supercoach wrote:interesting isnt it. We have 2 clubs in echunga and TV who spend the bucks and have half decent a grade sides yet crap junior programs. Will it be that when they play in a few weeks time that the winner of the a grade game will determine who gets relegated ? One would think TV would win the first 4 games that day so if they won the a grade game echunga would be staring relegation in the face. Clubs like Bridgy and Ironbank and Onkas will be fine even if they dont win many a grade games as they have developed their kids and get an even points spread in the MC shield. They dont deserve to get relegated as they will be strong clubs in the next year or 2 due to their good local content coming along. It will be a great last 5 weeks of the season.
Interesting but uneducated comments by SC - perhaps some sour grapes or a feeling of guilt taking into account the money IB are paying for Jarman, Alleway and Motlop without gaining the results they should.? (taking into account Echunga was also negotiating for Motlop and IB offered more so we have an understanding of this and what IB have been spending.)
I would also suspect Jarman is the highest paid playing coach in the HFL. (At his age and being the coach should he be in the side before a local?)
Uraidla,TV, Lobey and others also pay players - but maintaining a good local player number along with recruits as we are doing gives the up and coming senior colts something to aim for. (well that's the plan anyway)
Lobey and Uraidla also seem to take this path which we have adopted looking to succeed.(I am not sure of TV and how they roll except to say that the money being spent to avoid relegation is over the top)
Echunga actually has an good junior program in place but found it hard to attract junior players while playing in Country div.
Now that they are in Central - albeit with very late notification - the junior sides are on the improve with respect to both number of players and results.
All clubs recruit within Central div to compete - and it has become a vicious circle with respect to this.
Fortunately Echunga has a good spread of locals in its A grade complimented by some good recruits - which anyone who has followed our player stocks in country div would know.
Our senior colts hold their own and junior colts are slowly developing along with our under 13 side.
I also think it is reasonable for Echunga to be given the maximum allowable points when coming up from the lower division - but they were not - and hence are playing at a disadvantage against TV who have up to 18 points.
Again I pose the question - why have TV been given more points than sides below them after the 2013 season?
It will certainly be an interesting few weeks - but my money is on Echunga avoiding relegation - even with one hand tied behind it's back!