Grade Cricket

[Minimum Chips]

Are those interstate guys sticking around I wonder?

Conway, Wood, Kudra, Keogh

No great loss if Conway goes

I think TC means Isaac Conway and not Harry Conway. Agreed - Harry Conway a complete waste of time. Great recruiting Tim!!

[Eagles2014]

Are those interstate guys sticking around I wonder?

Conway, Wood, Kudra, Keogh

No great loss if Conway goes

I think TC means Isaac Conway and not Harry Conway. Agreed - Harry Conway a complete waste of time. Great recruiting Tim!!

Would think with Spencer up and about now, Harry may be at Glenelg for fair amount of next season

[Eagles2014]

Tom Andrews back in town for Port Adelaide

Wow - with him and Greber added to what they already have their spend on players must be in excess of $150K??

It is crazy stuff - where they get the money??? Nearly unbeatable with Valente and Andrews, and Carder be with them all year for his last year at Redbacks. Certain flag if don't choke in Semi Final again

Rumour now Conor McInerney going to Port this season as well, WOWEE, lots of $$$$ from sponsors used there

[maxi]

[code][/code]
Harry Manenti to West Torrens is Ben joining his brother?

[Shark_Hunter]

Any word on how they're going to fixture the 23/24 season?

Still an 8 team Div 1 set up and 6 team Div 2 set up with State U19's? If a club wants to select their State U19 player in 1st Grade, do they play with their club or the State team? Was it top 2 from Div 2 get promoted and bottom 2 from Div 1 get relegated for the season after? Does the 50-over comp and 20-over comp include every club plus the State U19 team and only the 2-day comp get split?

Plan is still 8 and 6 with U19s. I believe the best XII U19 players will be selected each game, they can play against their own club but will only play in the 2-day comp and return to home clubs for 1-day and T20 - no divisions for these comps and no U19 side. Still 2 up and 2 down for 2-day - have not heard anything different. Plan is to play 3-4 rounds of 1-dayers early to have the U19s at their clubs, then 4-5 rounds of 2-day cricket before Xmas, with T20 still a chance for them to stay involved at their club and the expectation they will train with their club once a week.

[cokadonkeytoo]

What I don't get is the 19's play white ball cricket for their nationals, but are playing red ball as a team during the season. Why not have the 19's play in all the white ball comps (no bye fixtured) and have a bye in the Div 2 red ball fixture. I'm pretty sure the players/clubs in Div 2 can get by with a few games off in the season. Why have the 19's boys playing 96 overs?? Just weird if you ask me

[helicopterking]

Put the Root academy in Div 2.They Offer nothing to SA cricket. Move Div 2 season forward so they can get home
Without compromising comp.
Tell U/19 state players to go play Div 1.

[Tony Clifton]

Does anyone think that the two division structure is likely to be a long term solution?

Or will it just get filed away with the Chappell League, the monorail, the escalator to nowhere, the Redbacks League, the 50 foot magnifying glass and the popsicle stick skyscraper?

[cokadonkeytoo]

I believe it's a 3 year trial

[Insider_Trading]

Does anyone think that the two division structure is likely to be a long term solution?

Or will it just get filed away with the Chappell League, the monorail, the escalator to nowhere, the Redbacks League, the 50 foot magnifying glass and the popsicle stick skyscraper?

The positive I can think of (at the moment without having started playing yet obviously) is every game will mean something through the whole season for both divisions.

Over the years in the last few rounds anyone below about 6th place are simply playing cricket because they signed up to it and clubs just go through the motions.
Now in theory, with the fight for finals and relegation in Division 1, every game means something and in Division 2, the fight for promotion means every game means something.

Even this season just completed showed a bit of every game meaning something: the fight for finals, the fight for 8th place (heck, think of that Woodville v Sturt last minor round game), even the fight to get off the bottom of the ladder with Adelaide and Southerns.

Every game should mean something until the end now.

[Minimum Chips]

Given that Tim Nielsen/the Redbacks have clearly shown a preference to provide numerous opportunities to failed interstate players (don't get me started on how many chances Carder, L Scott etc. get given) at the expense of local talent (apart from lining his son's and his mate's son's pockets with contract extensions), what is the point of even having an U/19s? They have no interest, or competence (or just plain bully them out of there) in developing those players, given what we've seen over the past few years and beyond!

