SAAFL Div 3 & 3R (2009)

[One Eyed]

great summary BMAC, will catters remain ? Or has his body told him thats it?

[Lightning McQueen]

Woody south's slide in div 3 is a possibility of a few reasons. The 2nd half of the season saw the loss of a few players due to injuries, not just 1 week games but 4 or 5 weeks to some key players. Its hard to replace a key player in the A grade for a player in the B grade. Not having one of the best defenders in the div "J. Curtis" a former state player play week in and week out due to work. Also not having J. Cattermole play basically the whole season due to a back injury didnt help either. His leadership and use off the ball is outstanding and his presents lifts the team. The whole club suffered as they could never play a settled side.
The last 2 games off the season saw the B's defeat an undefeated walkerville, the A's smashed by walkerville. The last minor round against Parra Hills saw the B's loose 7 players from the said that defeated walkerville and have to promote a few from the c grade. The whole season we had u18s players playing A grade footy, in my opinion they shouldnt have.
The problem is we, yes i play for them but lack a quality forward. You cant win games off footy and be dominant when your leading goal kicker wins your award with a mere 20odd goals. Look at every other side in the comp, their forwards have 40 plus. It reflects right the way down through the club. The U18s are struggling to field a side, they had 10 injuries after 9 rounds. 4 or 5 with broken legs. To my knowledge the U16s n U11 are looking like playing finals. Now what does that say.....
Div 4 next season will be interesting. It may see where the club is really at.

Welcome aboard BMAC, at the end of the day, I take my hat off to your club, have come a long way this decade, just have to take the highs with the lows and battle on, good luck for next season in your push to re-group.

[HawkieRanger]

Something for the Portland and Mitcham posters. D4 sees the return of promoted clubs quite quickly, something your clubs have managed to avoid. What do you see as the major differences between D4 and D3 ? (I know, something semi-serious at this time of the year, but curious on this).

You're not wrong. We knew when we went up that making the move from 4-3 has proved a difficult task for many clubs before us: recently Salisbury x 2, Pooraka, and CBCOC have all come straight back to Div 4.

The jump in standard is a lot different 4-3 than 5-4. We managed to handle going from 5-4 relatively easily, finished 3rd in our 1st year up. If you want to be competitive (ie play finals), I think the difference is pretty big.

It's quicker than div 4, better skills, and the players take it a lot more seriously IMO.

To be successful in div 4, I'd say you probably only need 3-4 top caliber players. Div 3 you need probably 6-7, and a solid foundation of good players below that if you want to be playing finals.

Cross the road and find out for yourself Laser! The Jets are destined to finish 8th of Div 4 for all eternity, or hopefully one day down in div 5 where they belong!!

[superlative steve]

To be honest, the step up isnt massive - other than the top 3-4 sides.

No disrespect to Salisbury or Woody South, but the sides they put on the park in the latter part of the year against us would not have beaten any of the top 5-6 in D4 last year, and probably this year. We are a slightly better side than last year, but not much though. And i think Mitcham are maybe a 2-3 goal better side than last year too. I think both of us managed to keep our teams together, and both are pretty young and have natural improvement in them.[/quote]

So are Portland going to rely on the younger players getting better or are they going to recruit some players for next year?

[Iron Fist]

To be honest, the step up isnt massive - other than the top 3-4 sides.

No disrespect to Salisbury or Woody South, but the sides they put on the park in the latter part of the year against us would not have beaten any of the top 5-6 in D4 last year, and probably this year. We are a slightly better side than last year, but not much though. And i think Mitcham are maybe a 2-3 goal better side than last year too. I think both of us managed to keep our teams together, and both are pretty young and have natural improvement in them.

So are Portland going to rely on the younger players getting better or are they going to recruit some players for next year?[/quote]

thats a question you would have to ask the coach
a combination of both I would think??

[superlative steve]

So are Portland going to rely on the younger players getting better or are they going to recruit some players for next year?[/quote]

thats a question you would have to ask the coach
a combination of both I would think??[/quote]

Well you know everything else that goes on down there so i just assumed you'd know...

[Iron Fist]

So are Portland going to rely on the younger players getting better or are they going to recruit some players for next year?

thats a question you would have to ask the coach
a combination of both I would think??[/quote]

Well you know everything else that goes on down there so i just assumed you'd know...[/quote]

there chasing the duerden brothers
think they have a relation of some sort down at portland these days!

[Felch]

I would think we need to recruit to be any sort of threat next year. The base of a good side is there though.

But as im no longer part of the coaching staff, i dont really know Steve.

[superlative steve]

there chasing the duerden brothers
think they have a relation of some sort down at portland these days![/quote]

A brother in-law ?? I believe there actually old Ethelton boys too

[Iron Fist]

there chasing the duerden brothers
think they have a relation of some sort down at portland these days!

A brother in-law ?? I believe there actually old Ethelton boys too[/quote]

could be a brother in law, not sure. you would have some sort of idea wouldnt ya steve??

old ethelton boys would make sense since where they live!

