SA Premier League Cricket

[heater31]

Did think of that whufc, but then how do you judge a player in the second div for Shield selection, and would these players gravitate to the stronger clubs over time.

I know there is a lot of emotion involved, so this idea mightn't be popular, but looking with no team attachment, why not base SANFL clubs and grade clubs around each other?
Don't necessarily have to share the names, but perhaps facilities, medical and gym facilities and personnel, social facilities etc. Sturt, Glenelg, Port, Southern Distrcits, Northern Districts are obvious, Kensington and Prospect merge, TTG and East Torrens merge and align themselves with Norwood, W-WT merge, and Adelaide and Uni merge to form the tenth team.
Cuts teams, perhaps increases grade crickets profile in the general community.

changing the make up of the teams doesnt change much

Grade Cricket while supposedly the elite competition outside of state cricket is still very much amateur in the most important aspect. Yes the majority of clubs are run well, well resourced and have good coaching, but the players themselves (the most important person) are not reimbursed for their commitment and have a minimal chance of playing at the higher level. The majority do extra work on their game outside of regular training times and give up countless weekends for the love of the game, the club they play for and their mates

also Rapid and sweeping changes aren’t going to get anything but resistance (which is normal no matter the situation or environment change occurs in)

Well said. Most guys train in small groups away from required sessions. I myself whilst not in the top echelon do an extra fitness session per week. Our club is actively trying to engage our local council to improve our facilities with nets and possibly a building for a gym.

[Footy Smart]

Did think of that whufc, but then how do you judge a player in the second div for Shield selection, and would these players gravitate to the stronger clubs over time.

I know there is a lot of emotion involved, so this idea mightn't be popular, but looking with no team attachment, why not base SANFL clubs and grade clubs around each other?
Don't necessarily have to share the names, but perhaps facilities, medical and gym facilities and personnel, social facilities etc. Sturt, Glenelg, Port, Southern Distrcits, Northern Districts are obvious, Kensington and Prospect merge, TTG and East Torrens merge and align themselves with Norwood, W-WT merge, and Adelaide and Uni merge to form the tenth team.
Cuts teams, perhaps increases grade crickets profile in the general community.

changing the make up of the teams doesnt change much

Grade Cricket while supposedly the elite competition outside of state cricket is still very much amateur in the most important aspect. Yes the majority of clubs are run well, well resourced and have good coaching, but the players themselves (the most important person) are not reimbursed for their commitment and have a minimal chance of playing at the higher level. The majority do extra work on their game outside of regular training times and give up countless weekends for the love of the game, the club they play for and their mates

also Rapid and sweeping changes aren’t going to get anything but resistance (which is normal no matter the situation or environment change occurs in)

Our juniors are even getting to training early and doing throw downs as they have seen the seniors doing it. Players from all grades and all ages do the extra work
Well said. Most guys train in small groups away from required sessions. I myself whilst not in the top echelon do an extra fitness session per week. Our club is actively trying to engage our local council to improve our facilities with nets and possibly a building for a gym.

[The sarge]

Did think of that whufc, but then how do you judge a player in the second div for Shield selection, and would these players gravitate to the stronger clubs over time.

I know there is a lot of emotion involved, so this idea mightn't be popular, but looking with no team attachment, why not base SANFL clubs and grade clubs around each other?
Don't necessarily have to share the names, but perhaps facilities, medical and gym facilities and personnel, social facilities etc. Sturt, Glenelg, Port, Southern Distrcits, Northern Districts are obvious, Kensington and Prospect merge, TTG and East Torrens merge and align themselves with Norwood, W-WT merge, and Adelaide and Uni merge to form the tenth team.
Cuts teams, perhaps increases grade crickets profile in the general community.

changing the make up of the teams doesnt change much

Grade Cricket while supposedly the elite competition outside of state cricket is still very much amateur in the most important aspect. Yes the majority of clubs are run well, well resourced and have good coaching, but the players themselves (the most important person) are not reimbursed for their commitment and have a minimal chance of playing at the higher level. The majority do extra work on their game outside of regular training times and give up countless weekends for the love of the game, the club they play for and their mates

also Rapid and sweeping changes aren’t going to get anything but resistance (which is normal no matter the situation or environment change occurs in)

Couldn't agree more with that last post.

