Sportsbeat--- How to Improve the SANFL

[Benchwarmer]

1. Reintroduce the preseason comp. Yes

2. A night game every round. Great idea

3. Introduce 3 points for a rushed behind. No way - maybe the VFL's 'no mark for a backwards kick' may be the go instead

4. Offer clubs a bonus point for exceeding 20 goals in a match I am a big advocate of this one - attacking footy is what we want in the main - no defensive 'sideways or backwards' claptrap

5. Four players on the interchange bench Yes

6. Port Magpies take the initiative to move 3 home games per season as curtainraisers to Port Adelaide's AFL games. No, curtain raisers detract from the SANFL

7. Coaches allowed some comment on umpiring performances. Yes to a degree

8. A rule change to penalise teams that do not have at least 3 players behind the centre square at all times. Very hard to police - maybe try the old VFA ground markings where the CHF/CHB lines extend to the boundaries (ie. no square lines along the wing inside the boundary) and we have 4 in the square at ball ups still. This means boundary umps only need to concentrate on the 'centre half' lines at ball ups and there would be less congestion in the midfield. Also 16-a-side may cause less congestion on the field. Having seen a VFA game from 1981 on DVD over the weekend, I was astounded at how quickly the ball moved around the ground and how few bounces were called for by the 2 umpires

9. Introduce 1 round per year as AAMI Stadium round. No

10. 2 country rounds per year with all games played in regional centres Yes, with long weekends the best times - the WAFL promotes itself well in country regions with matches funded by State Government grants with the local league and its clubs benefiting (all money from the game stays in the region)


Also maybe consider these ones:

11. Club structure: U18, Reserves and League instead of U17 and U19.

12. The old VFA set-up of 16-a-side (no wings - they are fairly redundant nowadays).

[RustyCage]

1)Reintroduce the preseason comp - YES
2)A night game every round - NO
3)Introduce 3 points for a rushed behind - NO
4)Offer clubs a bonus point for exceeding 20 goals in a match - HELL NO
5)Four players on the interchange bench - YES
6)Port Magpies take the initiative to move 3 home games per season as curtainraisers to Port Adelaide's AFL games. - YES
7)Coaches allowed some comment on umpiring performances - YES
A rule change to penalise teams that do not have at least 3 players behind the centre square at all times - WTF? NO WAY
9)Introduce 1 round per year as AAMI Stadium round - MAYBE
10)2 country rounds per year with all games played in regional centres - NO

[RustyCage]

3) No, 3 points is just a crappy solution.

Better idea would be to have the point awarded, plus a ball up at top of the goal square for a deliberate rushed behind.

Three points for a rushed behind is stupid. Keep it at 1 point, leave the immediate kick out thing they are doing now for behinds as it has been a positive move I think, but make it if the behind is rushed, the team kicking out has to wait for the flags before they can kick it out. That is a big enough disadvantage, as usually by the time the flags have finished being waved, the ball is already half way down the wing. It gives the other team enough time to set up their defence of the kick out.

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

1)Reintroduce the preseason comp - Yes

2)A night game every round - No

3)Introduce 3 points for a rushed behind - No

4)Offer clubs a bonus point for exceeding 20 goals in a match - No

5)Four players on the interchange bench - Yes

6)Port Magpies take the initiative to move 3 home games per season as curtainraisers to Port Adelaide's AFL games. - No

7)Coaches allowed some comment on umpiring performances - Yes

A rule change to penalise teams that do not have at least 3 players behind the centre square at all times - No

9)Introduce 1 round per year as AAMI Stadium round - No

10)2 country rounds per year with all games played in regional centres - Yes

[spell_check]

Ok, my go:

1. Reintroduce the preseason comp - I suppose

2. A night game every round - That would be good, but probably the better thing to do is have two a round for the first couple, then one each round until Round 9, and a few more near the end of the year.

3. Introduce 3 points for a rushed behind - A big no.

4. Offer clubs a bonus point for exceeding 20 goals in a match - Yes, I would love it, but unfortunately some teams may play in adverse conditions more than others so this won't happen.

