Ch9 AFL Division 8 - 2015

[jo172]

Shaping up to be a quality finals series in 8 and 8R. Rare for C/D grade comp to be so even between first and fifth and I dare say every finalist will consider themselves a chance.

In the C Grade I suspect Tea Tree Gully's more experienced players will prove the difference in finals. Having said that on a warm day on a big oval (Kilburm, St Mary's, Salisbury, Thebarton) on Grand Final day both PAOC and Unley will relish the conditions.

In the D's the comp is arguably even wider with the top 5 all having a very unbalanced record against one another. To take the weak bet it will depend who is able to get all their players on the park and firing at the right time. I suspect SMOSH has a slight edge in this area but that's a blind stab. Ditto my oval/Grand Final thoughts except I think in this grade it will suit Old Ignatians more than anything

TTG play on possibly the biggest oval and it hasn't bothered them

[Senor Moto Gadili]

Shaping up to be a quality finals series in 8 and 8R. Rare for C/D grade comp to be so even between first and fifth and I dare say every finalist will consider themselves a chance.

In the C Grade I suspect Tea Tree Gully's more experienced players will prove the difference in finals. Having said that on a warm day on a big oval (Kilburm, St Mary's, Salisbury, Thebarton) on Grand Final day both PAOC and Unley will relish the conditions.

In the D's the comp is arguably even wider with the top 5 all having a very unbalanced record against one another. To take the weak bet it will depend who is able to get all their players on the park and firing at the right time. I suspect SMOSH has a slight edge in this area but that's a blind stab. Ditto my oval/Grand Final thoughts except I think in this grade it will suit Old Ignatians more than anything

TTG play on possibly the biggest oval and it hasn't bothered them

Haha....you were right. TTG were up by 15 points, 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter and stopped as if shot. PAOC kicked 9 of the last 10 goals

[jo172]

Shaping up to be a quality finals series in 8 and 8R. Rare for C/D grade comp to be so even between first and fifth and I dare say every finalist will consider themselves a chance.

In the C Grade I suspect Tea Tree Gully's more experienced players will prove the difference in finals. Having said that on a warm day on a big oval (Kilburm, St Mary's, Salisbury, Thebarton) on Grand Final day both PAOC and Unley will relish the conditions.

In the D's the comp is arguably even wider with the top 5 all having a very unbalanced record against one another. To take the weak bet it will depend who is able to get all their players on the park and firing at the right time. I suspect SMOSH has a slight edge in this area but that's a blind stab. Ditto my oval/Grand Final thoughts except I think in this grade it will suit Old Ignatians more than anything

TTG play on possibly the biggest oval and it hasn't bothered them

Haha....you were right. TTG were up by 15 points, 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter and stopped as if shot. PAOC kicked 9 of the last 10 goals

When Prince Alfred are fully fit and firing their depth as a club is phenomenal and likely surpasses even Adelaide Uni. They would dominate Div 7 and be competitive in Div 6 in my view (although I understand why they may not wish to test that theory).

Hell, if PAOC had a vicious civil war causing a split right down the middle of the club you'd likely end up with two competitive Div 3/4 clubs.

[wristwatcher]

The days of clubs playing where they should be playing and where relegation and promotion dictates where they play are a thing of the past it would appear. A tall story to tell our grand kids perhaps.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't PAC win both the Div 8 and 8R last year. I may also be dreaming but doesn't Div 7 only have 6 teams. If they win both again and they elect not to go up there is only one word for their club......maybe more than one

[Jimmy_041]

I can't help but respond to Wristy's obvious trolling remarks about "sandbagging" as we all know he chooses to play D8R when he could play D1 if he just trained one night per week and stopped spending his valuable time taking in stray dogs (He's the canine version of the cat lady)

PAOC did win the D2R, D8 & D8R last year and came 2nd in C3. The A Grade came 3rd.
If we were "sandbagging", surely one of the non-A Grade sides wouldn't have played in a Grand Final or are you saying we are playing our A Grade players in the lower grades?
For 2015, The League designated D8 a C/D Grade competition after continuous lobbying by Marbles. Neither PAOC or Golden Grove elected to stay down in D8.
The C3 team came second and went up to C2 (as did Pembroke) in accordance with the rules even though we had no idea who would be playing in the team.
In fact, part way through this season, the club realised that C2 was a stronger competition than D8R so we put our 4th side in C2, so PNU actually played our 5th side last Saturday. The entire system is set up to pipeline players to the higher grades
There are 30 guys who played for PAOC in 2014 that haven't played this year, but as for being in a purple patch for numbers, we all remember SHOC a couple of years back - 5 teams - now back to 3.

[Q.]