The main problem with this is that while younger cricketers who are aspiring to push for first class cricket will be keen to play this, many other players who are either older or have already had a crack at state level would prefer to play for their club. As mentioned earlier it will almost become an under 23's comp with a few state players in between.

[Aerie]

Presumably the 6th team will be from the Darren Lehmann Academy?

Seems a reasonable idea in theory and in the way it is presented in the brochure. All 11 players (at least in the 4 SA teams) should be very good cricketers so you have that higher quality of cricket. Will these players be paid? It is important they fixture it well so there is not as much of a disruption to Grade Cricket (i.e. having players in for day one of a game and replaced the 2nd day).

A kick in the guts for Grade Cricket though. Will become even more players in and out of the side through the season which can be disrupting and gives it more of a "reserves" feeling. You would also think that the funds will be spent on the Premier League clubs and not much will get through to Grade clubs.

Overall I think it is good for elite cricket in the state in the short term, which is really what it should be about. Like I said before though, they need to be careful about the fixture to protect the integrity of Grade Cricket. They should make Grade Cricket just the traditional Saturday 2-day cricket with Twenty20 on week nights. Not enough room for the 50 over stuff. If the demands are still high on the players, but the competitions stature lessened even further, there will be more and more players go to Turf clubs.

Will be interesting to see how the Grade clubs handle this.

[Footy Smart]

Presumably the 6th team will be from the Darren Lehmann Academy?

Seems a reasonable idea in theory and in the way it is presented in the brochure. All 11 players (at least in the 4 SA teams) should be very good cricketers so you have that higher quality of cricket. Will these players be paid? It is important they fixture it well so there is not as much of a disruption to Grade Cricket (i.e. having players in for day one of a game and replaced the 2nd day).

A kick in the guts for Grade Cricket though. Will become even more players in and out of the side through the season which can be disrupting and gives it more of a "reserves" feeling. You would also think that the funds will be spent on the Premier League clubs and not much will get through to Grade clubs.

Overall I think it is good for elite cricket in the state in the short term, which is really what it should be about. Like I said before though, they need to be careful about the fixture to protect the integrity of Grade Cricket. They should make Grade Cricket just the traditional Saturday 2-day cricket with Twenty20 on week nights. Not enough room for the 50 over stuff. If the demands are still high on the players, but the competitions stature lessened even further, there will be more and more players go to Turf clubs.

Will be interesting to see how the Grade clubs handle this.

Yes grade cricket must stay as strong as possible if this is is to survive, cannot rob peter to pay paul!

[RustyCage]

Isn't that the problem though? Grade cricket isn't strong now

[FlyingHigh]

Did think of that whufc, but then how do you judge a player in the second div for Shield selection, and would these players gravitate to the stronger clubs over time.

I know there is a lot of emotion involved, so this idea mightn't be popular, but looking with no team attachment, why not base SANFL clubs and grade clubs around each other?
Don't necessarily have to share the names, but perhaps facilities, medical and gym facilities and personnel, social facilities etc. Sturt, Glenelg, Port, Southern Distrcits, Northern Districts are obvious, Kensington and Prospect merge, TTG and East Torrens merge and align themselves with Norwood, W-WT merge, and Adelaide and Uni merge to form the tenth team.
Cuts teams, perhaps increases grade crickets profile in the general community.

changing the make up of the teams doesnt change much

Grade Cricket while supposedly the elite competition outside of state cricket is still very much amateur in the most important aspect. Yes the majority of clubs are run well, well resourced and have good coaching, but the players themselves (the most important person) are not reimbursed for their commitment and have a minimal chance of playing at the higher level. The majority do extra work on their game outside of regular training times and give up countless weekends for the love of the game, the club they play for and their mates

also Rapid and sweeping changes aren’t going to get anything but resistance (which is normal no matter the situation or environment change occurs in)

No worries, it is something that perhaps would be workable for the A-Graders, but not for an entire club.

[Footy Smart]

Isn't that the problem though? Grade cricket isn't strong now

Read what I said properly, I said "as strong as possible" because Grade cricket feeds the Premier League so they cannot neglect grade cricket

[Footy Smart]

Did think of that whufc, but then how do you judge a player in the second div for Shield selection, and would these players gravitate to the stronger clubs over time.