[Spiderman]

Barrett to ET confirmed by my sources

[Aerie]

I think the Division concept is a good one, but don't like how they've done it. There shouldn't be an U19 team. There should only be one up and one down each season. There should be 8 teams in the first 4 Divisions and 10 teams in the 5th and 6th Divisions instead of grades and instead of this Division 1 & 2 concept.

With 8 teams, it also gives an opportunity to include more T20 in the schedule including having a T20 competition scheduled for every Division. There will be a lot of opportunity for cricketers in the very near future and beyond to play professionally in T20 competitions around the world. It might actually work in favour of Premier Cricket in that there will be more opportunities for players as they enter their 30's to perform and maybe secure a short term contract somewhere around the world, therefore we see more players sticking around playing Premier Cricket well in to their 30's because of these opportunities.

Premier Cricket should provide a pathway for the short term of the game as much as it does to the baggy green and I think will be better off if they realise this sooner, before things like the Adelaide Premier League take hold. Having 8 teams per division provides that opportunity in the schedule.

[Tony Clifton]

Did a new junior structure and age groups get presented during the week?

[Shark_Hunter]

Did a new junior structure and age groups get presented during the week?

There is a meeting next week - Wed I think. Follows a half day Premier Cricket strategy session last weekend that involved all clubs.

[Bluedemon]

Did a new junior structure and age groups get presented during the week?

what are they looking at possibly changing it to?

[Tony Clifton]

Did a new junior structure and age groups get presented during the week?

what are they looking at possibly changing it to?

Not sure but I've heard they're considering changing age groups and/or getting rid of Whites in one or more age groups

[Aerie]

Just looking at how other States do the junior set up:

WA has 16 clubs and has U17, U15 and then U14 and U13 split in a north and south divide.

TAS has 9 clubs and has U17 and U15.

QLD has 12 clubs and just an U17 competition (which has an extra two regional teams, making 14). They have recently added a region based U16 competition.

NSW has 20 clubs, an U16 Green Shield played in school holidays.

VIC has 18 clubs and U17 Dowling Shield played mainly in school holidays, with finals in February.

I imagine it's more difficult in the bigger cities with travel and therefore a regional junior competition for most of summer makes sense. I wonder if we'll copy the WA model, without the need to split the north and south?

[Cricket Watcher]

Thoughts on the proposed Premier Cricket Junior structure?

[Harry49]

Thoughts on the proposed Premier Cricket Junior structure?

I like the decision to remove red/white and the age groups look good and will free up some grounds on a Saturday which is an added bonus. However, the decision to play U17s on Sunday will have an impact on community clubs if Premier Clubs aren't organised. SACA seemed to have placed more importance on not clashing with college cricket as opposed to the impacts on community cricket.

It now places clubs like ours (Para Hills) in a bit of limbo with planning. We know we will lose at least 3 of our U16's to Premier Cricket and potentially a further 3-4 pending selection. We push all of our players to play the highest level possible so we aren't concerned that they will only play Premier Cricket at this age as we tend to lose them come time for them to move up to Seniors. But we need assurance that we will have enough time to plan. To help community clubs it would be ideal if Premier Clubs select their squads by mid-September so it gives Community Clubs enough time to understand what age groups they will be fielding for the upcoming season and whether or not they need to do last minute recruiting to make up the numbers potentially lost to the new SACA structure. We also don't know is if a Squad of 15 will be chosen for each age group and will the players not selected be encouraged to play for their community club? This will have a ripple effect as it will mean that players in the community club will need to make way for the non-selected premier players. Would be ideal to have some clarity on how this will be rolled out. We do appreciate the move of the U13's competition (Ray-Sutton Shield) to Saturdays as this will be less stressful for our U14's age groups having to squeeze in a match in the morning and then making their way to their Ray-Sutton game. Overall, a re-structure of the SACA Juniors is required and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

One thing I have provided feedback on to SACA is that at the very least these U17s selected to play Premier Cricket are able to nominate their grassroots club and be eligible to play in the SACA 150 Cup for their grassroots club. This keeps their community club connection which is extremely important for both the club and the individual.