HFL Division 1 (Central)

[Dr.Football]

Grass roots footy is going to struggle as long as the SANFL/AFl let the well off parents buy there kids premierships, its time an independent board was setup to investigate serious salary cap breaches. One premiership club that claimed it pays no one is making a mockery of the HFL, heard from a reliable source (Horses Mouth) a nephew just knocked back $450 Game to join this side for FREE????.
Lets get real and return the comp to the roots it's title boasts of, "COUNTRY DIVISION".

[PPLions]

Can you give us a clue about that side mate?

[hillsrider]

oh dear, maccy competitve???? when???? just wait till the winter comes and it gets cold. then they will go missing. you cant stay fit in the bar or at home on a tuesday or thursday night.
would be great to see it, but i dont think it will happen!!

[ORDoubleBlues]

[quote="maccymangel"]didnt know u had the ability to read yet doubleblues!! didnt even see u at the game on saturday..very dissapointing as i heard u may have even been pulling the boots on..i guess the pack busting ability has gone..has it?? a few too many coopers vintage hey? [quote]

You obviously never made it up to the bar then

With all respect hillsrider, you obviously didn't follow this competition last year. Don't say I object to the general tone of what you're getting at but unfortunately the township of Macclesfield has fallen victim to "townies" syndrome, whereby people have been coming up there to live but they still keep all their sporting and other social commitments with where they are from. Even though the town is bigger numbers wise, there is less local people to choose from than ever but the club has done well to hang on in the last 5 years where some haven't and some others won't once the dollars dry up. Luckily the current coach is an exception to the previously mentioned "townies" rule and his influence has ensured the short term survival of the club at the very least.
Lions, I think you and I both know which club Dr Football is talking about.

[hillsrider]

Hmm, interesting ODB. I certainly did follow the comp last year. very closley as well. and, there have been plenty of locals WITH footy ability to make maccy more than competitive. but, it appears that they need townies to bring back the right attitude. that is a pity.

[ORDoubleBlues]

No worries hillsrider. Perhaps I'm too easily satisfied but I would have thought last years Macclesfield outfit was competitive. If a few close results had gone their way they would have been playing finals football. Beat Echunga (on two occasions) for the first time in about 27 years which I know didn't impress one P.Munn one little bit By the sound of your last post you do know your Hills football, probably better than myself but I can assure you there are not many in the 18-30 age bracket that are/have been locals with football ability. Some of the better ones who don't play anymore have various reasons but if you threw names at me I could give reasons, without being derogatory, as to why they don't.

[PPLions]

No, I have no idea which Club he is on about

[hillsrider]

Well, ODB, look at the good local players that have left maccy in the last few years. 2 x Searle, Mills, D Mackie (for a year) Lamprod, Pope, Vanetti, Robbie ??? (last name escapes me, think he was vice captain at one stage) Tarasenko. Throw those in instead of the 'townies' (or with the townies) and they would be certain finalists.
alot of money has been spent on these 'townies', whereas the locals wouldnt cost that much!!
BTW ODB, are you from maccy??

[Dr.Football]

Hillsrider I think you could pick names like that out from any club, and a club with little success is going to find it even tougher to retain quality palyers. Unfortunately, loyalty is almost a thing of the past !
Don't get me wrong with my earlier post, i don't object to a club topping up it's stocks if it means survival for a few years while a well structured junior program blossoms. Clubs that top up at the expense of their locals are the ones that give me the bajeebers, especially clubs that are already strong enough. I have seen this happen in other leagues, the money dissipates and the juniors are not around to save the club because they have gone elsewhere to get a game. I take my hat of to the likes of Birdwood, Nairne Bremer, Meadows who's majority of footballers are local, and have come through their Junior ranks. I'm sure some of these clubs have the cash to spend up, but restrain themselves.

[hillsrider]

Doc, loyalty barely exists any more in the hills league. maccy have done more than just top up their list though. it was almost a new team that was on the field last year. i havent seen their list this year yet. but word is there are more outsiders up there. money does dry up.. eventually!! very scarey to think what is happening in their juniors. your right about the juniors at he other clubs. look at meadows for instance. their community gets right behind there juniors, hence why they have been strong for a long time.

[ORDoubleBlues]

BRANDON BURDETT - Gutsy little bugger who had Darren Pope like evasive skills (opponents couldn't tackle him, even when he wasn't moving!) and he was an inch or two shorter than his brother but a bit more solid of a build. Won the B&F in 2001 after playing the first 6 games in the reserves. To the best of my knowledge he has had at least one knee recon, possibly two and has had a shoulder recon. Only 28 but really isn't capable of playing football anymore.

ROBBIE ? - believe that is Robert Lomman. He moved to Perth.

JASON BELL - Far as I'm concerned this kid should have been playing SANFL football. Had talent, vision, poise and evasive skills that you just can't teach. Unfortunately he had numerous off field problems and a lack of discipline and he never got close to realising his potential. 28 this year.

JAKE HOWARD - Another talent but really lost interest after his brother passed away during the 2000 season. - 27 this year.

CHRIS TARASENKO - At the risk of starting a bun fight, I shall plough on regardless. A huge talent and we knew this but unfortunately he always wanted to screw around on the track (when he did show up to training) and I can assure you, as captain of the club at the time, I was f****d off ( ) when he put down one of his reasons to want a transfer to Nairne as "a lack of a professional attitude". This was nonsense, there was always a core group of players who were professional and did all the work but he wasn't interested. Still only about 23 but now playing for Nairne, since 2002 in fact.