[BMAC]

Im not too sure if Catters will play next year, this will be judged on how his back recovers. he has been really struggling with it. its effecting his work big time. Iv heard a whisper that Nathan Raynor is heading back to the eagles in the SANFL for next season. He was by far out best player all season. He was outstanding in our side against Parra Hills on the weekend even with some off the Parra Hills guys roughing him up. "which i love to see, when guys rough up great player"
But having played on 6 games this season due to injury 3 b n 3 a, the speed off the game hasn't changed since i played div1 for woody sth. If anything our skills have dropped off. When we were in div1, we could keep up with all the sides for the 1st half n a bit, but just experienced heads and legs would run all over us in the end. I can remember playin Uni @ uni and we were 4goals up at halftime then got smashed in the 2nd half n lost by 10 goals or so. wasnt a pleasant day for me either, injured 5min into the 2nd qtr. But our hardest task for nest season is keeping players who want to play for the club not the coin. Iv seen players at clubs come and go. get paid good coin then as soon as the club gets relegated they are out of there and at another club for the same reason.
Goodluck to all sides playing in the finals. I reckon it will be very interesting to see who plays in the grand final. By the way where did the Parra Hills B grade ff come from. looked far too good for div3 reserves was he an A grader or what?

[BMAC]

forgot to add that jumping up from divisions, the skill standard is by far higher, the pace off the game u can adjust quickly to, but its the pressure that the strong sides apply and the way they use the ball if the hardest part. It shows in every division that the tougher u are at the footy the more sides become 2nd to the footy. well thats just from my experience. I play the game tough and physical and it shows against teams. Woody south would have been more competitive if we had a balanced side each week. It helps big time if you A's and B's are strong then if players get injured they can be replaced alot easier. I found that if we lost and A grader, we didnt really have much to pick from in the B grade who we thought would be best suited for A grade.

[piccachu]

welcome aboard BMAC, spoke to a member of your football club and he was under the impression that cattermole would be the ideal man for the A grade coaching job, and i tend to agree. he seems to love the club and last time we played them he didnt play but seemed to be doing alot of work on the bench with there younger on ballers. i think the recruits wood.ville south got from the eagles are far from the blame of the lack of success, i wouldnt be supprised if rayner, taylor and haniford take the trifecta in there b&f they have been great for there club

[stretch]

Im not too sure if Catters will play next year, this will be judged on how his back recovers. he has been really struggling with it. its effecting his work big time. Iv heard a whisper that Nathan Raynor is heading back to the eagles in the SANFL for next season. He was by far out best player all season. He was outstanding in our side against Parra Hills on the weekend even with some off the Parra Hills guys roughing him up. "which i love to see, when guys rough up great player"
But having played on 6 games this season due to injury 3 b n 3 a, the speed off the game hasn't changed since i played div1 for woody sth. If anything our skills have dropped off. When we were in div1, we could keep up with all the sides for the 1st half n a bit, but just experienced heads and legs would run all over us in the end. I can remember playin Uni @ uni and we were 4goals up at halftime then got smashed in the 2nd half n lost by 10 goals or so. wasnt a pleasant day for me either, injured 5min into the 2nd qtr. But our hardest task for nest season is keeping players who want to play for the club not the coin. Iv seen players at clubs come and go. get paid good coin then as soon as the club gets relegated they are out of there and at another club for the same reason.
Goodluck to all sides playing in the finals. I reckon it will be very interesting to see who plays in the grand final. By the way where did the Parra Hills B grade ff come from. looked far too good for div3 reserves was he an A grader or what?

I presume the Para Hills FF you refer to would be Carlo Manno. Played a little footy with him and he's a top bloke. Played A's for Ironbank in the hills league and is probably a bit unlucky to be playing reserves but given Para Hills' forward line depth it would be hard to get the opportunity.

[Sturtman]

Woody south's slide in div 3 is a possibility of a few reasons. The 2nd half of the season saw the loss of a few players due to injuries, not just 1 week games but 4 or 5 weeks to some key players. Its hard to replace a key player in the A grade for a player in the B grade. Not having one of the best defenders in the div "J. Curtis" a former state player play week in and week out due to work. Also not having J. Cattermole play basically the whole season due to a back injury didnt help either. His leadership and use off the ball is outstanding and his presents lifts the team. The whole club suffered as they could never play a settled side.
The last 2 games off the season saw the B's defeat an undefeated walkerville, the A's smashed by walkerville. The last minor round against Parra Hills saw the B's loose 7 players from the said that defeated walkerville and have to promote a few from the c grade. The whole season we had u18s players playing A grade footy, in my opinion they shouldnt have.
The problem is we, yes i play for them but lack a quality forward. You cant win games off footy and be dominant when your leading goal kicker wins your award with a mere 20odd goals. Look at every other side in the comp, their forwards have 40 plus. It reflects right the way down through the club. The U18s are struggling to field a side, they had 10 injuries after 9 rounds. 4 or 5 with broken legs. To my knowledge the U16s n U11 are looking like playing finals. Now what does that say.....
Div 4 next season will be interesting. It may see where the club is really at.

