Aysh Simper to Peak from BDOS. tough tough player..

I wrote in another thread that people tend to bail at the first sign of adversity and it creates an avalanche of sorts. Blokes don't want to rally around each other anymore, a lot of them just seem to desert their club.

http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2014/03/25/1226864/166857-78e60046-afb6-11e3-a1a5-3e2788585eed.jpg

THE    Southern Football League is set for its most tightly contested season in more than a decade, following years of lopsided results and calls for the competition to be split.

Player exoduses from some traditional powerhouses, coupled with off-season recruiting drives by a few of the leagues perennial strugglers has SFL president Craig Warman confident 2014 will be more even than previous years.

“Last year saw teams which hadn’t contested the top sides in a long time be competitive and I think this year will be no different,” Mr Warman told the Southern Times Messenger.

“The gap between the top and bottom teams that was there a few years ago has diminished and that’s going to show the quality of our teams in the league.”

TELL US BELOW: Who would you like to see in the finals?

The SFL has been plagued by thrashings since it moved to a single division in 2002.

Brighton had pushed for a two-division competition to be introduced in 2012 – a move Mr Warman said was off the table at least for the time being.

Noarlunga Football Club coach Trevor Mitton said every team had a chance at contesting the flag.

“Every team is going to be chasing that top spot and this year is looking like it’s going to be tough competition,” Mitton said.

For several years the competition has been dominated by Reynella, Morphett Vale and Brighton. But in 2012, Happy Valley broke its nine-year premiership drought.

Last season Morphettville Park also emerged as a genuine premiership contender by making the grand final.

Brighton secretary David Brown said the lure of money in country leagues had led to a loss of “top end players” at previously strong SFL clubs. He said this would help ensure there was a “good, even A-grade competition” this season.

Hackham Football Club finished twelfth of 15 last year and began to shrug its traditional battler tag.

It has recruited former Fremantle Docker Justin Bollenhagen who is returning the southern suburbs to play alongside his younger brother Jarrad.

“Playing at Hackham is a new challenge … not only do I want to stay off the injury list, I want to work with Hackham to prove we’re no longer the easy beats we were in other seasons,” Justin said.

“The group of guys the club has got this season will be able to help build the club up after years of struggling.

“We want to challenge for a top eight spot … I’m glad I’m going to be able to do that with my brother.”

Hackham coach Marty Clifton said recruiting Justin was great for the club.

“We’ve got a really great side for season 2014,” Clifton said.

“This season we won’t be the easy beats.”

However, 2013 wooden spooners O’Sullivan Beach/Lonsdale look set to struggle again. Coach Troy Williams said taking on the top sides would again be tough.

“(But) we all try hard to develop our young sides so we can bolster our A-grade and be competitive.”

TELL US BELOW: Who would you like to see in the finals?

It is interesting to note that the u/18 competition with 13 has more sides than both the u/16 and u/14 competitions who only have 10 sides each. This would go against the trend in most competitions even accounting for the availability of ex-college kids who are newly available on Saturday. Also interesting that all the DTH are filling sides, yet three sides past cement hill failed to fill their own independent side.

I think you'll find these clubs all have Sunday 14's and 16's although I think Marion and MVP are with struggling for under 16's....I cant help but feel that this is due to non capping of junior sides which allows a club to field multiple teams when other clubs don't field one for certain grades. Doesn't lend itself to an even comp, hopefully this doesn't result in Sunday 16's comp folding like last season cause not so sure other clubs will be so accommodating this year.

In business you do not suddenly make weak competitors strong by restricting the stronger companies.
It is not the stronger clubs' role to recruit players on behalf of weaker clubs. I agree with capping players per team to ensure each team entered is on an equal footing and that set squads should be in place, but if a club is able to recruit enough players for 5 teams within one grade, then they should be allowed to field each of those teams.

You are a rookie on here mrp2626 and obviously don't know the chequered history of Vics01. I think a restraining order doesn't allow him within half a mile of Cove these days, so he has set up camp with the Clifton Crew at Hackham.

He has never been a big fan of the Roo's so we'll take his dig as being a shot at them rather than Brighton. Unfortunately the Crows first home game would have affected crowds at all community sport on Saturday. Anyway, Brighton got the 2 points against last years runners-up which was more important than the quality of the game and the amount who were watching it. For such a nice autumns day there was some fairly low scoring games other than the 3 blow outs.

What do we make of Aldinga, Lonsdale and Marion people. Don't say 2 Divisions will solve it because all of the other 12 clubs are currently worthy of playing each other week to week and most have the juniors to warrant regular competition against the other clubs.

Old man Emu

I found this discussion on the junior football section of the forum, given its not written by you, I found it quite interesting. Is this the best way forward for Junior Development given that MVFC are clearly the League Leaders in this field, according to your good self anyway....

Hopefully if MVFC continue in this direction, you might be able to return to the Golden Era of 1982-2003.

