Decline of the long serving SANFL player since 2009

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It probably does not surprise anyone to see this table. This represents the number of players whose career in each year spanned 10 seasons. It does include AFL listed players who got dropped from their AFL side (or promoted to the SANFL side ), so it may be a bit artificial after 1990, and particularly 1997. I don't think it masks the fact that there are certainly not as many players who are long servers to the League. Or at least return to the SANFL after whatever absence may be - AFL, country, work etc

1990 46
1991 45
1992 46
1993 36
1994 29
1995 35
1996 36
1997 40
1998 34
1999 29
2000 36
2001 38
2002 38
2003 37
2004 35
2005 32
2006 31
2007 30
2008 39
2009 27
2010 34
2011 26
2012 28
2013 20
2014 22* as of Round 13

[dedja]

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This years figure will be higher than last year however, with James McLeay, Scott Dutschke and Brent Reilly set to play their first League match of the year this week. Also, Kyle Jenner and Luke Panozzo, plus Nathan van Berlo should he return via the Crows Reserves team are yet to play this year.

[SimonH]

True, and really sad. The SANFL is pinched at both ends (many of the really promising or accomplished enter the AFL system, and equally there are plenty of ammo/country clubs that offer more money for less work, plus the state leagues are really a national market and there's less resistance than ever to moving interstate if the money is right), and so too many players who'd play a full decade career not long ago, drift away after half a decade now.

On the night that Callinan plays his 100th SANFL game* tomorrow night, Norwood could have five 100-gamers running around for them (albeit Bode and Craig Evans have played the bulk of their ton elsewhere). That's not too bad, but it's notable that of that 5 (and there'd be 6 if Jimmy Allan weren't injured), no-one has played 150 games. It seems like no-one's even very close to 150 games. Not only have we lost the Garry McIntoshes (guys who persist through the SANFL all the way for 10 years +), but we've also lost the Brett Jameses (those who come back to the SANFL after a relatively brief AFL career, and rather than playing a half-hearted farewell season or two, throw themselves into it, become club leaders and clock up 200 SANFL games).

[Ronnie]

Luke Panozzo still playing reserves footy for Sturt. Eight matches to the magical 200 game mark. Will he get there?, i think very doubtful now.

[spell_check]

This years figure will be higher than last year however, with James McLeay, Scott Dutschke and Brent Reilly set to play their first League match of the year this week. Also, Kyle Jenner and Luke Panozzo, plus Nathan van Berlo should he return via the Crows Reserves team are yet to play this year.

Everyone in this post bar van Berlo have now played this season, so it's 22...fair way down from anything else except last season.

[Ecky]

Love the stats, Spelly, as always.

Would it be very hard for you to give a modified table of players who had actually played in at least 10 seasons, not whose careers had spanned 10+ years? That would remove anomalies like Van Berlo etc. who aren't particularly relevant.
My guess is that this would show an even greater decline since 1990.

Or if those numbers are too small, maybe reduce it to 7 or 8 years (I know you also have this tabulated in one of your spreadsheets for the career spanning case )

[spell_check]

Love the stats, Spelly, as always.

Would it be very hard for you to give a modified table of players who had actually played in at least 10 seasons, not whose careers had spanned 10+ years? That would remove anomalies like Van Berlo etc. who aren't particularly relevant.
My guess is that this would show an even greater decline since 1990.

Or if those numbers are too small, maybe reduce it to 7 or 8 years (I know you also have this tabulated in one of your spreadsheets for the career spanning case )

10+ seasons:
1996 27
1997 30
1998 21
1999 13
2000 21
2001 23
2002 24
2003 19
2004 19
2005 14
2006 15
2007 16
2008 18
2009 14
2010 19
2011 14
2012 19
2013 11
2014 12

I've started from 1996 because I don't know every individual season a player played from before 1983. I had to add one to 1996 and 1997 to include Brenton Phillips as I know 10 seasons was brought up in 1996.

[Aerie]

What have the training demands been like at SANFL level over the years? More demanding now than ever?

[Ecky]

What have the training demands been like at SANFL level over the years? More demanding now than ever?

What would be interesting would be to

a) Calculate the average salary of a SANFL League player over the years, adjusted for inflation
b) Calculate the average number of hours per week put in by SANFL League players (training and playing) over the years

c) from a and b calculate the "average hourly wage" of SANFL players over the years.

d) compare this to the average hourly wage in the VFL/AFL over the years, adjusted for inflation.

We can all guess what the conclusions would be (very low pay rate in the SANFL with the gap between the SANFL and AFL widening significantly over the past 25 years) but it would be very interesting to see this backed up by the actual numbers (even if some estimation was needed due to incomplete data).