SA FOOTY PHILosophy - 2009 #8 : THE WILD WEST (Final Wrap)

[PhilH]

SA FOOTY PHILopsophy - The Wild West (Final Wrap)

Well LifeFM’s Wild West tour of 2009 is over, I’m back home and it’s off to my day job tomorrow.

Before things get too normal, here is the final SA Footy Philosophy report on the state game.

I’ll start with the final few tour highlights.

1) Would You Like Salt With That Wound!
The post game presentations in the East Perth club rooms were pleasant enough, Daryl Hart and Jade Sheedy were full or praise for both sides then Scott Watters, the WAFL coach was gracious in victory pointing out it was the record of the SA team in recent times that made it a such big event for their competition.
Then is a masterpiece of lead baloonism, they invited one of the WAFL umpires up to microphone. His famous words of “it was a great game today, thankfully the umpires had little influence.” prompted many priceless reactions on the faces of the players and officials (of both teams) present.

2) Lost in Leederville Part 2 (The State Team Sequel)
I don’t think the SANFL team management read my earlier blog on the Perth Taxi Service for their post presentation plan was to have everyone share cabs back to the hotel. Of course after waiting at the gates for 20 minutes no taxi’s appeared so the SA players, officials, umpires and media walked down into Leederville taking over a street corner to hail down anything with four wheels.
Thankfully the LifeFM team, strategically positioned slightly away from the rest were one of the first to claim a cab back to base. Later reports that the players ended up at the Leederville Hotel that night for some drinks suggested some may have just given up on ever getting a taxi and they just found the nearest pub.

3) Jetstar 1, Qantas 0
When you arrive at an airport the last thing you want to hear announced over the loud speaker is that the baggage carousel is broken and until fixed no one can be checked in. Imagine our delight to find the Jetstar check in counter working fine without a single person in the queue whilst the Qantas line was at least 200 deep.

4) What is it with Taxi Drivers? (Part 11)
Upon arrival back in Adelaide, John Nankivell and I caught the last of our 11 taxi trips for the weekend.
Any thoughts about being safely home soon disappeared as our young cabbie decided texting on his PDA was far more important than having two hands on the wheel driving in the wet and slippery conditions.


Now back to the game and from a SA perspective what went wrong?

I for one am not going to get into a selection debate on who should or should not have been in the SANFL side, there has been plenty of opinion on this site about that already and I do not profess to have anywhere near the level of football knowledge as those on the selection panel.

Coach Darel Hart said in an interview many years ago that he would like do the job until he lost a game and then it would be time for someone else to have a go. He reiterated this on fiveaa’s SANFL show Sunday Night and whenever SA plays again it will be under a new coach. Having coached against the VFL and WAFL both home and away for a 3-1 result, his record is right up there with any state coach of any era.

However what I will share is the very different selection process I observed both states using in finalising their last 22 to take the field.

South Australia had a meeting of selectors on Sunday May 17th some seven days before the game, where they made their final decisions, advised all the players accordingly and made their squad of 22 public through Monday morning’s Advertiser. A few hours later there was the switch of Ryan Williams in for the injured Paul Thomas but that squad remained unchanged through the whole week and it was just 22 players that traveled to Perth on the weekend.

It became a regular pre game joke among the LifeFM crew as to which of us would make their state debut if one of the squad fell ill and Assistant Coach Clay Sampson even told me he brought some boots over just in case.

Please note I am not sure if Clay was joking or not (compared with the LifeFM crew he could at least fit into a state jumper) but it would not have been a laughing matter if something occurred to a player in the last 36 hours before the match.

In contrast the WAFL reduced their squad to 26 mid week after the tribunal ruled out Brad Smith. That squad was not fully finalised until the morning of the match and announced just thirty minutes before kickoff. Even the Saturday Morning local paper The West Australian still named an eight man interchange bench.

Given the extreme (and unusual for Perth) weather conditions for the weekend would not have been fully predicted until at least the Thursday before the game, it’s fair to say the selection structure allowed the Black Swans to pick a side far better suited to the conditions that what South Australia did as the Croweaters became locked into the 22 picked almost a week earlier. Remember this was a squad possibly picked to deal with a large, hard and lightning fast Leederville Oval, not a wet, wild and very windy one.