5. Four players on the interchange bench - Only if teams were limited to 40-50 interchanges per match

6. Port Magpies take the initiative to move 3 home games per season as curtainraisers to Port Adelaide's AFL games - no, supporters would have to pay 100% more to see a game than what we normally would. And as BW said, it would detract from the SANFL

7. Coaches allowed some comment on umpiring performances - Yes, but depends on what is said, constructive yes, personal no

8. A rule change to penalise teams that do not have at least 3 players behind the centre square at all times. - I don't think this is too much of an issue at SANFL level

9. Introduce 1 round per year as AAMI Stadium round. - Not sure on this one, two games on a Friday night and two on a Saturday Night would be not too bad.

10. 2 country rounds per year with all games played in regional centres - 1 round per year would be best, if they went to 2 then the 22 match, 25 rounds a year should be in again

[Matt the Panther]

Regarding idea #9 - play an entire SANFL round at Football Pk. This could work along the following set-up:

Play round 1 of the SANFL on the weekend when the AFL has no action in between the preseason grand final & AFL round 1.

Play double headers at Football Pk on the Friday & Sat nights. The previous year's wooden spooner is rewarded for their mediocrity by having the round 1 bye and missing out on the Football Pk carnival.

Admission is free - yep if the SACA for many years carried dollar day for Pura Cup cricket, I think the SANFL can realistically test the strength of interest in its product by throwing the gates open on a weekend in March and see how many fans will come in.

The Friday night could be Glenelg/South followed by Port/Nwd and the Sat night could be Sturt/Eagles followed by CD/North. On a March evening with free admitance and no AFL on the TV, I suggest crowds of 10,000 for each night are possible.

This weekend would become the AFL's free kick to the SANFL to promote & publicise like its never done before!!!

And I know that the Advertiser footy writers would promote that opening round to the highest !!!

I like this idea...

[Pseudo]

Regarding idea #9 - play an entire SANFL round at Football Pk. This could work along the following set-up:

[...]

Play double headers at Football Pk on the Friday & Sat nights. The previous year's wooden spooner is rewarded for their mediocrity by having the round 1 bye and missing out on the Football Pk carnival.

[...]

Great idea, except for the wooden spooner getting the bye. Ideally the wooden spooner would have the bye in the last round. Bit stiff to expect them to also wear the first bye.

I reckon the team to miss out should be the team which finished in 5th spot.

[rd]

Maybe the team that finished 8th the prev year gets the bye in the final round - Sturt rose from 8th to the finals this year but generally teams ranked 8 & 9 the previous year don't have much influence on the makeup of the final five by the final minor round.

With the free admittance AAMI round 1 to kick start the season - all games & costs at the neutral stadium underwritten by the SANFL so no clubs can complain about losing a valuable home match - the previous wooden spooner would miss out on all the free publicity and associated sponsorship profile and so hopefully will then go all out to never finish bottom again - unlike the AFL where finishing 16th can be a lot better than 15th sometimes.

As I stated earlier, there is no AFL football on the proposed weekend - its a free kick by the AFL to the SANFL to get the 2008 season off and running with full media coverage and in front of bigger than usual crowds - crowds that might then return during the season when their Crows/Power teams are playing interstate on a particular weekend.

[Dogmatic]

Maybe the team that finished 8th the prev year gets the bye in the final round - Sturt rose from 8th to the finals this year but generally teams ranked 8 & 9 the previous year don't have much influence on the makeup of the final five by the final minor round.

With the free admittance AAMI round 1 to kick start the season - all games & costs at the neutral stadium underwritten by the SANFL so no clubs can complain about losing a valuable home match - the previous wooden spooner would miss out on all the free publicity and associated sponsorship profile and so hopefully will then go all out to never finish bottom again - unlike the AFL where finishing 16th can be a lot better than 15th sometimes.

As I stated earlier, there is no AFL football on the proposed weekend - its a free kick by the AFL to the SANFL to get the 2008 season off and running with full media coverage and in front of bigger than usual crowds - crowds that might then return during the season when their Crows/Power teams are playing interstate on a particular weekend.

I agree with starting a week earlier however when the AFL has it's split round schedule either the state game or the traditional rivals round and ramp up the publicity.

