2026 Adelaide Footy League - Division 5

[Mr Beefy]

5 teams in D5?

[The Bedge]

What kind of shit you smoking?

[Mr Beefy]

The good shit, I meant 9, Apparently Portland are in struggle town

[wenchbarwer]

Is this why there's no fixture up yet for the AdelFL? Are Geenacres & ML Facebook official yet, too?

[The Bedge]

If that were true, then Gaza or TOS would stay up.

Sixty-six (66) “A” Division teams the two (2) lowest “A” Division and Reserve Divisions will consist of eight (8) teams each.

[beef]

just came in to ask the same question. Heard Gaza are going up?

[The Bedge]

Bit to play out in this space if the whispers are true.

Portland fold - then a club comes up from D6 to create 10 team comp.
Portland field A grade only - then it remains as is but with a reserves bye.
Portland potentially might request to drop to D7? That would bump Units back to D6 and Gaza back to D5.

Either way, it's a long, hard road back to get two sides ready for 2027.

[beef]

fixture is up now with gaza in 6 and Portland in 5

[The Bedge]

Better to just get the fixtures up anyway, change for D5 would be minimal would think?

Either Portland field a side and just revert D5R to a 'bye', or Gaza come up and directly replace the Portland fixture.

D6 would be a little trickier, as would C5 / C6 potentially.

[wenchbarwer]

Portland Football Club facing significant player shortage for season 2026

An Adelaide Footy League club could pull out of the 2026 season just over a month out from round one as it battles a major player shortage.

Division five outfit Portland has faced an unexpected battle to make up the numbers for this year and will need to recruit swiftly to avoid pulling the pin on the season in the coming weeks.

The club, which has in recent years fielded big local names such as former AFL players Lindsay Thomas, Jake Neade and Terry Milera, missed finals on percentage last season but has not had the required numbers for an A Grade team registered or at training in the lead-up to round one on April 18.

League chief John Kernahan said Portland notified the AdFL of some player number issues but, to this stage, had still nominated to field teams in 2026.

“Having no formal advice from Portland outside of them navigating some playing stocks, at least as far as the AdFL is concerned, their nomination to field two teams in 2026 is intact,” Kernahan said.

“If that changes, we’ll deal with it then.”

Portland Football Club president Jeff Emmel said the club would be fighting to make up the numbers over the coming weeks and had not yet decided to throw in the towel on the season.

“We have faced challenges with player retention and recruitment but we are fighting hard to make it this season,” Emmel said.

“We have operated in the heart of the Port since the 1950s and contrary to the rumour mill, we have not yet folded.

“We also have a strong and growing junior program which we will continue to build from.

“If there are any senior players who are looking for a club this year, come and knock on our door.”

Emmel opted not to comment further until further club meetings had been held regarding the current situation and season ahead.

It is understood that regardless of if Portland is able to field a team or not at the A Grade level this year, it would still need to field two teams in the 2027 Adelaide Footy League season in order to continue playing or return to play.

Portland and Noarlunga in a race for the bottom

[DTH43]

Word is that Portland will be making a decision before Easter.
Right now, they won't be laying apparently.

[The Bedge]

Given it's past the Jan 31 affiliation deadline, I guess nothing will change if they opt out in regard to club movement.

D5 will remain 9 teams if theyh opt out.

Interestingly, they could potentially delay any calls until Rd 4 of the season..

[Footy Chick]

Portland have been dying every year since Covid.

There's too much money at that club for them to die.

and a concern with numbers at training?

Jesus, last year we were barely getting 10 at pre-season and still managed to fill 3 teams.

Just like last weekends weather, i'll believe it when I see it

[heater31]

Portland have been dying every year since Covid.

There's too much money at that club for them to die.

and a concern with numbers at training?

Jesus, last year we were barely getting 10 at pre-season and still managed to fill 3 teams.

Just like last weekends weather, i'll believe it when I see it

Pretty sure they won't be going anywhere. Isn't PAE planning to replace both buildings at the Northern end with a Brighton Style Footy/Cricket/Rugby club soon?

[bird of prey]

Better to just get the fixtures up anyway, change for D5 would be minimal would think?

Either Portland field a side and just revert D5R to a 'bye', or Gaza come up and directly replace the Portland fixture.

D6 would be a little trickier, as would C5 / C6 potentially.

Logic would suggest that Gaza come up and make it a 10 team comp. Bring up another team from div 7 into div 6 to replace Gaza,
But no, that just seems to hard for the league. As a result they have completely shut it down even if Portland do pull the pin.

[The Bedge]

Logic would suggest that Gaza come up and make it a 10 team comp. Bring up another team from div 7 into div 6 to replace Gaza,
But no, that just seems to hard for the league. As a result they have completely shut it down even if Portland do pull the pin.

League runs by the rules & regs which outlines how divisions are structured.

However the difficulty arises because Portland have already nominated sides for this year, they're a financial / existing member.. so really they have a fair bit of flexibility in regard to sorting this out. The league can't force them out.

Portland would need to make a call in like the next week, but reality is they could wait until Rd 4 (after 3 forfeits) before the fold.

It would 99% likely remain D5 = 9, D6 = 9, D7 = 8 this year.. if Portland failed to get up next season, then it would be D5 = 10, D6 = 8, D7 = 8.

So would be 2x up, 1x down between D5 / D6, and 2x up, 2x down between D6 / D7

[Fools Gold]

Is it fair to say that all the other grades will now be close to final - even through to the C competitions?

[LaughingKookaburra]

Better to just get the fixtures up anyway, change for D5 would be minimal would think?

Either Portland field a side and just revert D5R to a 'bye', or Gaza come up and directly replace the Portland fixture.

D6 would be a little trickier, as would C5 / C6 potentially.

Logic would suggest that Gaza come up and make it a 10 team comp. Bring up another team from div 7 into div 6 to replace Gaza,
But no, that just seems to hard for the league. As a result they have completely shut it down even if Portland do pull the pin.

In fairness you’ve just spent 5 months recruiting and planning to be in D6. I’ve seen what a very last minute leg up does to a club going up at this stage and there’s no benefits to it unless you are going to get promoted in D5. If you stay up in D5 and play finals, there’s a pretty good chance you’d at least play in a GF or win the whole thing in D6 - That’s going to give your club way more long term success. On the flip side if you missed the 5 in D6 you can take it to the bank that you’d be likely relegated in D5. If you knew you were playing D5 in October last year you’d be recruiting different blokes.

I’d be taking D6 and getting some stability back into a proud club that needs some success after years of heartache.

[beef]

Heard last night the Greenacres / Mawson Lakes "merger" didn't go ahead and they can only have the 3 players like normal rules. Anyone confirm

See Greenacres nominated for a D grade so assume that wouldn't be happening without the Mawson Lakes players

Jake Neade to salisbury? Probably not a good sign at Portland if he and Milera have left

[The Bedge]

We had a couple ML / Greenies lads come out last night, told us the same.

Something along the lines of failing to meet compliance obligations for the league regarding being a new entity?

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I think because they merged clubs would effectively be viewed as a new club, they'd have to meet the same requirements as a club from another league coming into the comp? Again, could be wrong, and might be miles off.

Side note: Is Neade confirmed? I heard he was heading regional for $$.