Crows in the SANFL - Q & A with the AFC

[adelaidefc]

My questions on the previous page have gone unanswered however here's some more.
While its grossly unfair that teams competing in the same competition are working to salary caps hundreds of thousands of dollars apart, there is also talk of retaining players recently retired from AFL, ie Johncock. What will be the salary cap rules for these players, if any? I'd hate to think if Brodie Martin, Matty Jaensch or Tim McIntyre were delisted and not picked up by another AFL club, Adelaide could recruit them as reserves players and pay them more than what Sturt would be able to only because they have to play to a vastly different salary cap. Hardly seems fair.

I think I did cover your questions somewhere.
As for this one, we would be looking to have an older former Crow play on with our reserves. The Commission endorsed model didn't allow the Crows to recruit younger former Crows. David

[adelaidefc]

14) is the reserves deemed a higher standard than the saafl?

Not by people at the Club who watch a lot of football. It’s not so much the overall standard, it’s the type of bodies and experience the players will come up against. A1 is full of former SA league and reserves players, and the overall quality is pretty good.

My question is why would you want to play regularly against "Former SA league and reserves players" in the SAAFL when you could play against current league (coming back from injury, out of a bit of form, quite ready to come back into the League team) and reserves players in the SANFL reserves?

Simple. We don't want to, and won't, play in the SANFL reserves!

[saintal]

(Thanks for your time David)

Lets say this proposal does somehow get knocked back by the SANFL clubs. Does the AFC then have the option to deliver another a proposal to the clubs? (i.e with greater financial benefits) or will the focus turn directly to the SAAFL?

[spell_check]

Is it fair to say the second afc side's main aim will not be winning? Instead, developing? This is different from an SANFL's reserves side and purpose. And this being the case, surely it compromises the SANFL competition, given they're not really competing? It also opens a can of worms into the betting industry. Will betting agencies still offer markets in such a compromised league? Will the SANFL lose revenue through this?

Any team we will put out will be playing to win and competing. If you have a young team, there's going to be some development in there as well, but that's no different to any SANFL club with a young group. David

I appreciate the response, David.
I agree the 18 blokes on the park will be playing to win, but I was referring to club and coaching staff itself. Will the club's main interest be to win with it's reserves side every week or just develop for it's side in another league? I'm not convinced...

A point which is illustrated nicely in the excellent 'Two of a Kind' book about the Gowans twins. When St Kilda lost the last AFL Reserves GF in 1999, the players were gutted, but the coaching staff appeared to care not in the least.

[adelaidefc]

Dave,

Is it true that the AFC threatened to 'steal' sanfl sponsors if we didn't approve this reserves push?

Not sure where that came from. I doubt that would happen but I'm sure there would be sponsors interested in working with the Crows if we had a team in A1.

[Jim05]

David, if you are voted in but dont deliver on your promises is there a possibility of the SANFL booting the club out in the future?

[Jim05]

David, as an Essendon member im entitled to free entry at Essendon's reserves games that are played at home
Will the Crows offer this aswell or will supporters pay full tote SANFL prices?

[adelaidefc]

14) is the reserves deemed a higher standard than the saafl?

Not by people at the Club who watch a lot of football. It’s not so much the overall standard, it’s the type of bodies and experience the players will come up against. A1 is full of former SA league and reserves players, and the overall quality is pretty good.

My question is why would you want to play regularly against "Former SA league and reserves players" in the SAAFL when you could play against current league (coming back from injury, out of a bit of form, quite ready to come back into the League team) and reserves players in the SANFL reserves?

Do u honestly believe you r fooling anyone with your bluff re Amatuers ????

What is preventing afc admitting SANFL reserves is the best place for your developement squad.its also the best win/win scenario for SA football ??? Are the crows really that selfish

Nothing to do with being selfish. If you don't want Adelaide involved in the league competition, I can assure you A1 it's not a bluff.

[adelaidefc]

David, if you are voted in but dont deliver on your promises is there a possibility of the SANFL booting the club out in the future?

Yes.

[sjt]

David, could you please answer my question on the bottom of page 1 of this thread? From what was reported from the south info. Night I may have been a bit bullish in what the crows will provide financially (now sounding like potentially $40,000 and a $10,000 "marketing allowance) regardless the gist is the same. Many thanks.

