AFL expansion effects on SANFL

[darley16]

As lovers of the great comp, let's have your thoughts on how 18 AFL teams will impact on our league, more player drain, poorer standard, less money into the comp, greater need for a N.T. side to join SANFL now, our league teams fielding old hacks and 17 year olds. How much longer can the SANFL comp stand against the AFL gaint in that our league will eventually need to change in ways which will benifit only the AFL to our detriment and the 9 clubs we all love?

[whufc]

Obviously immediate effect will be poorer standard. If they bring in two extra teams there will be an extra 100+ players playing AFL every week. These would be players such as Callinan, Cicolella, J.Clayton and co filling up AFL lists and not playing SANFL.
Crowd wise i don't think it would impact the SANFL greatly, most SANFL supporters don't go to the games becuase of the standard (The AFL is already and will always be a better standard and we will keep our 2nd best comp rating)but more the fact that the SANFL has OUR clubs we go for, and that would still maintain IMHO.

[Wedgie]

Its a good question which I hadn't thought about until your post Darley.

The immediate effect would be probably be anything up to 40 of our top players not playing in the SANFL which would mean a huge drop in standard and with media having to cover one more game of AFL a week I'd say we could be looking at less media coverage which would in all likelihood mean a drop off in attendances eventually.
Definately a concern.

[Punk Rooster]

Its a good question which I hadn't thought about until your post Darley.

The immediate effect would be probably be anything up to 40 of our top players not playing in the SANFL which would mean a huge drop in standard and with media having to cover one more game of AFL a week I'd say we could be looking at less media coverage which would in all likelihood mean a drop off in attendances eventually.
Definately a concern.

well try the AFL room- I posed a similar question.

[nickname]

I think the effect will be minimal. It will be an extra 88 or so players and already they're talking about sequestering Queensland's U16 squad so that they would all be reserved for the Gold Coast team. There were 77 players delisted from AFL clubs last year so a lot more of those sorts of guys would remain in the system.

Guys like Clayton and Ciccolella won't be drafted by these new clubs for the same reasons they're not drafted by the existing clubs. More kids from overseas and from the TAC Cup will be drafted and yes some more from the WAFL and SANFL but not huge numbers in my opinion. AFL clubs tend to draft athletes these days - they can have them, we'll have the footballers. And anyway, it might drop back to a 16 or 17 team comp by the time these two new clubs are up and running.

[Aerie]

I don't think an additional 2 AFL teams will have that much of an effect on our competition. A slight player drain initially perhaps? Although it could be argued in the long term more interest created in NSW and the Gold Coast will see more footballers playing and therefore recruited from those areas. I was more worried about the addition of AFL reserves which would have severely impacted upon the SANFL. Extended rookie lists are also impacting.

[Macca19]

I think there will be a drain at the start. The recently delisted guys might get a second chance so the likes of Thurgood might stay in the system instead of coming here. More SA youngsters may get drafted as well

The lower end of AFL lists already isnt that great, I dont know what putting an extra 88 players in the system is going to do to it.

[Ecky]

In terms of the standard of the competition, I think it would have the biggest effect on the SANFL since the Crows joining in 1991.
- Fremantle joining didn't have much effect since most of the extra players were recruited from the WAFL.
- The effect of Port joining was lessened substantially because it coincided with the demise of Fitzroy.

They have to find an extra 80 players from somewhere. Their focus on youth won't be THAT much more than the other clubs, meaning at least 50 of the 80 extras will need to be senior players ready to play AFL. So at a rough guess, at least 15 of the best players will be lost from each of the SANFL, WAFL and VFL, either directly to the new teams, or indirectly to fill holes in existing clubs to replace players moving to the new teams, or through lack of new recruits due to less players being delisted from the AFL.

[Dog_ger]

At least the Gowans will still be at Doggie Land.

Might just give em a few extra years...?

Dad's Army at Centrals.

[Jar Man Out]

the expansion is doomed before it even begins.

how this failed experiment will effect the afl when it falls over (and it will) is a good question.

[PhilH]

There will be some player drain but how many of the best league players in our comp get drafted now anyway? I suspect there maybe some short term fillers but after a few year no great difference.

There will of course be an extra 6 juniors drafted each year, maybe an extra 1 or 2 of those from SA.

For a chrystal ball look forward to 2027, I have writtern an artcile after the SANFL in the future for the SA Football Media Guide coming out late March.

[Sojourner]

It will adversley affect the SANFL, yet I dont think it will be as bad as in previous years. Many SANFL fans today are the rusted on fans anyway who are not going to be turned away if the standard does drop back for a time.

The main challenge will be the additional game to contend with and the fact that resources for the SANFL in media coverage are already limited.

All the more reason for the SANFL administration to get their heads out of the sand and start doing a lot more things to promote the SANFL rather than just happily playing second fiddle to the Crows and Power. If we spent some money, established our history at Football Park and adopted various other suggestions raised in here, we could well be on the way to selling out the SANFL Grand Final again on a regular basis irrespective of what the AFL are doing - if Football Park can be a sell out for the Gaelic International Rules game, there is no reason why it cant also be a sell out for the SANFL Grand Final with the right marketing.

