AFL Futures Conference

[Dogwatcher]

Last week I attended a conference in Melbourne to wrap up the AFL's 150 year celebrations.
With the past year about looking back, the AFL chose to look forward with a futures conference.
Held at the Crown Casino, the conference saw football people from all over the country in attendance.
There were many interesting things to come out of the conference (including Eddie's loathing for Today Tonight....), some of which I thought the average footy punter might be interested in reading about.
I've run a couple of stories in my newspaper from this conference, plus Saturday's draft, which I also attended. I'll post those yarns, plus some others that I'll write from my notes in coming days.
Hope you enjoy (I know one reader will be particularly interested in my thoughts).

[Dogwatcher]

Footy needs OS market

THERE were wall to wall football identities at the AFL’s industry conference, Play On – The Future of Australian Football – In Focus, held in Melbourne last week.
With the national draft, at which Berri’s Rhys Stanley was picked up by St Kilda, to be held on Saturday, there was an undercurrent of tension surrounding the event.
Kevin Sheedy was there, as was Eddie McGuire, Neale Daniher, Brett Burton, Mark Williams and Gerard Whateley among a myriad of football and media types.
Listening to them talk, while watching the way they circulated around the room was one of the more fascinating parts of the conference.
All the pre-draft talk was of the two talents Jack Watts, taken by Melbourne, and Nick Natanui, who went to West Coast; while there were plenty of rumours circulating about the plight of Ben Cousins.
The conference speakers provided an interesting and sometimes left of centre look at the game of Australian rules football and where it must head if it is to continue to prosper.
The theme that seemed to resonate over the two days was that the AFL must expand or perish in this more challenging economic climate.
The phrase “four codes, one wallet” (referring to the Australian rules’ battle with the rugby codes and soccer for hearts and minds) was introduced on day one of the conference and expanded upon by former National Football League commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
Mr Tagliabue pushed the need for the AFL to expand overseas in order to increase the talent pool available to the game, as well as to take advantage of the financial riches that can arrive from taking the game into Asia and the Middle East.
It was a theme pushed by the very next speaker Ian McLeod, the current managing director of Coles supermarkets and the former head of the Glasgow Celtic Football Club, as well as by Peter Linford, the senior commissioner to South Asia for Austrade.
The question for country people, and grassroots football supporters in particular, is where does that leave us?
If the AFL directs its energies to further building markets in western Sydney, the Gold Coast and further a field to overseas nations, will there be less money in the pot for grassroots levels?
That question was not answered at the conference and it would seem football lobby groups at grassroots levels are going to need to continue to push to make sure funding comes our way to keep the game alive in their areas – the heartland of Australian rules football.

[Dogwatcher]

Saint Rhys

FORMER Berri footballer Rhys Stanley started his AFL career with his first official training session with St Kilda yesterday, the young ruckman joining his new team-mates in Melbourne.
Stanley, the son of Pete and Andrea (who now reside in Adelaide), was picked at number 47 in last week’s national draft and Saints officials are delighted with their latest Riverland acquisition.
Stanley joins former Barmera player Sam Fisher at Moorabbin.
Speaking to the Riverland Weekly, St Kilda recruiting manager Simon Peake predicted that Stanley will form a potent ruck division with Ben McEvoy in future seasons.
“If you look at our developing ruckmen, we’ve got Ben McEvoy, which is a very good combination,” Peake said.
“McEvoy is more your endurance type ruckman, while Stanley is your leaping ruckman with good speed, and like Ben, can go forward and take grabs.”
Peake designated Stanley as a project player, who will learn plenty from leading rucks Steven King and Justin Koschitzke, along with Michael Gardiner, who is attempting to resurrect an ailing career.
“We think with both McEvoy and Stanley now developing at the club, hopefully they will set the club up for the next 10 years in the ruck division,” Peake said.
Stanley will spend much of his first season at the club playing for the Saints VFL affiliate.
Last season saw Stanley play in the national under 18 competition, as well as two league games with West Adelaide in the SANFL.
However, a knee injury saw Stanley’s draft hopes come into question.
Peake said the Saints tracked Stanley through this period and thought that he acquitted himself well, despite the setback.
His high leaping and good speed proving to be key factors in Stanley’s recruitment to the Saints.
“It’s going to take a few years but I think it will be well worth the wait,” Peake prophesised.