BEN SLACK - Another huge talent but not interested in doing the work to get fit. - 31 this year.

Been numerous others over the years including the Semple brothers, Shane Osmond, Alex Corbett, Jason Rehn (had the skills but may have lacked in other areas), Grantley Axon,etc, etc.
Can assure you (no not a Meadows 2001 assurance, a genuine one) that there is very little money exchanging hands at Maccy at the moment, some of them are playing for nothing at all which can be traced to the political situation at Marion. Can not say for sure but I doubt Fogden or Hutchinson (former SANFL players) would be getting much more than petrol money.

[PPLions]

How did Fogden and Hutchinson go on the weekend?
Who did Hutchinson play for?
Is he a key position player?

[GWW]

How did Fogden and Hutchinson go on the weekend?
Who did Hutchinson play for?
Is he a key position player?

There was a Hutchinson playing for South Adelaide a few years ago, dont know if its the same one.

[ORDoubleBlues]

How did Fogden and Hutchinson go on the weekend?
Who did Hutchinson play for?
Is he a key position player?

There was a Hutchinson playing for South Adelaide a few years ago, dont know if its the same one.

Yes GWW, it is the same one and yes a key position player. Think he played CHB on the weekend.
Fogden did okay but was double teamed at full forward all day. Thought maybe that this situation could have been exploited a bit better but hey if I saw him in the square I'd probably still kick it to him too!

[hillsrider]

ODB, there's 18 players you just listed. Very good players too. But, only 2 of them are a realistic chance of playing in the A's this year. You and Millsy. I do know for a fact how much (within a grand or two) was spent last year. Scarey numbers indeed. Word is, more spent this year. How do you locals put up with it. How does Aaron put up with it. He would be in the top 3 players at the club. Will Hutchison stand up this year?? Or even the other big guy. Name escapes me, Justin someone i think.
will be very interesting. the jury is definately out for maccy this year.

[ORDoubleBlues]

Interesting comments there Hillsrider. Must say that if there is significant dollars being spent, that's news to me as I have spoken to nearly all of the committee in the last 2 months, though they would probably be reluctant to tell me too much given that they know I post (a great joke at recent committee meetings apparently ) on here. Not stupid enough to think that they're all playing for the guernsey but wouldn't have thought there were large amounts involved. Know in the past when some of the local "high flyers" were approached for money, they were only interested in shelling it out if Maccy was winning, which when you think about it is a catch 22 situation. If big money is involved, I'd be interested to know where it's coming from.
Was told by one Hills coach (no, not Maccy's) that never before did he see an offseason where so little (quality of player) was asking for so much.
Am certainly concerned about the juniors situation at Maccy
An argument could be made that Maccy could have fallen over in the early 90's if we hadn't had a huge influx of juniors from Mt Barker between '91 and 95. These included the Searls, the Mackies, the Clothiers, Anthony Fox (should have had him on my list, last played in '99 at the age of 24 - interleague squad member in '98), the Rehns, etc, etc.
Last time any sort of money was spent was when Trevor Williams was appointed in '95 and he brought the likes of Brent Massey, Rick Grimes, Brad Champness, Alex Corbett and others. Pretty sure this time that there wasn't huge money involved.
When Wilmott took over in '97, nearly all players that were recruited were recruited by the players themselves. As I've said many times before, I believe there was a big mistake made after that Grand Final appearance when the attitude was "we don't need to recruit, we just played in a GF". Echunga and Ironbank came back down the next season, so that automatically put them in fourth spot and a couple of clubs below them did recruit, so the inevitable happened and Maccy missed the '98 finals and the downhill slide started then.
Not sure what young Aaron Julian would think of the current situation but I get the impression he's fairly happy with it.
Was good to see Torin Clack back in the A's on the weekend, B&F winner in 2003

[hillsrider]

ODB, young clacky goes alright. it was his first year in a grade when he won the b & f. good lad as well. normally its just a matter of time before the locals get sick of a club spending money on players with the same or less ability than a lot of the locals. logically, no one on the committee will tell you about $$ being spent on players. a few good sponsors certainly have helped in that area i hear. saw on an earlier post that wally might have a bit more depth this year. hope so, as the b's were very ordinary last year, and having colts (and their coach) fill in each week doesnt help. i hope that with all the influx of the townies, that all diehard locals (and not many mind you) dont just drop off. they would make a more than competitive b grade team, and with you coming back thru them will certainly help.

[ORDoubleBlues]

Yeah, I know what you're getting at.
Yes B Grade did look all right on Saturday. Beat Meadows well enough.
They've acquired former United Eagle Rick Hooper, young Goulding from Milang as well as (mentioned in a previous post) Brad Heading from Nairne and apparently Rick Clayton is going to go around again with his son Adam Scamoni (don't know where he's been playing recently). Mike Bottroff has come back to the club after living in Darwin.

[scottroo]

Aarons happy at maccy

[hillsrider]

good to hear. didnt think he ever wouldnt be. not being derogative, but you'd hate to see him spend his career in the country division. still a teenager. very good player now, and still improving.
who do maccy have this week?