SA Footy

I'm not a huge fan of the draft in the AFL because it discourages AFL teams from developing juniors of their own accord. However, it does provide a more even comp.

Do you think that a draft would be a good move for state cricket, given the gaps between top and bottom teams at the moment? Naturally it might be discouraging for junior development but would it enhance Australian cricket, particularly given that mental strength may be further developed to separate the winners in games between evenly matched sides in terms of talent alone?

(I think there is a salary cap tho??)

I haven't made my mind up on this but would be interested in the perspectives of others.

SA need anything they can think of, to help even the competition up

SA: We need a draft because we are a basketcase. Let's vote on it....
OTHER STATES: Rubarbrubarbrubarbrubarb
SA: Aye!
OTHER STATES: BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

LMAO.

regards,

REB

Wouldn't work for cricket. Simple reason is there are 6 teams, and only 11 players in each team. Not to mention cricketers can play longer than footballers. In the AFL system you've got 22 players in 16 (soon to be 18) teams with a career of 10 years. There might only be only a handful of players in each "draft" year that go on to play regular first class cricket. Not to mention the fact that some cricketers mature later in life, while most AFL standard footballers are discovered as teenagers. Fancy telling a bloke who is killing the opposition at 29 that he must go into a draft the next year and then probably move interstate just to make the next step up because he wasn't a super talented 18 year old kid. A 29 year old cricketer has perhaps 10 years of cricket left, while a 29 year old footballer is thinking about retiring.

Cricket has shown it has it's own cycle that works well enough. Players move interstate for more opportunity early on and provide greater strength for that team later on down the track. Gilchrist is a shining example, and far from the only one. Because of the fact that cricket is far more an "individual" sport one great player can make a much bigger difference than one great footballer. You can't heavily tag Ricky Ponting. You can't play a loose man in front of Brett Lee. You can't choke off the supply to Stuart Clark. You can't drag Mike Hussey out of the play. The only tactics to beat these guys is to outplay them and beat them. If a footballer is better than you, there are ways to combat that. If a cricketer is better than you, you just have to wait and work your hardest for the chance to beat them.

The answer is definitly no. Just becase we are a piece of S*** cricket state does not warrent it.

A state representative team should be made up mostly of players from that state and should reflect the junior development programs within that state.

Imagine an SA junior getting drafted to Victoria and sitting in the 2nd XI for 2 years when his own team could play him straight away. And how would he feel being forced to play away from his home state ... in another state's representative side?

It's a lot different from club-based competitions.

Plus, the gap isn't as big as it seems - SA didn't finish last and they won a few games. As GrahamL said its a cyclical thing. IIRC 4 different states (out of 6) have won the last 4 Pura Cup finals so that says to me the system is working OK.

The only thing you could do is allocate the experienced players who WANT to go elsewhere in a draft scenario however I think we'd find that players wouldn't elect to move unless they could choose their destination.

I rekon if we fix our own problems with in the SACA we might not have to worry about any thing else !!!

Blue Boy wrote:I rekon if we fix our own problems with in the SACA we might not have to worry about any thing else !!!

Agree with that.

Why should be "punish" promising young players by having them playing cricket in the debacle that is the SACA.

Is there an" I have never heard anything so ridiculous option" to tick