I know there is a lot of emotion involved, so this idea mightn't be popular, but looking with no team attachment, why not base SANFL clubs and grade clubs around each other?
Don't necessarily have to share the names, but perhaps facilities, medical and gym facilities and personnel, social facilities etc. Sturt, Glenelg, Port, Southern Distrcits, Northern Districts are obvious, Kensington and Prospect merge, TTG and East Torrens merge and align themselves with Norwood, W-WT merge, and Adelaide and Uni merge to form the tenth team.
Cuts teams, perhaps increases grade crickets profile in the general community.

changing the make up of the teams doesnt change much

Grade Cricket while supposedly the elite competition outside of state cricket is still very much amateur in the most important aspect. Yes the majority of clubs are run well, well resourced and have good coaching, but the players themselves (the most important person) are not reimbursed for their commitment and have a minimal chance of playing at the higher level. The majority do extra work on their game outside of regular training times and give up countless weekends for the love of the game, the club they play for and their mates

also Rapid and sweeping changes aren’t going to get anything but resistance (which is normal no matter the situation or environment change occurs in)

No worries, it is something that perhaps would be workable for the A-Graders, but not for an entire club.

The A Graders are happy doing what they do, they work hard on their game in the most part and try and perform on Saturday for their club

[heater31]

Did think of that whufc, but then how do you judge a player in the second div for Shield selection, and would these players gravitate to the stronger clubs over time.

I know there is a lot of emotion involved, so this idea mightn't be popular, but looking with no team attachment, why not base SANFL clubs and grade clubs around each other?
Don't necessarily have to share the names, but perhaps facilities, medical and gym facilities and personnel, social facilities etc. Sturt, Glenelg, Port, Southern Distrcits, Northern Districts are obvious, Kensington and Prospect merge, TTG and East Torrens merge and align themselves with Norwood, W-WT merge, and Adelaide and Uni merge to form the tenth team.
Cuts teams, perhaps increases grade crickets profile in the general community.

changing the make up of the teams doesnt change much

Grade Cricket while supposedly the elite competition outside of state cricket is still very much amateur in the most important aspect. Yes the majority of clubs are run well, well resourced and have good coaching, but the players themselves (the most important person) are not reimbursed for their commitment and have a minimal chance of playing at the higher level. The majority do extra work on their game outside of regular training times and give up countless weekends for the love of the game, the club they play for and their mates

also Rapid and sweeping changes aren’t going to get anything but resistance (which is normal no matter the situation or environment change occurs in)

No worries, it is something that perhaps would be workable for the A-Graders, but not for an entire club.

The A Graders are happy doing what they do, they work hard on their game in the most part and try and perform on Saturday for their club

And Sundays as well

[daysofourlives]

Would be up to each club committee to decide what happens there.

I know from my club we have forced to use 16 red players to fill our seniors on 1 occasion already this season plus some that are in our sides on a full time basis

yep not having a go mate, just issues that SACA clearly havent thought of plus the many more regarding this set up.

We have only 1 Jnr playing Seniors on a perm/semi perm basis and have senior quad members who miss out on a game

so the situation is different for each club.

Well time for your club to clear out some dead wood to allow juniors to progress to seniors when they are ready not when their age allows it. You should try it, who knows your club might even produce a state cricketer one day and then you might have a tiny little bit of credibility to comment on how to produce better state cricketers

[daysofourlives]

Heater you contstantly go on about having to play on sundays, can i suggest you are probably playing in the wrong competition if you dont like playing sundays.
IMO any player with ambitions of playing state cricket needs to sacrifice their weekends in pursuit of their dream and anybody within clubs that are constantly complaining about this are a poor influence on young players who still have dreams to go further.
Not attacking you personally i dont know who you are just making a point about the commitment required

[heater31]

Heater you contstantly go on about having to play on sundays, can i suggest you are probably playing in the wrong competition if you dont like playing sundays.
IMO any player with ambitions of playing state cricket needs to sacrifice their weekends in pursuit of their dream and anybody within clubs that are constantly complaining about this are a poor influence on young players who still have dreams to go further.
Not attacking you personally i dont know who you are just making a point about the commitment required

As seen by the player drain in recent years it is a big commitment. Especially from the A Grade players who probably give up 2 Sundays every month.

