Adelaide Plains Football League

[Bob Loblaw]

I thought one of the most disappointing things on Saturday was seeing Virginia A grade players on the gate before 9am and then the A grade coach serving cans by himself in the can van at about 1pm.

I'm all for blokes chipping in but seriously, these guys have a grand final to play. We all do our bit for our clubs, Longies have players on the gate, think HWE does as well during the year, but on grand final day, that's really not going to be the best preparation for anyone IMO.

Maybe I'm being a bit precious. Dunno.

I guess with both senior teams playing on the day it wouldn't have been easy to find enough helpers without the players especially as Virginia seem to struggle at the best of times let alone hosting the biggest game of the year.

Bit of a kick in the guts Bob, it's community footy not AFL.
Most player's would never help out the club that supports them.

[OnSong]

Yeah, think he may have been referring to my post, not your follow up.

[hairy cat]

Wandered out to my first APFL GF in years yesterday. Was fun to see some old familiar faces in the Hummocks B grade. I must say Dustin Guthberg must lead a tough life as he looks much older than his 33 years! They put up a spirited effort to come back and almost pinch a victory. I thought they had most of the play but Virginia were more efficient going forward. Some of the off the ball behaviour from the Rams was pretty average.

In the A grade Virginia couldn't hit a target. Big Nicko seemed to do a calf or something which didn't help them. Was pretty disappointed by the atmosphere it didn't seem that there was much of a crowd there. Maybe it's Virginia's set up that makes it seem that way but there was less cheering in the As than there was in the B grade. On the upside I didn't have to line up for a beer.

I hear Jamie Thomas will be coaching the Rams next year.

Thought the exact same thing. The last three APFL GFs I've been to (at Balak, Long Plains and Two Wells) seemed to have a much bigger and better atmosphere than the game yesterday. Wasn't a lot left at the canteen/BBQ when I went to grab something just before half time either.

On the game itself, always felt Mallala were in control and had enough to win (only their poor kicking stopped it from being a whitewash). Wasn't the best game to watch to be honest, seemed very scrappy, at least compared to the standard of the Mallala/Hamley GF a couple of years ago. Congrats to the Mallala lads though, always happy to see them win.

Maybe the atmosphere was flat as Mallala should have won by a lot more with 20 odd more scoring shots, only Big Nick kept them in it in the first quarter with his Goal kicking. I was bit surprised Pollock Rucked and sat behind the ball for the most of the day as they needed to kick a score to win. They seamed to fall down at Centre Half Forward and I agree with Pag the game was a bit scrappy. I know it is hard to compare but i think the div 4 standard was up with what I saw on Saturday. In the "B" Grade Virginia nearly threw it away with a lot of silly stuff on the field when they seamed to have the game in the bag. Did number 23 for Virginia get reported as he chested the umpire on the bench in the last quarter after was arguing with him about something after he received his yellow from on field umpire, Also was told Jamie Thomas to coach Virginia next year and Thommo to coach Angle Vale.

Have paponotis and fuller finished up at their respective clubs interesting to see you mentioned thommo for AV it would work with his bus load of kids with mum and dad having coached high levels of footy and netty win win for playing side and would definetly increase interest within the bar

[ScubaSteve]

Paponotis will no longer coach, taking the job after J.Den Engelse was let go. Fair to say he has done a great job.

[magpieeagle]

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[coman]

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That's great that Hermy is back on the coaching scene,great bloke,top coach who I was lucky and privileged to play under at hamley bridges 2004 premiership.

[Dogwatcher]

It will be very interesting to see how he goes. Was a hard/tough player, feared nothing. My understanding of his previous coaching tenure was he expected same of his players.

[hairy cat]

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Interesting he wont have the immediate impact he had at Hamley unless theirs a rule change re salary cap

[Lightning McQueen]

Great for the league, with Hamley on the improve and no doubt Kym will bring something to the table for Angle Vale the gap will close a bit and will continue to over the next few years.

[Oval Ball]

Great for the league, with Hamley on the improve and no doubt Kym will bring something to the table for Angle Vale the gap will close a bit and will continue to over the next few years.

Will Hermy be bringing some Gawler Centrals players with him. Have heard a heap of there players are on the move, even the coach.

[hairy cat]

Great for the league, with Hamley on the improve and no doubt Kym will bring something to the table for Angle Vale the gap will close a bit and will continue to over the next few years.

Will Hermy be bringing some Gawler Centrals players with him. Have heard a heap of there players are on the move, even the coach.

A little whisper Brad Mercer surely not but we no hermy

[carey]

Great for the league, with Hamley on the improve and no doubt Kym will bring something to the table for Angle Vale the gap will close a bit and will continue to over the next few years.

Will Hermy be bringing some Gawler Centrals players with him. Have heard a heap of there players are on the move, even the coach.

A little whisper Brad Mercer surely not but we no hermy

$$$$$

[Bag & Sledge]

Great for the league, with Hamley on the improve and no doubt Kym will bring something to the table for Angle Vale the gap will close a bit and will continue to over the next few years.

Will Hermy be bringing some Gawler Centrals players with him. Have heard a heap of there players are on the move, even the coach.

A little whisper Brad Mercer surely not but we no hermy

Have heard its very close to a done deal

[carey]

Great for the league, with Hamley on the improve and no doubt Kym will bring something to the table for Angle Vale the gap will close a bit and will continue to over the next few years.

