And Cracka, you'll be happy to know plenty of hours and dollars have been spent over the offseason to do up the Away Changerooms at IB. While not completely finished for Rd 1, it is very functional and hopefully other teams appreciate their new surroundings

“He might have been naive, but he didn't care; he said he'd rather die with his heart on his sleeve than end up another cynic.”

I sometimes get stuck into the local debate also, as I mean it is probably an indicator of how strong your club is and also for a sense of pride but the more I've thought about it the more I think...
In reality this very often coincides with the size of the town your club is in.... very easy to play local talent when you have local TALENT.
I don't think we can have a go at the clubs, who clearly don't have the talent coming through and have to find other ways to improve their senior grades.
And the counter 'put money into the junior program' argument is a naive one. All clubs invest here, and money helps but only up to a certain level. You could invest major $$ into your juniors, but the reality is you are not going to get kids who live in towns with football teams to come to your club. Not saying clubs couldn't do more, but always a strong correlation between where you live and where you play footy.

I really think all the talk of relegation is moot as there will be a change to the structure of the comp. Which one though?

12 team comp is the death knell for Country
Leaving as is creates major opposition for the team being relegated and doesn't fix Div 2.
2 x 8 team comps - have to field all teams on a Saturday makes most sense. With automatic relegation/promotion.
As the 2nd Div teams field all sides, it will be a good even comp that clubs will not be against going down too.

Divs might start off like this -
Div 1 - Lobethal, Mt Barker, Hahndorf, Onkas, Ironbank, Bridgewater, Uraidla, Blackwood
Div 2 - TV, Echunga, Lofty, Meadows, Nairne, Kangarilla, Kersbrook, Birdwood/Gumeracha