IIRC I believe PAOC were destined for D7 this year anyway, until the league decided go with the current D7 arrangement.

[Footy Chick]

I love how whenever anyone else is involved it's sandbagging but accuse the evil empire of sandbagging when their half of their A grade side from 5 years ago is playing in the D grade and it's "club structure"

[wristwatcher]

I can't help but respond to Wristy's obvious trolling remarks about "sandbagging" as we all know he chooses to play D8R when he could play D1 if he just trained one night per week and stopped spending his valuable time taking in stray dogs (He's the canine version of the cat lady)

PAOC did win the D2R, D8 & D8R last year and came 2nd in C3. The A Grade came 3rd.
If we were "sandbagging", surely one of the non-A Grade sides wouldn't have played in a Grand Final or are you saying we are playing our A Grade players in the lower grades?
For 2015, The League designated D8 a C/D Grade competition after continuous lobbying by Marbles. Neither PAOC or Golden Grove elected to stay down in D8.
The C3 team came second and went up to C2 (as did Pembroke) in accordance with the rules even though we had no idea who would be playing in the team.
In fact, part way through this season, the club realised that C2 was a stronger competition than D8R so we put our 4th side in C2, so PNU actually played our 5th side last Saturday. The entire system is set up to pipeline players to the higher grades
There are 30 guys who played for PAOC in 2014 that haven't played this year, but as for being in a purple patch for numbers, we all remember SHOC a couple of years back - 5 teams - now back to 3.

Never said you were sandbagging but funny that you mentioned it there may have been a hint of troll regarding my post How can I stay mad at PAC when I so thoroughly enjoyed my time working there and the boys I used to coach may have given me and the missus free cheese, bacon and onion on our Kransky

But seriously can you piss off to div 7 next year so we are some chance to win something in Div 8. After all we did it in Div 2 last year so you can maybe have your A grade win something this year

[jo172]

I love how whenever anyone else is involved it's sandbagging but accuse the evil empire of sandbagging when their half of their A grade side from 5 years ago is playing in the D grade and it's "club structure"

There was 1 player from the 2011 A Grade in Saturday's team.

The chip on your shoulder is embarrassing.

About 5 others payed A Grade in the late 90s and early 2000s.

You're out of your mind if you think any are capable of playing higher.

[wristwatcher]

I love how whenever anyone else is involved it's sandbagging but accuse the evil empire of sandbagging when their half of their A grade side from 5 years ago is playing in the D grade and it's "club structure"

How is it sandbagging, we finished 4th. On Saturday we had a grand total of 1, that's 1 player that played A grade 5 years ago. I think your dislike for the club has clouded your judgement on this one.

Perhaps as Jimmy suggested I could play 1s, but only as playing captain coach and strangely the club has chosen Garry ahead of me

[Footy Chick]

I love how whenever anyone else is involved it's sandbagging but accuse the evil empire of sandbagging when their half of their A grade side from 5 years ago is playing in the D grade and it's "club structure"

How is it sandbagging, we finished 4th. On Saturday we had a grand total of 1, that's 1 player that played A grade 5 years ago. I think your dislike for the club has clouded your judgement on this one.

Perhaps as Jimmy suggested I could play 1s, but only as playing captain coach and strangely the club has chosen Garry ahead of me

I didn't see the full squad to be honest but just going on past years - but you attacked that quicker than a bunch of seagulls attack a chip on the floor.

Again, give it, receive it, it's all friendly fire

[Footy Chick]

I love how whenever anyone else is involved it's sandbagging but accuse the evil empire of sandbagging when their half of their A grade side from 5 years ago is playing in the D grade and it's "club structure"

There was 1 player from the 2011 A Grade in Saturday's team.


About 5 others payed A Grade in the late 90s and early 2000s.

.

Shit, nah I'm thinking the 2006 GF side - that was 9 years ago!

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun...my bad, I'll take that one.

[jo172]

I love how whenever anyone else is involved it's sandbagging but accuse the evil empire of sandbagging when their half of their A grade side from 5 years ago is playing in the D grade and it's "club structure"

How is it sandbagging, we finished 4th. On Saturday we had a grand total of 1, that's 1 player that played A grade 5 years ago. I think your dislike for the club has clouded your judgement on this one.

Perhaps as Jimmy suggested I could play 1s, but only as playing captain coach and strangely the club has chosen Garry ahead of me

I didn't see the full squad to be honest but just going on past years - but you attacked that quicker than a bunch of seagulls attack a chip on the floor.

Again, give it, receive it, it's all friendly fire

There were less 2010 A Graders in the 2014 D Grade so you'd still be wrong.