[Dogwatcher]

Draft benefits

Everyone has a different story to tell when recounting how they came to support the football club that they love.
Ian McLeod, managing director of Coles supermarkets, chose St Kilda as the people who settled the beachside community were originally from an island of the same name in Scotland, just north of the island where he was born.
While, he has only been here for about six months, he has managed to see a few Saints games and has learnt a lot about the AFL.
In fact he has lovingly embraced the game and has some advice for administrators and clubs alike.
A former CEO of Glasgow Celtic PLC, and also a former board member at Fulham FC, McLeod informed the audience at the recent AFL futures conference that the national competition has it right in regards to the draft.
He believes that ensuring a balanced competition is only good for the clubs involved and will ensure their survival into the future.
Unlike in the English Premier League and its sub divisions, where clubs are continually going to the wall and mount up magnificently sized debts.
“What we have in other sports is a survival of the fittest,” he said.
“In England a club’s success is decided by the owner’s bank balance.”
McLeod said the draft means that teams are mostly well balanced and it provides a level of unpredictability not seen in the upper echelons of English football.
Citing his attendance at a Western Bulldogs game, McLeod said he learnt early that the scoring nature of Australian rules means the game can change in a beat.
“The Bulldogs were five goals up and lost the game,” he recalled.
“It shows the level of unpredictability and certainly it’s something you should be thankful for because it keeps the game interesting.”
While McLeod said the draft system is about right, the AFL still faces challenges; including fighting off three other codes in a nation of 20 million people, retaining the grass roots and sponsorship retention.
While some AFL clubs are struggling financially, McLeod provided a bit of a look at the monetary issues facing EPL clubs.
In 2007/08, the EPL had a $5 billion estimated revenue.
That is a lot of money but when you consider that in the previous financial year costs used up 93 per cent of the EPL’s revenue, the figure is not so bright.
Adding further grist for the mill is that 75 per cent of EPL clubs lost money.
It is a sobering insight into a competition regarded as one of the best sporting leagues in the world.
“By and large, most (AFL) clubs are in with a sporting chance, rather than just the top three or four, as in the EPL,” he concluded.
It is probable that many of the club presidents, CEOs and bean counters present at the conference took some note of this comments as they returned to their offices to work out how to get more money into their coffers.

[rogernumber10]

Last week I attended a conference in Melbourne to wrap up the AFL's 150 year celebrations.
With the past year about looking back, the AFL chose to look forward with a futures conference.
Held at the Crown Casino, the conference saw football people from all over the country in attendance.
There were many interesting things to come out of the conference (including Eddie's loathing for Today Tonight....), some of which I thought the average footy punter might be interested in reading about.
I've run a couple of stories in my newspaper from this conference, plus Saturday's draft, which I also attended. I'll post those yarns, plus some others that I'll write from my notes in coming days.
Hope you enjoy (I know one reader will be particularly interested in my thoughts).

You probably need to also put up a post on HG Nelson's address to the conclusion of the conference, so people understand your little rider on the bottom of your posts.

[Dogwatcher]

Ha ha - I've got to remember that. My siggy was the only note I took from that.

[wycbloods]

Saint Rhys

FORMER Berri footballer Rhys Stanley started his AFL career with his first official training session with St Kilda yesterday, the young ruckman joining his new team-mates in Melbourne.
Stanley, the son of Pete and Andrea (who now reside in Adelaide), was picked at number 47 in last week’s national draft and Saints officials are delighted with their latest Riverland acquisition.
Stanley joins former Barmera player Sam Fisher at Moorabbin.
Speaking to the Riverland Weekly, St Kilda recruiting manager Simon Peake predicted that Stanley will form a potent ruck division with Ben McEvoy in future seasons.
“If you look at our developing ruckmen, we’ve got Ben McEvoy, which is a very good combination,” Peake said.
“McEvoy is more your endurance type ruckman, while Stanley is your leaping ruckman with good speed, and like Ben, can go forward and take grabs.”
Peake designated Stanley as a project player, who will learn plenty from leading rucks Steven King and Justin Koschitzke, along with Michael Gardiner, who is attempting to resurrect an ailing career.
“We think with both McEvoy and Stanley now developing at the club, hopefully they will set the club up for the next 10 years in the ruck division,” Peake said.
Stanley will spend much of his first season at the club playing for the Saints VFL affiliate.
Last season saw Stanley play in the national under 18 competition, as well as two league games with West Adelaide in the SANFL.
However, a knee injury saw Stanley’s draft hopes come into question.
Peake said the Saints tracked Stanley through this period and thought that he acquitted himself well, despite the setback.
His high leaping and good speed proving to be key factors in Stanley’s recruitment to the Saints.
“It’s going to take a few years but I think it will be well worth the wait,” Peake prophesised.

That is good to see what they have planned for young Rhys. He will not play AFL for a couple of years but should be a good footballer once his body has developed. Good luck to him.