Obviously playing at home gave the WAFL greater flexibility with their squad but if nothing else comes out of this result SA should from now on always travel with an extra player to both allow for a late withdrawal and a late switch if conditions demand it.

At AFL level what side is finalised seven days out and what side travels without a spare player to cover last minute contingencies? Given state league games are the highest level of competition you can play outside of the AFL shouldn’t we adopt a similar philosophy if possible?

This was one example where it was shown that the WAFL were taking this game seriously. Another was the revelation that WAFL Chairman of Selectors Cameron Shepherd had flown to Adelaide a few weeks back and observed three SANFL games live. A third was the extra week of two of state squad training they planned prior to the game. Finally a fourth investing in a match last year against Queensland in Townsville (imagine that travel bill) which was recognised as an important first step to rebuilding a side embarrassed by a 15 goal belting at the hands of the VFL in 2007.

In short Western Australia knew they had to lift the bar to restore their credibility as a state competition. They did and were rewarded. It’s now up to the SANFL to respond next time around.


Other thoughts?

I’ll be blunt, whoever did the graphics for ABC TV labeling the SANFL as SAFL in everything on screen should be used as golf ball on the first tee and given a full driver up the *****. What a disgrace by the WA based ABC Sports producers to not be able to get the name of our league right.

More importantly whilst the result was disappointing what is of even greater concern to me is a growing lack of public interest in these state matches.

For all the media coverage the SANFL gets back home only four accredited media from Adelaide traveled to Perth.

For all the public support that the club competition receives each week very few SANFL supporters outside of family and WA based SA expats were there to cheer on our boys.

For all the volume of hits this web site and other SANFL related forums generate, most focused on matters like paying out players from other clubs in the squad each time an error was made, second guessing the coaches or expressing relief no one from their club ended up injured. Very few were prepared to jettison club loyalties for just one day to get in the state spirit.

Even in the West, what could only be called diabolical scheduling (12.40pm start live against the Dockers on TV) saw just 2204 turn up for the day. Take away those that were there for the curtain raiser or late match and you were left with just about 1700 attending the main game. Weather was an obvious factor but I am sure a $15 entrance fee (reduced to $12 for club members) did not help either.

For the WAFL it was a great win and should be a boost for their competition, but a viewing of the nightly TV news after the game clearly illustrates the battle they face. The WAFL win was the 4th story in sports as expected coming after an Eagles v Collingwood update and Kangaroos v Fremantle report. What was telling was that the 3rd story (Adelaide’s win over Carlton) was 3 times longer than the WAFL report which showed the scores, one goal and the awarding of the cup. Surely one of the greatest moments in recent times for the WAFL (first interstate win against a power state in 15 years) was given just 30 seconds, totally overshadowed by a regular AFL game not even involving a WA team.

From a players perspective I know from what I observed first hand that they love these games and will sacrifice the extra training and travel to be in them. However from a SA fans perspective there will be little if no expression of disappointment in a 2010 season devoid of state football.

State of Origin is dead. After this weekend, despite a hard fought game and a classic finish I fear state league interstate football is not far behind.

[darley16]

Agree with your conclusion Phil. Watching on TV i felt saddened to see these two great historic comps reduced to what appeared an insulting spectacle played on a suburban ground with a few mum & dad spectators. I felt the whole presentation including the after match trophy hand over was amatuer and embarrassing for both the WAFL and SANFL.
This game did nothing for the promotion of either league, in fact it did the opposite. I felt for the players of both teams that all the wonderful history of state footy had been reduced to this pathetic level of promotion.

[redandblack]

Thanks for your write-ups, Phil.

It was interesting to read your first-hand experiences and thoughts.

[StrayDog]

Thanks for your write-ups, Phil.

It was interesting to read your first-hand experiences and thoughts.

Seconded. Thanks.

[Thiele]

Thanks for sharing your experiance Phil

[Wedgie]

Agree with those above Phil, loved reading your posts over the weekend!
Thank you!