[jo172]

I love how whenever anyone else is involved it's sandbagging but accuse the evil empire of sandbagging when their half of their A grade side from 5 years ago is playing in the D grade and it's "club structure"

There was 1 player from the 2011 A Grade in Saturday's team.


About 5 others payed A Grade in the late 90s and early 2000s.

.

Shit, nah I'm thinking the 2006 GF side - that was 9 years ago!

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun...my bad, I'll take that one.

Louis Martin is a reasonable chance to line up in a Division 1 Final on Saturday.

Not bad for a bloke who played a Division 4 Grand Final 10 years ago!

[jo172]

(But back to div 8 )

I'm expecting another upset in the Preliminary Final with Unley to beat TTG. In the Reserves PAOC will comfortably account for Old Iggies.

[Footy Chick]

Still nothing on Darrington who played in the 86 flag (I think, clearly I have a terrible memory) and then again until 2005

[TEX07]

IMO PNU were definitely a D grade side, yep some of the guys could have played C grade but I believe unless your pushing to play B grade then they played where they needed to be. I could see what they were trying to do by playing younger guys in D8, especially when your A & B grade are div 1 its a good way to get them conditioned to the bigger bodies before they push up. Traditionally the D8R is full of slower older players and all these kids would learn is how to run away from a parked car! I would like to have seen us do that a little bit more this season.

[jo172]

IMO PNU were definitely a D grade side, yep some of the guys could have played C grade but I believe unless your pushing to play B grade then they played where they needed to be. I could see what they were trying to do by playing younger guys in D8, especially when your A & B grade are div 1 its a good way to get them conditioned to the bigger bodies before they push up. Traditionally the D8R is full of slower older players and all these kids would learn is how to run away from a parked car! I would like to have seen us do that a little bit more this season.

My view has always been constant, that is the 8R standard (and atmosphere at times) is borderline social league.

If you've got serious aspirations of getting the most out of your football it is a very bad place to spend prolonged periods of time and you should be pushed up to 8.

I don't mean too much criticism by "borderline social league". I found the competition this year to be one of the more enjoyable I've been a part of (and I've seen a few) in terms of competitiveness across the 10 teams and the relative lack of individual ****. It's just a place where people who have taken as much from football as they can can go and enjoy the sport. It's not a place where you will improve as a footballer.

[Hefty]

(But back to div 8 )

I'm expecting another upset in the Preliminary Final with Unley to beat TTG. In the Reserves PAOC will comfortably account for Old Iggies.

I saw Unley first hand on Saturday and they did have quite a few runners through the midfield/wings that we couldn't keep up with. I did hear that Unley dropped a handful of B grade players into their C grade as their Div2 side had first week off (this is not the reason why we lost).

In saying that, I still think TTG will be too good in the prelim and the two best sides for the year (PAOC v TTG) will match up in GF.

[Jimmy_041]

I can't help but respond to Wristy's obvious trolling remarks about "sandbagging" as we all know he chooses to play D8R when he could play D1 if he just trained one night per week and stopped spending his valuable time taking in stray dogs (He's the canine version of the cat lady)

PAOC did win the D2R, D8 & D8R last year and came 2nd in C3. The A Grade came 3rd.
If we were "sandbagging", surely one of the non-A Grade sides wouldn't have played in a Grand Final or are you saying we are playing our A Grade players in the lower grades?
For 2015, The League designated D8 a C/D Grade competition after continuous lobbying by Marbles. Neither PAOC or Golden Grove elected to stay down in D8.
The C3 team came second and went up to C2 (as did Pembroke) in accordance with the rules even though we had no idea who would be playing in the team.
In fact, part way through this season, the club realised that C2 was a stronger competition than D8R so we put our 4th side in C2, so PNU actually played our 5th side last Saturday. The entire system is set up to pipeline players to the higher grades
There are 30 guys who played for PAOC in 2014 that haven't played this year, but as for being in a purple patch for numbers, we all remember SHOC a couple of years back - 5 teams - now back to 3.

Never said you were sandbagging but funny that you mentioned it there may have been a hint of troll regarding my post How can I stay mad at PAC when I so thoroughly enjoyed my time working there and the boys I used to coach may have given me and the missus free cheese, bacon and onion on our Kransky

But seriously can you piss off to div 7 next year so we are some chance to win something in Div 8. After all we did it in Div 2 last year so you can maybe have your A grade win something this year

What? None of Mrs Jimmy's coleslaw?
You did say it on Saturday when I approached you after one of the kids rang me to say there was a Mr Bubbles type hanging around the BBQ asking if anyone was up for a free kransky.
Half our D8R are in their mid 30's including John Waltham who continues to play with a dent in his head from a previous meeting with PNU.
Peter Walsh just turned 39. (He's got a way to go before beating the "oldest player" record though)