by billy » Thu Jul 19, 2018 9:26 pm
You're using the fact that Victoria are poaching young players from our state as a criticism of the system?
It's the opposite.
Grade cricket is a money pit. There are too many clubs and most sit there with their hands out. If they had more money most would just spend it on players from other clubs, not making one iota of difference to the standard of grade cricket overall.
It's a shame but grade cricket has been replaced to a degree. The players on the edges of the first class system and the talented players coming through are catered for elsewhere; they spend winters at the centre of excellence, are in the emerging Redbacks squad, play Future's League.
Grade cricket is no longer a direct breeding ground for first class cricketers. Some yearn for the good ol' days when grade cricket was king and was highly relevant but you can never go back. Did grade cricket get more funding back then? Is that why it was better? No.
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No, what I am saying is that losing players to Victoria is poor management of high performance players in our system. Effective player management would have meant there would have been the development of a positive relationship with that player and his manager which clearly did not happen. That is a separate issue.
A critical part of winning is not losing your best talent to another state!
O'Connell has shown elite talent from the beginning, he should have been managed as a player to play first class cricket in this state, he was offered the absolute baseline and his management left to think there would be no negotiation on the numbers, this is disappointing in my opinion.
I agree with your argument about too many clubs and there is no doubt that needs to happen. However grade cricket is an important part of our system, what is happening in Australian cricket at the moment is a rationalisation, and the funding being wasted on the Redbacks league would be much better spent on player development and coaching in a better funded grade cricket system. Moving to a 2 division system with 8 teams in each sooner rather than later will help significantly, all of the players who are a part of the high performance department come out of the grade cricket system so I strongly dispute your claim that it is irrelevant.
Learning to take responsibility in your club is an important part of developing integrity as a person, it is time honoured and for individuals in this state to continue to argue differently is dragging down the culture of cricket in this state. What do we know that the rest of Australia doesn't know ,we appear to be happy to continue to throw money on the ground with the Redbacks league that is perpetuating attitudes that are very unhelpful in my opinion, I also strongly question whether that is the best way to develop high end cricketers in this state.
Instead of blaming the inadequately funded grade system why don't we do something different, fund it properly, rationalise the amount of clubs in the first division/grade and use some of this high performance funding to run a better grade club environment.
Your argument seems so keen to fall in line with the status quo line that prevails with some administrators and board members in SACA, it is no accident that grade cricket has served this country well and the poor management occurring in this state, of the grade cricket system is the reason why we cannot move forward in my opinion.
Yes, first class players improve by playing against high quality opposition, what appears to be the argument is that we should take all the players away from the system that developed them, put them in a shed like robots and hey presto, you have first class players, I am sure we can do better than this sort of segregation from their club environment.
These first class players love their clubs and want to contribute back to improving the environment that developed them, we seem to know better in South Australia, you can only get better by being with the elite, I don’t agree with this thinking.
Is it any wonder we continue to fail , so 2 thousand people in Sydney watching Shane Watson in a grade match can never happen in this state, because he wouldn't be allowed to play. We appear to know better here , so much better we have won 1 shield in over 30 years and we are running a separate competition before grade cricket starts with no first class players and with many second grade players .. that is high performance ?! Meanwhile we continue to start the grade cricket season 3-4 weeks after the other states ! This needs to change in my opinion.
It can’t be that hard to set in place a restructure …. SACA in an honest appraisal would certainly admit they could have done better with their original attempt to merge a club who won all three premierships and then last season won the Women’s premiership. The way it was done lacked diligence in my opinion and this was clearly identified by the parliamentary committee. Going to 2 divisions would allow some community clubs to become involved in a second division …. and allow all clubs to remain intact.
I am surprised that college cricket would be quoted as a serious option for those young players …. !! People have been waiting in vain for a shift in the approach to programming within that system to enable those young men to participate at the highest level possible, for the good of those schools and their cultures it would be an excellent approach if a different timetabling of those games could be offered.