[Jar Man Out]

If this move is going to further hurt the SANFL.

why is the SANFL allowing it.

ultimate insult nsw and qld can have the same amount of teams in the afl as south australia. surely someone in the sanfl could be raising some objections. or are they all just yes men.

[am Bays]

If this move is going to further hurt the SANFL.

why is the SANFL allowing it.

ultimate insult nsw and qld can have the same amount of teams in the afl as south australia. surely someone in the sanfl could be raising some objections. or are they all just yes men.

Hey at least more SA kids will get a chance to play AFL....

Personally i don't want more SA AFL sides. The SANFL is far more important to me than the AFL club (Adelaide) and franchise (Port Power) that we have

Not an insult to me its a blessing....

Bottom line a market of 11 Million people can support 4 club more so than a market of less than 2 million can support 3 clubs....

[dash61]

Ok look at it this way

Next week the 2 new AFL sides and The Northern Territory joining the SANFL will complete their initial lists to fill their sides (2 AFL sides plus rookies plus and extra 2-4 on their lists as a concession in the birth of these clubs) 50 odd players for each club, the Northern territory side would be likely to have a squad of 40, probably made up of Territorians and expats so their inpact would be minimal.

These league have to find 100 players from the WAFL, SANFL, VFL & other minor leagues, most will be young talent, good divedends to the clubs but it will impact, "how can it not?"

[Hondo]

SA aren't the only state that produces AFL players - we are only talking 90 across all of Australia. If we think more than 25 or so of that will come from SA we are kidding ourselves I reckon. Last year only 10 (or so) SA lads were drafted in total by the 16 teams.

Plus Gold Coast is 3 years away, West Sydney 4-8 years away .... plenty of time to prepare for Armageddon

And this is not a criticism but can SANFL crowds or media coverage get much lower anyway? I think we have close to bottomed out there already. Who on this site will stop following their team because another 2-4 players are missing? Not me ....

The idea is to grow the game in the Eastern States so in time a greater % of new players will come from there. So there will be some impact, yes. But I think the SANFL has seen off the worst of it already.

I think we can leave the alarm bells in the cupboard. I couldn't resist Punky!

[CUTTERMAN]

I think it will affect the comp. If there is to be another 90 odd players drafted then lets say that 1/3 will be from VIC, so that's 30.
The other 60 taken from SA, WA, NT, TAS etc, so would it be wrong to assume that SA would lose the top 15-20 established and up and coming players. The SANFL will be affected more than any other state league as we're the strongest and the best of the rest come here because of that, trying to get another crack at AFL.

[woodwt]

18 teams what a joke!

[SimonH]

1. Like it or not, the percentage of SA boys being drafted is heading towards 10% (of the total draft), and will drift down and reach that figure by about 2011-12 as more and more quality youth come out of Queensland (and in the very long term NSW), both of which have a population many times that of SA. 90 new players for the 2 new teams (45 each) x 10% = 9 players lost to the SA system. An even one player per club. And remember, those additional 9 players will be the most marginal prospects-- the best are already being snapped up under the existing 16-club system. Losing an average of an additional one young player per club isn't ideal, of course, but it won't exactly decimate the SANFL.
2. If the SANFL cements its status as the #1 state league in the country (and there's no reason why it shouldn't), then more places for AFL players on offer = more blokes who have missed out on being drafted first time around, being motivated to sign with a SANFL club and get noticed, rather than languishing in obscurity in Victoria (because all of the AFL players dropped from their club makes it impossible to get a game for a VFL firsts side), ACT, NT or NSW (because these comps just aren't good enough and/or don't have the profile of the SANFL). As long as the clubs stay financially strong, then in reality the minor player losses from the 2 new AFL clubs will be covered by additional recruiting.
3. If the 18-team comp is broken up into 2 conferences of 9 teams each, so it no longer retains the unity that is really the last vestige of continuity with the old VFL, then I can see this creating real opportunities for SANFL teams into the future. 'Conferences' today, Divisions tomorrow.

[Jar Man Out]

If this move is going to further hurt the SANFL.

why is the SANFL allowing it.

ultimate insult nsw and qld can have the same amount of teams in the afl as south australia. surely someone in the sanfl could be raising some objections. or are they all just yes men.

Hey at least more SA kids will get a chance to play AFL....

Personally i don't want more SA AFL sides. The SANFL is far more important to me than the AFL club (Adelaide) and franchise (Port Power) that we have

Not an insult to me its a blessing....

Bottom line a market of 11 Million people can support 4 club more so than a market of less than 2 million can support 3 clubs....

no way a state of 3 million could support 10 clubs under that rationale tas . hang on a moment how many clubs from victoria a footballing state ???.

Huge population in India aswell gentlemen. Only thing is Indians dont give two craps about aussie rules. just like queenslanders and new south welshmen .

gold coast have had two NRL and NBL teams go bust from memory. and its a very passionate rugby state. one other small point. gold coast had an afl team about 20 years ago (bears) and it had to be moved to brisbane.

other scary fact is afl isnt up in gold coast for their crowds. its in the gold coast for greater tv exposure. With what supporters going to games ???

James Brayshaw / North MElbourne you dodged a bullet IMHO.