Old Man Emu - MVFC Junior Development Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla !!!
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well at morphett vale its seems our Under 12 whites are all are best experienced players

our under 12s maroons is all the novices & beginners

or extend that whites are bigger kids (maybe grade 7s at school) & the emu marrons are grade 6ers

our whites smashed our maroons in the trial game[/b][/i]
It wasn't a bad era from 2004 to 2009 (5 Flags in those 6 years) and probably 99% of these players were emu juniors.

Yep, my point was trying to bring exposure to the club and get done kids involved etc. the article I read said crawf was very generous with his time outside of the actual game, if that's true I think this could be more than the gimmick some are portraying it to be

No doubt he has had a great influence on the local community down there and it wasn't just a fly in fly out operation, however he has now gone and what the committee do to leverage off this boost the club has received (not just financially) will be the key to turning around the club.

mrp2626 wrote:do you need to be AT the game to get the broadcast? or will we be able to tune in from home?!

I think there is a 2km radius at this stage, maybe in future they can look at webcasts

Wow what can you say.
As far as all at the Shoe care about points is the six Walon kicked after the siren to win the SFL GF.

23 departures maybe at the start how many of them come back and out of retirement

Brighton had a great day of games down at the Shoe oval on Saturday. Was good to watch all games, and all were played in good spirit. Brighton won the A grade by about 5 goals in the end I believe. Noarlunga were without Johncock, Comer and Minns, and seemed to have a a bit more trouble than last year in the ctr.There was some good ball movement from both sides though. I think our guys will be more competitive this year by the looks of things. Looking forward to seeing what round 1 has in store for us. I would be interested to hear a Noarlunga perspective on the game!?

Agree mrp it was great to see footy back with a good crowd and competitive footy in all grades.
I recall last year in this trial Brighton won by 12 goals.

Brighton had a great day of games down at the Shoe oval on Saturday. Was good to watch all games, and all were played in good spirit. Brighton won the A grade by about 5 goals in the end I believe. Noarlunga were without Johncock, Comer and Minns, and seemed to have a a bit more trouble than last year in the ctr.There was some good ball movement from both sides though. I think our guys will be more competitive this year by the looks of things. Looking forward to seeing what round 1 has in store for us. I would be interested to hear a Noarlunga perspective on the game!?
Agreed MRP was a good day of footy and might add rather well supported by your club who are not renowned for travelling , it's always good to blow the cobwebs out before the real stuff begins , your outfit look to be in great condition and I reckon luck permitting , you will have a reasonable yr
Been a fair bit of movement on the Noarlunga list in the off season with Minns(Pt Lincoln) W.Johncock (Glenelg ) Comer retiring and coaching our B Grade.Booga retiring again ,Hudson back to Mt Gambier due to work , B&F winner Rattley concentrating on work for now but expected to return before mid yr, Carlisle out for the season after shoulder surgery and Henry Kerinuia currently back on the Tiwi Islands but expected to return to Coburg in the VFL. where he has done some pre-season work
Lindsay Moreen has returned after a good season with the Tiwi Bombers
On the in front Copestick has returned after 3 years with Bordertown , Mitch Mulroney a 6ft 10 ruckman from Ainslie in the NEAFL ,Owen Henry from Tiwi Bombers, Owen Patterson from Tennant Creek, and Kynan Betts who won last yrs Mail Medal at Malle Pk in Pt Lincoln, and the return of Hocking,Emery and Atkinson who missed last yr with Knee reconstructions and ankle surgery respectively ,
We have also been selected as home club by Glenelg recruit Willie Rioli Jnr ,but I doubt we will see him at all such is the calibre of young Willie,.

Having Nick Mott,Matthew Johncock and Kynan Betts on the Crows Reserves Top Up List throws us a whole new scenario for 2015 , will be very interesting to see how that works , Mott and Johncock have had solid pre seasons and impressed early ,
All in all we are in a lot better place than we were at this stage last yr with more than 10 players expected to play B Grade who have had a good taste of A Grade footy , Mitts certainly will be a lot busier at team selection this yr with a bit more depth at his disposal
The $64 question is are we good enough to defend the flag ???? Ask me in late August and I'll give you an answer

So after the Downer that was Association Footy, let's get back to the real thing and generate some conversation on this page again.

My tips this week:

Aldinga Vs Flaggies - Flaggies by 15 goals

Brighton Vs Edwardstown - Cracking match this one, i am a fan of the Bombers so i tip them by 4 goals

M/Vale Vs Cove - Emus to bounce back here but Cove will put up a fight. Emus by 9 goals

Noarlunga Vs Happy Valley - Vikings have improved a lot recently but The Shoes will be too strong and win by 6 goals.

Christies Vs OSB/Lonsdale - The Beach Cup. Well Lions have shown improvement this year and the Saints have gone way backwards but i still tip the Saints by 10 goals.

Porties Vs Hackham - Young Hawks will have a crack but Porties by 12 goals is my tip.

Reynella Vs Morphy Parks - Another solid game i reckon with the Twisties going well and have a very very good top 6 but Wineflies depth will win out by 6 goals.