[redden whites]

What the hell is wrong with the rushed behind......... Its been in our game for decades and the game has survived do people pack up their seats and leave in droves when it happens ?? or instantly turn the channel over to a 1952 John Wayne movie also. Geez leave the game alone for a while.

[RustyCage]

What the hell is wrong with the rushed behind......... Its been in our game for decades and the game has survived do people pack up their seats and leave in droves when it happens ?? or instantly turn the channel over to a 1952 John Wayne movie also. Geez leave the game alone for a while.

[Benchwarmer]

A contentious one ... 8 teams or else a 10th side THAT ORIGINATES IN S.A. (e.g. Mt Gambier, Riverland or else a suburban-based side).

[RustyCage]

I dont see the need for an extra team. Im sure the players are happy to have a week off a couple of times a season, especially as it is essentially an amateur competition, and players need to work to pay their bills, and many have young families which they can spend some time with.

[DAMHARD]

The rule that i see as most unfair in the SANFL is the kick in after a behind has been scored.In the AWFUL when u have ball boys its not so bad but we don't have that luxury and if a team is lucky enough they can return the ball into play before the goal umpire has even signaled the score but if your not then u wait for a new ball from the sidelines.
To me any competitive game is about equal conditions i think this rule should go back until the goal umpire has waved his flags in this great competion that is called SANFL.
And i am a Victorian.

[Mr66]

10 teams.
Bring back Woodville AND West Torrens.

[eaglehaslanded]

I've taken some time to analyse the points made by Chris Kendall and this is my opinion:

1)Reintroduce the preseason comp - I totally agree I would go with a format of each team playing 3 games and then top 2 play off in pre-season GF. It would mean instead of playing pointless trial games you would be playing for something

2)A night game every round - totally agree whether it be at Adelaide or Norwood maybe Elizabeth this is a must as everybody loves night footy - I would also like less games on Sunday.

3)Introduce 3 points for a rushed behind - I wouldn't like to see this one introduced on a slightly different tangent I would like to see play on called when the ball bounces off goal posts back into field of play.

4)Offer clubs a bonus point for exceeding 20 goals in a match - Again I disagree we don't need to over complicate our premiership table with bonus points.

5)Four players on the interchange bench - Agreed this is a must with the fast paced nature of our comp it would allow for more rotations etc and would keep players fresher for longer.

6)Port Magpies take the initiative to move 3 home games per season as curtainraisers to Port Adelaide's AFL games. - Would disagree with this as the SANFL pre game has been tried before and didn't work.

7)Coaches allowed some comment on umpiring performances - This needs to stay the same as officials of the club you have to learn to respect the umpiring whether it be good, bad or indifferent.

A rule change to penalise teams that do not have at least 3 players behind the centre square at all times - Let's not over complicate our rules let's not worry about this one.
9)Introduce 1 round per year as AAMI Stadium round - I think Adelaide Oval should remain the neutral SANFL venue and I would like to see at least 1 game played there every week.

10)2 country rounds per year with all games played in regional centres - Although I do belive we need to see more regional games I don't believe having 2 regional exclusive rounds is the way to go. I would like to see each club play 1 home match a season at regional venue - not to be all played in the same week we still need to maintain some suburban footy each weekend.

[Dan The Man]

1)Reintroduce the preseason comp ? WHY?Instead of a BS preseason cup comp and meaningless waste of time trial games.
It would be far better to start the season a month earlier and have a 24 game season.

2)A night game every round? Night footy is only good up until May.Forget June and July.

3)Introduce 3 points for a rushed behind? NO

4)Offer clubs a bonus point for exceeding 20 goals in a match? NO

5)Four players on the interchange bench? YES

6)Port Magpies take the initiative to move 3 home games per season as curtainraisers to Port Adelaide's AFL games.? NO.They would be better off playing a game or 2 on the West Coast.

7)Coaches allowed some comment on umpiring performances ? Yes

A rule change to penalise teams that do not have at least 3 players behind the centre square at all times ? NO

9)Introduce 1 round per year as AAMI Stadium round ? NO a crap idea.

10)2 country rounds per year with all games played in regional centres ? Only 1 country round at Easter.However each club should play between 1-3 games in their country zone.