For me personally would play any day of the week when it was programmed. Yes it affects things in my normal day to day life but I deal with it as it comes. However if I had to do it on a regular basis it becomes a massive chore.

Christ I played Turf cricket for a year including mid week 20/20. That was worse IMO as the games I played included a trip to Marion, Mitchell Park and bloody Brighton that required me to re arrange work so I could get there. In all 3 instances we fielded first my shirt was hanging out and I was still tying up my spikes during the first over!

[Gravel]

I guess it depends on what we consider more important - the survival of the current 13 District Clubs in their current format, or providing the elite SA boys with the best possible competition to develop. I don't think it is any coincidence that NSW produces far more Australian players from 20 grade clubs and a population of 4.6m while in Adelaide we have 13 clubs from a population of 1.3m.
Personally I think this is well overdue and a great initiative.

[daysofourlives]

If the grade clubs don't like this concept perhaps we will end up with Adelaide Turf and Grade cricket on equal footing and players from all over the state looked at to make these 4 teams rather than just the grade clubs. This would be huge for the ego of grade clubs

[daysofourlives]

Heater you contstantly go on about having to play on sundays, can i suggest you are probably playing in the wrong competition if you dont like playing sundays.
IMO any player with ambitions of playing state cricket needs to sacrifice their weekends in pursuit of their dream and anybody within clubs that are constantly complaining about this are a poor influence on young players who still have dreams to go further.
Not attacking you personally i dont know who you are just making a point about the commitment required

As seen by the player drain in recent years it is a big commitment. Especially from the A Grade players who probably give up 2 Sundays every month.

For me personally would play any day of the week when it was programmed. Yes it affects things in my normal day to day life but I deal with it as it comes. However if I had to do it on a regular basis it becomes a massive chore.

Christ I played Turf cricket for a year including mid week 20/20. That was worse IMO as the games I played included a trip to Marion, Mitchell Park and bloody Brighton that required me to re arrange work so I could get there. In all 3 instances we fielded first my shirt was hanging out and I was still tying up my spikes during the first over!

IMO 2 sundays a month is a small commitment if you want to pursue state and international cricket and as a young lad i wanted to play as much as i could. I would have played every saturday and sunday if i could of. Maybe these 44 guys will be the people with that attitude and everyone of them will be pulling in the same direction

[abber]

I heard Jamie Cox on 5AA. I thought he was very light on detail. The 6th side thing was very puzzling. Seemed to be some sort of self-funding country squad!!
SACA putting in $300K. Flying sides to Darwin? Not sure how long the $s will last. Would the NT have money to have their side flying here & there?
NTFL could not afford to put a side in the SANFL.

[Aerie]

Listening to Jamie Cox on 5AA, they mentioned the 6th side would be from somewhere there is not currently a direct path to first class cricket. Sounds like they are trying to get ACT involved.

[helicopterking]

I heard Jamie Cox on 5AA. I thought he was very light on detail. The 6th side thing was very puzzling. Seemed to be some sort of self-funding country squad!!
SACA putting in $300K. Flying sides to Darwin? Not sure how long the $s will last. Would the NT have money to have their side flying here & there?
NTFL could not afford to put a side in the SANFL.

I also heard this and it sounded like a country side will have to be self funded. Total disgrace, this is a reason our shield side has very little heart, and a total snub by the SACA towards country cricket.
Has anyone thought that the reason for a shit Shield side is the fact for the last 20 years, the SACA underage development squads have been picked on a basis of which private school you went to, or how rich your parents were, results were irrelevant, it was your surname that got you through the age groups. Many years of bias favourtism have resulted in what grade cricket has become today, resulting in poor shield performance.

[Pup]

Listening to Jamie Cox on 5AA, they mentioned the 6th side would be from somewhere there is not currently a direct path to first class cricket. Sounds like they are trying to get ACT involved.

Darwin

Playing early games in Darwin then as weather gets worse using Alice Springs and Adelaide. Honestly i cant see this working but more details to be released on friday apparently, this will be a huge expense though you would imagine?