Will Hermy be bringing some Gawler Centrals players with him. Have heard a heap of there players are on the move, even the coach.

A little whisper Brad Mercer surely not but we no hermy

Have heard its very close to a done deal

They can have a forward line of Betts, Kennedy and RIoli still need some c##t to kick in there!

[Lightning McQueen]

$$$$$

I don't think the AVFC is that financially stable just yet to go on an all out paying spree.

Maybe in a season or two when they can formulate budgets etc. with gate takings and what they can make on match days.

From what I hear their money is spent elsewhere with cosmetic like things, if they wanna close the gap unfortunately they're going to have to spend a bit for the immediate future until the kids coming through develop.

[Oval Ball]

$$$$$

I don't think the AVFC is that financially stable just yet to go on an all out paying spree.

Maybe in a season or two when they can formulate budgets etc. with gate takings and what they can make on match days.

From what I hear their money is spent elsewhere with cosmetic like things, if they wanna close the gap unfortunately they're going to have to spend a bit for the immediate future until the kids coming through develop.

Hermy talking to a lot of fringe A Grade players from the BLGFA. Zero Pointers so he can add depth to his squad.
Don't think mercer would be coming heard he might be taking on the South Gawler coaching role.

[Swamp Donkey]

I realise AV had a strong senior colts team this season and there seems to be a lot of hype about where that team will take the club over the next 2-5 years and beyond. However, in my opinion after having a closer look at each player in that U17s team this year (and I have only watched them 2-3 times this year), you would be hard up to find any players that are ready to step up and be quality first pick player (i.e in the top 18) at any other club within the APFL's top 4 A grade teams next season. My question is - are we overestimating the talent (not numbers) of young blood currently at AV?

Yes, I'm sure there will be some that play A grade for AV in 2017 due to their lack of depth, but Hermy has an enormous job on his hands in the immediate future. I agree with the last post, his ability to make inroads with the owls over the next 1-3 years will be entirely dependent on how many 0 point players he can attract to build depth and the quality of his imports, as I don't see any of their colts having an impact at senior level. Hopefully I am way off the mark here.

On a different note - Angle Vale must be disappointed on missing out on the Senior Colts flag, despite stacking the team with 17 year olds. Interested to see if there is movement from the other APFL clubs to restrict their ability to play so many 17 year olds and negligible numbers of kids <16 yo in one senior colts team.

[Lightning McQueen]

I realise AV had a strong senior colts team this season and there seems to be a lot of hype about where that team will take the club over the next 2-5 years and beyond. However, in my opinion after having a closer look at each player in that U17s team this year (and I have only watched them 2-3 times this year), you would be hard up to find any players that are ready to step up and be quality first pick player (i.e in the top 18) at any other club within the APFL's top 4 A grade teams next season. My question is - are we overestimating the talent (not numbers) of young blood currently at AV?

Yes, I'm sure there will be some that play A grade for AV due to their lack of depth, but Hermy has an enormous job on his hands in the immediate future. I agree with the last post, his ability to make inroads with the owls over the next 1-3 years will be entirely dependent on how many 0 point players he can attract to build depth and the quality of his imports, as I don't see any of their colts having an impact at senior level.

On a different note - Angle Vale must be disappointed on missing out on the Senior Colts flag, despite stacking the team with 17 year olds. Interested to see if there is movement from the other APFL clubs to restrict their ability to play so many 17 year olds and negligible numbers of kids <16 yo in the senior colts.

I wasn't aware that there was such a rule, I thought it was "under 17's".

I think Josh Sewer is around the mark for Angle Vale.

[magpieeagle]

I realise AV had a strong senior colts team this season and there seems to be a lot of hype about where that team will take the club over the next 2-5 years and beyond. However, in my opinion after having a closer look at each player in that U17s team this year (and I have only watched them 2-3 times this year), you would be hard up to find any players that are ready to step up and be quality first pick player (i.e in the top 18) at any other club within the APFL's top 4 A grade teams next season. My question is - are we overestimating the talent (not numbers) of young blood currently at AV?

Yes, I'm sure there will be some that play A grade for AV due to their lack of depth, but Hermy has an enormous job on his hands in the immediate future. I agree with the last post, his ability to make inroads with the owls over the next 1-3 years will be entirely dependent on how many 0 point players he can attract to build depth and the quality of his imports, as I don't see any of their colts having an impact at senior level.

On a different note - Angle Vale must be disappointed on missing out on the Senior Colts flag, despite stacking the team with 17 year olds. Interested to see if there is movement from the other APFL clubs to restrict their ability to play so many 17 year olds and negligible numbers of kids <16 yo in the senior colts.

I wasn't aware that there was such a rule, I thought it was "under 17's".

I think Josh Sewer is around the mark for Angle Vale.

U17 as of the 1st Jan, On the first of Jan its quite easy to have 15/16yr old kids and if 10 of those turn 17 in Jan so be it, quite in the rules, over the last few yrs we have had a few turn 17 in Feb/March/April. 6-7 AV colts who preformed very well for the U17 association so they must have some ability.

[Ditchy]

Mercer deal done is what I heard yesterday in the Wheatsheaf Hotel. Also Hermy also throwing around a name of a recently delisted AFL player..........