Aerie wrote:JK wrote:Dutchy wrote:Great post Aerie, sadly even if they reverse the decision at the end of the year and the AFL teams piss off the damage has been done, people like myself and others have found other ways to spend our time and $.
No chance the decision will be reversed
Agree unfortunately, unless the figures spiral down alarmingly and quickly. Not unless the AFL decide to introduce a national reserves competition will things change. They are currently looking at "talent pathways", although unfortunately I bet the "State League Model" is the thing they'll stick with.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-05-12/t ... reage-moveMy thoughts, which I think I've put on here before:
- AFL introduce national Reserves Competition.
- Scrap Rookie List, Keep 38 on Senior List, 2 Spots for Mature State League Players (so the carrot dangles), 18 Spots for Academy List.
- Align AFL Clubs with Under 18 and State League Clubs for purpose of filling Academy List (i.e. Port have WWT,NA,CD,WA and Crows have NWD,GL,SA,ST).
- Academy List to be Under 20 (i.e. the 2 years after U18 football).
- Essentially like an Apprenticeship and once they turn 21 they either get upgraded to AFL Senior List or continue on with State League Club, who they would continue to play with if they don't get selected in AFL Reserves side.
I think this would benefit everyone, at least more so than the current situation.
Save money by scrapping NEAFL and return to State Leagues. Scrap Foxtel Cup and potentially transfer sponsorship to Reserves Comp. AFL would be investing in football at all levels if done properly.
Have similar thoughts too, Aerie, but I'd like to see it go a little bit further and have a semi-zone, semi-draft system all the way through.
Each club would get a zone. Maybe Hawthorn (Launceston), North Melbourne (Hobart) and Melbourne (Darwin) forego country zones to help split up Vic country more evenly.
Each team gets three picks out of it's zone each year before the draft. Draft then runs bottom-to-top, hopefully cutting out the innuendo about finishing bottom, because most of the better players would already have been taken, and it would be rare that a zone would have four absolute stand-outs (ie top-25 picks in the current system) in a year, and after that we know it's a bit of a lottery. A club could give up it's third pick in exchange for a pick after the first round.
Lists would be 42, with 12 "development" players able to be used like the current rookies, chosen after the draft so they couldn't be hidden. Straight out of u/18 competition for a guaranteed two years, so there would have to be a rotation of six each year. Part-time, so they could also finish school, work, start uni, trade, whatever, as I think making them full-time could see a drop-off in retention at SANFL level if they haven't made the "pros" after those two years.