[whufc]

David,

1. do you believe the whole integrity and future of the SANFL comp should be put at risk (it is undeniable there is an element of risk to the move) for potentially no more than 5-10 blokes a week to play together. In the business world would you take such a risk for such a minority

2. If the SANFL ended up like the current VFL would you consider the Crows experiment to be a fail for the competition.

[whufc]

How is the SANFL able to trust and belive the Crows will uphold their end of the bargain based on the fact that the AFL rules don't seem to carry much weight with them either

[adelaidefc]

David,

1. do you believe the whole integrity and future of the SANFL comp should be put at risk (it is undeniable there is an element of risk to the move) for potentially no more than 5-10 blokes a week to play together. In the business world would you take such a risk for such a minority

2. If the SANFL ended up like the current VFL would you consider the Crows experiment to be a fail for the competition.

1: Based on history, we will have 15-20 Crows players playing together every week. Having a reserves side is now considered essential by people in our program, and the SANFL clubs agree with this point.
2 The SANFL has always been a better comp than the VFA turned VFL. It (the SANFL) has always had stronger support. The AFC is very confident it will be a success for us and the SANFL.

[UK Fan]

14) is the reserves deemed a higher standard than the saafl?

Not by people at the Club who watch a lot of football. It’s not so much the overall standard, it’s the type of bodies and experience the players will come up against. A1 is full of former SA league and reserves players, and the overall quality is pretty good.

My question is why would you want to play regularly against "Former SA league and reserves players" in the SAAFL when you could play against current league (coming back from injury, out of a bit of form, quite ready to come back into the League team) and reserves players in the SANFL reserves?

Do u honestly believe you r fooling anyone with your bluff re Amatuers ????

What is preventing afc admitting SANFL reserves is the best place for your developement squad.its also the best win/win scenario for SA football ??? Are the crows really that selfish

Nothing to do with being selfish. If you don't want Adelaide involved in the league competition, I can assure you A1 it's not a bluff.

I'm still not convinced I must confess David.

If all Adelaide FC are offering SANFL clubs is bigger gate,media exposure,cross promotion whilst helping develope our junior talent . That could all be achieved by you entering via SANFL reserves could it not ???

Added bonus for sanfl the leagues integrity will be unquestioned. Whilst our junior talent would never play against us for league premiership points.

We understand the crows don't want to join reserves. We are confused as to why ???

Can you explain to us why AFC have completely taken SANFL reserves out of the equation in preference to Amatuers ??
As there is more to developing junior talent than just playing against "bigger bodies" ie access to ice baths/lap pools.

[whufc]

Further to UkFans points

Have the Crows thought that the bigger bodies of the amatuer league may actually not come into effect when they don't have the fitness levels, pace or ability to chase or catch the Crows listed players.

[Pseudo]

2. If the SANFL ended up like the current VFL would you consider the Crows experiment to be a fail for the competition.

2 The SANFL has always been a better comp than the VFA turned VFL. It (the SANFL) has always had stronger support. The AFC is very confident it will be a success for us and the SANFL.

You didn't answer the question. whufc didn't ask if you were confident of success.

So I repeat for whufc:

A. Would you consider the Crows experiment to be a failure if the league ended up like the VFL?

And I add for myself:

B. How would the Crows define success AND define failure with respect to entry of a reserve team in the SANFL competition?

C. If the reserves team is entered AND is deemed to be a failure after some time, will the AFC make restitution to the SANFL, and how can you guarantee that your club will not simply walk away from the mess?

[Aerie]

There are 10 teams playing in an AFL Reserves competition (otherwise knows as the VFL) less than a 1 and a half hour flight away. Why are the Adelaide Crows not pushing to join the VFL?

[whufc]

What do the Crows believe is a better option for their reserves teams and why??

Playing in the SANFL or for the AFL to create an AFL reserves comp

[Ecky]

To improve the chances of your reserves team winning, will you be drafting more mature age, experienced SANFL league level players instead of younger players who may only be SANFL reserves standard (eg someone like Ryan Ferguson instead of a skinny 18 year old key defender project player). And will you have fewer backup ruckmen on your AFL list to improve the team balance of your reserves team?

If not, how can you possibly say you are truly playing to win in the SANFL?

[The Sleeping Giant]

1: Based on history, we will have 15-20 Crows players playing together every week. Having a reserves side is now considered essential by people in our program, and the SANFL clubs agree with this point.

Based on history, you could have no Crow list players playing together, just some rookie/academy/Irish/Americans listed players who just aren't close to SANFL standard. It's happened at Freo and West Coast.