Is it time for an Under 18's competition

[giffo]

Whyalla was the only remaining league in SA last year to have an 18s competition.

SAAFL holds an u/18's comp.

[MatteeG]

Logistically a very sensible idea, for all the reasons mentioned previously (trainers/support staff etc).

[cd]

Personal Post Only

Heard from friends in Victoria that there is talk of TAC going to Under 19 as draft age is also likely to go up.
Has anyone else heard this?

Col D

[Ian]

My initial thoughts were no, keep it as it is, but after further thought, discussion etc. yes it should be changed.
When the current format started footy was THE sport that was played in winter, there were kids lining up from every where to play footy. Now there is so much competition from other sports, let alone all of the other activities available that wern't in the past. Although numbers playing jnr footy are still good, there is not the same talent pool to draw from that there was in the past.
3 games in one day, at one venue also makes a lot more sense than 4 games at two venues on the same day, less support staff (usually volunters and increasingly hard to find) required on match day, the juniors would get the opportunity to watch the seniors play, and visa versa, easier for senior coaches to form their own opinion on juniors if they can see them play live.
Too many positives to say no.

[CK]

Agreed entirely and completely - U20 and U18 (this was nearly going to be this week's Sportsbeat column, strangely enough, until I noticed how much it had been discussed here already! ). The U20's will benefit the AFL clubs in particular - who DO make a fairly significant contribution to the SANFL in a range of areas - while giving the late bloomer the chance to take that next step fully, rather than before their time.
U18 will bring us in line with the other states and just give that very promising, but slightly build kid, the chance to flesh out for another year against their age group - too many kids have been thrown up before their time and before their ability catches up, and burnt.
All for both completely.

[am Bays]

CK are you advocating an U 18 and U/20 comp????

Name me one person who has played two years of U/19s (without playing ressies) and then gone and played league as I said I can't recall one person at Glenelg who has done that

No need for an under 20 if you can't play ressies by the age of 19 ATM in the SANFL odds are you aren't going to make it. All you need is a quota of overage players for the 19s for those the alte developers. No SANFL club is going to have a team of 21 late 18 & 19 yo late developers.

ATM all your good 17 and 18 year olds are playing ressies/league. Even before the Crows came into being last minor rd game of 1990 Glenelg had 9 u/17s and U19s playing ressies and 1 U/17 playing league. Now given the best 44 players in the state each week are playing at a higher level it would be even worse come the end of the year

An U/20 comp would be an absolute waste of precious SANFL resources.

[smac]

Tas, Brad Currie at the dogs (fairly certain) and Leigh Westhoff at the dogs both fit your bill. It does happen, but it is fairly rare.

[am Bays]

Tas, Brad Currie at the dogs (fairly certain) and Leigh Westhoff at the dogs both fit your bill. It does happen, but it is fairly rare.

That is why to cover that you ahve a quota of overage players in your U/18s for each club....

[Ian]

An U/20 comp would be an absolute waste of precious SANFL resources.

Totally agree, if you were to go to a U18's & U20's, you may as well leave it as it is.

[heater31]

Its fine as it is.............if it aint broke then why fix it?????

[Ian]

Its fine as it is.............if it aint broke then why fix it?????

There's a lot of sense made below for something that you claim "aint broke", maybe the current format isn't completely broken, but it is very worn out.

*I think this would be good because you can play all 3 grades 18's, Reserves and League at the 1 venue.

League
Reserves
Under 18s

... just like at least 80% of all competitions nationwide.

Their are other clubs for and against but those against have no real supporting facts to retain the staus quo where as the reasons for change are obvious, practical, common sense and puts us in line with the rest of Australia.

Long over due change required - I can not recall one player in my time at Glenelg who played the full two years of under U/19 footy without going up to ressies or league - who then went on to make his league debut.

*Although numbers playing jnr footy are still good, there is not the same talent pool to draw from that there was in the past.
*3 games in one day, at one venue also makes a lot more sense than 4 games at two venues on the same day
* less support staff (usually volunters and increasingly hard to find) required on match day,
*the juniors would get the opportunity to watch the seniors play, and visa versa,
*easier for senior coaches to form their own opinion on juniors if they can see them play live.


Too many positives to say no.

[heater31]

Ian, what I mean is it seems fine as it is at the moment. whys should we rush down the path of the u/18 format when it has some problems interstate. merging two into one is going to reduce the talent pool that we have to pick from. atm the better ones will be filter through it would be better to get rid of the u/17 and have two grades of u/19 with an A and B grade picked on talent

[Benchwarmer]

There's no problems with it in the WAFL - League, Ressies and U18 all playing at the one ground on the same day.

The problem is in Victoria, where there is no true pathway between TAC clubs and VFL clubs, only regional links. They are set up as different clubs so there is overspending on infrastructure and there is a "leak" in the pathway system.

If the SANFL went to three sides as per the WAFL, then they should not have the issues that Victoria has ... and then IIRC the only state without the above structure would be Victoria.

[Ian]

From the "Rooster News"

Early season results would indicate that North's under age side were headed for outstanding results in 2007.

However the impact of College football has a dramatic effect on the availability of players throughout the season. On a given weekend we may have up to 16 players unavailable for selection due to school commitments. The net result of an increasing number of boys attending Colleges will be that of constant personnel changes at some SANFL Clubs. To compound this issue, North Adelaide has 8 lads in the State U/18 squad and a further 8 in the State U/16 squad.

In deed it may be possible to have one of the better under age sides in the SANFL and yet not ba able to win enough games throughout the season to qualify for finals - all due to player availability. There is no obvious solution to the issue apart from the SANFL Commission changing the current structure to that of one under age team, U/18s, thus reducung the strain on player reserves

BTW Bench warmer, I can sympathise with your signature...also my only GF (U15s), and on the wrong end of a 20 goal drubbing

[sydney-dog]

my apology for starting a new thread, I did not see this thread,

quite simply, those who are running junior footy in SA need to remove the BLINKERS