone. We would love to not have to bring in players and use that money on the club, however when you lose over a dozen A grade players over the last two years for us to remain competitive we need to get others in. If we aren't competetive then the townspeople will lose interest and we will also lose sponsors it is a double edged sword. Maybe the RMFL should make it that only locals can play for each team, no one outside of the respective towns can play, would that make it fairer? How does everyone propose to make this competition fairer for ALL clubs, stop having a go at Mannum and start coming up with ideas. Geez it's hard pleasing you guys ;)[/quote]
I think what Mannum need to concentrate on is finding a way to stop losing local players or even recruits who only hang around for a year or two. It's crucial to keep these guys happy as they're the ones who put money over the bar and help create a social atmosphere around a club.
When a player is lost, they blame other clubs and the cash on offer when really they are digging their own hole. Why would a local play for nothing knowing that there are guys earning massive $ who don't train as they should and get in there car and head back to town after the game. Clive Waterhouse is a perfect example of this and he has created a lot of Mannums problems as it stands.
I don't know how you would stop these players leaving, maybe better incentive awards or more of them instead of stuffing more money into over paid players from town who play for cash not the club.
Jervois are in a similar boat and Ladhams has dug them a hole, hopefully Coulter can pull them out of that as he seems well liked and respected amongst the group.
As for the $30k loan it has me a bit miffed, but I don't know all the facts so won't comment.
I just hope All the clubs can get through the tough times as I would hate to see the league disappear. The points system is OK and fair, we just got lucky as we had a freak group of locals come through at the right time just as the points system was introduced. Maybe other teams should get a few extra points, I just don't see how using them all on old players past their best will ever work for a team in the long run.[/quote]

I agree biffboy, the RMFL is a great comp and the struggling clubs do need to endeavour to recruit blokes who will hang around for longer than 1 or 2 years. Recruiting is clearly a lot more difficult than what it seems in the current footy climate. Players past their best and young players with a handful of reserves games are asking big $$ for their services. Incentive based and performance based contracts could work well if implemented thoughtfully. Unfortunately the facts are that some clubs can comfortably find the 1k and even if the other clubs offer say $700 + $150 for the best player the 1k wins out every time. Teams really need to focus on developing their available local talent and bringing in recruits that will buy into the club and their direction not their bank balance. Realistically guys like Tyson Waite and Joel Kay are prime examples of the kind of guys that I'm talking about. These boys could fetch massive bucks elsewhere but from the outside looking in they seem to choose the club and success over $$.

[From The Outer]

Dont worry Tyson and Joel are VERY well paid.

[Caramels]

Some really interesting things going on in the world of RMFL this week!!



I think its time that the League committee remembered that they are in a position or roll, to serve the clubs, not the other way around!! I wonder if the Medal name change even went to a vote by the 7 clubs, & if it did, were those seven clubs delegates given the opportunity to go to their members & ask for opinions, because thats the way it is supposed to work isn't it?????

There are many league directors or whatever name they wish to be known as who are there purely for their own ego sake.
Clubs maketh the leagues, not the other way round although in many instances, you wouldn't think so!

[Bazza J]

The name change is a great idea!

[biffboy]

Dont worry Tyson and Joel are VERY well paid.

Speak for your own club FTO but I'll give you the hot tip, Joel Kay gets no more than 3 bills and is happy with that

[From The Outer]

Very amusing

[grasshopper22]

Very amusing

Joel Kay is a gun, and no matter what they may be paying him he's worth every cent plus some in my opinion

[Caramels]

Any substance in the Leon Davis to Meningie story in today's Sunday Mail?

[From The Outer]

Grasshopper, agree with your comments. What I dont understand is why clubs ( not just Ramblers ) would say they are paying crackers for high quality players when it is ok to pay them well. Joel came straight out of league football in the prime of his career. To suggest he would come for $150 is just laughable when his market value is close to 1K. Would be the feel good story of the decade.

[grasshopper22]

Any substance in the Leon Davis to Meningie story in today's Sunday Mail?

Haven't grabbed the Sunday mail just yet, this is the first I have heard of this!!