Welcome aboard BMAC, at the end of the day, I take my hat off to your club, have come a long way this decade, just have to take the highs with the lows and battle on, good luck for next season in your push to re-group.

I think a lot of clubs would be in a similar boat with injuries

[BMAC]

Yeah strech thats his name Manno. solid guy who has a very good set of hands, after seeing the A grade forward line Parra Hills has, i think he's a bit unlucky not to be playing. We'd have him! Least he's a target and presents well. He had 4 opponents on the weekend. I also heard the whisper that cattermole may put his hand up for A grade coach. His work mentoring the onballers during the games has been great. Being an onballer himself and his knowledge of the game and ruck setups, he would be an ideal candidate for the job. I think people would like to see him coach. Raynor will go close to winning the b&f, with Nappa "the ruckman", close behind. Jake Taylor ha played some good footy throughout the year but he to has missed a few games through injury and struggled to get back to his best. Sam Haniford has missed nearly half the season due to a broken hand and then a broken collarbone, which haltered his season. My vote for a smokey to win our B&F is Nick Johnson, played half back all season and having watched his season i reckon he is a chance to win it. He didnt start to well but in the 2nd half hit his straps so he is my smokey.

[X Runna]

Yeah strech thats his name Manno. solid guy who has a very good set of hands, after seeing the A grade forward line Parra Hills has, i think he's a bit unlucky not to be playing. We'd have him! Least he's a target and presents well. He had 4 opponents on the weekend. I also heard the whisper that cattermole may put his hand up for A grade coach. His work mentoring the onballers during the games has been great. Being an onballer himself and his knowledge of the game and ruck setups, he would be an ideal candidate for the job. I think people would like to see him coach. Raynor will go close to winning the b&f, with Nappa "the ruckman", close behind. Jake Taylor ha played some good footy throughout the year but he to has missed a few games through injury and struggled to get back to his best. Sam Haniford has missed nearly half the season due to a broken hand and then a broken collarbone, which haltered his season. My vote for a smokey to win our B&F is Nick Johnson, played half back all season and having watched his season i reckon he is a chance to win it. He didnt start to well but in the 2nd half hit his straps so he is my smokey.

BMAC - you are an idiot..............With the Para Hills A Grade forward line.....you would find a place for Carlo? Great bloke and a good forward, but when PH have finished as high in the goal kicking with Frick, Flynn & Hanson............have you any idea about this game AT ALL?

And supposedly someone being roughed up.....what game were you at?

[BMAC]

X Runna i worded the part about manno wrong. I meant to say that, i feel he's a bit unlucky not to be playing because of the fwrd line they have. Obviously i must have been watching the wrong game, because from where i was watching it from "THE SIDELINE" he was rougened up. I not having a go at Parra Hills guys at all mate, if anything i encourage it, anyone with so much talent deserves to get close attention.
Obviously u were watching the wrong game, or maybe stuck behind the front row at the bar as i seem to remember on a couple occasions he was hit after disposal and retaliated.

[Lightning McQueen]

Woody south's slide in div 3 is a possibility of a few reasons. The 2nd half of the season saw the loss of a few players due to injuries, not just 1 week games but 4 or 5 weeks to some key players. Its hard to replace a key player in the A grade for a player in the B grade. Not having one of the best defenders in the div "J. Curtis" a former state player play week in and week out due to work. Also not having J. Cattermole play basically the whole season due to a back injury didnt help either. His leadership and use off the ball is outstanding and his presents lifts the team. The whole club suffered as they could never play a settled side.
The last 2 games off the season saw the B's defeat an undefeated walkerville, the A's smashed by walkerville. The last minor round against Parra Hills saw the B's loose 7 players from the said that defeated walkerville and have to promote a few from the c grade. The whole season we had u18s players playing A grade footy, in my opinion they shouldnt have.
The problem is we, yes i play for them but lack a quality forward. You cant win games off footy and be dominant when your leading goal kicker wins your award with a mere 20odd goals. Look at every other side in the comp, their forwards have 40 plus. It reflects right the way down through the club. The U18s are struggling to field a side, they had 10 injuries after 9 rounds. 4 or 5 with broken legs. To my knowledge the U16s n U11 are looking like playing finals. Now what does that say.....
Div 4 next season will be interesting. It may see where the club is really at.

Welcome aboard BMAC, at the end of the day, I take my hat off to your club, have come a long way this decade, just have to take the highs with the lows and battle on, good luck for next season in your push to re-group.

I think a lot of clubs would be in a similar boat with injuries

We had lost 15 A graders bt round 9, I think only 1 returned after that.

[The Riddler]

Top 4 votegetters from each club for the medal has now been made public

http://saafl.asn.au/documents/clubvotes3.pdf