AFL Canberra Season 2015

Remove this Banner Ad

Smurftown#11 said:
I'm not for a second suggesting that it should reflect poorly on the Blues. By all accounts on here, there was nothing much to the incident. I just think that supporters should be discouraged from getting involved in on field incidents. I would suggest that, unless a person has direct affiliation with a club (player, volunteer, board member, staff, etc) than that person should be held responsible for their own actions.
Click to expand...


I was lucky enough to watch this game and man what a cracker, the blues firing in the first half, then swans in the 3rd term and a tussle in the 4th. If this was a finals preview I can't wait til the pointy end of season.

Now a question for you all. Should the next games for Coota that are supposed to be played at both Ainslie and tuggers be transferred back to Cootamundra in light of the forfeits?
 
southcab said:
So what are peoples thoughts on the comp format for next year ? Can anybody see it changing or will it remain the same as this year ??
Click to expand...
Really hard to say, I think the regional grade, especially early on was the most 'even' comp in Canberra. As injuries have come into effect, and other factors, this has changed a bit.
The Div 3 and Div 4 especially, seem to have one close game and two floggings each week. I have a feeling the Association is going to keep the U18, Div 1 and Div 2 format, as it is creating the game day feeling as the Association sought out to do, even if there is some mass thumpings of Gungahlin in there every week.
Surely they will combine the best sides from the Div 3,4 and 5 into one division. And everyone else into a second?
The real question is, if it was the same next year, how would the regional teams feel? Would they be keen to put in a team again? Is there much of an alternative?
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Corkies said:
I was lucky enough to watch this game and man what a cracker, the blues firing in the first half, then swans in the 3rd term and a tussle in the 4th. If this was a finals preview I can't wait til the pointy end of season.

Now a question for you all. Should the next games for Coota that are supposed to be played at both Ainslie and tuggers be transferred back to Cootamundra in light of the forfeits?
Click to expand...

That is a very interesting point, and one that I have thought about myself. Only seems fair right?
I can't speak for Tuggeranong, but Ainslie are really feeling the brunt of injuries throughout the whole club, and more were added to the list this weekend.
We will again be just able to fill two sides at the moment, but not sure the numbers that the senior sides may require to top up. I dread Thursday nights every week at the moment.
The reality of it is, that there might be 5 or more extra players 'available' for a home game versus an away game @ Cootamundra ie fill ins, and juniors playing their second game for the weekend etc... And the way that it has looked the past two months, this could be the difference between a game and another forfeit. Which is disappointing, I don't like it, but unfortunately it is a reality.
What I am thinking however, and will discuss with Club and the guys @ Cootamundra, is ask if they might want to run a bbq/ canteen at Ainslie like it is a home game for them...
But if our numbers are looking healthier, the swapping of home games will definately be explored.
 
Certaintly transferring the games back to coota Is the fairest thing to do but my guess is that would just result in 2 more forfeits
 
jectz said:
Certaintly transferring the games back to coota Is the fairest thing to do but my guess is that would just result in 2 more forfeits
Click to expand...

Exactly. Unfortunately I think Coota just have to miss out. I remember a few years back when they had to forfeit a few rounds at the end of the year. They never repaid those games the next year. Teams eb and flow with numbers etc and that's just what happens. To ask them to give back home games will just make more forfeits.
Looks like a good finals series coming up. Cooma getting a few back but they need to make up a fair gap. Yass will always compete and should be a good test come finals time. I'm sure Goulburn will like to seem them again in a prelim. Goulburn look like Cootas big threat to back to back. Coota obviously finding form again with a couple big ins.
 
Plugga28 said:
The reality of it is, that there might be 5 or more extra players 'available' for a home game versus an away game @ Cootamundra
.
Click to expand...

Plugga, I could be reading this wrong and I am not here to start any rubbish, but this to me reads that some players from Ainslie are not willing to travel. After reading earlier posts about Ainslie being shafted for having to travel so much due to being in this comp it sort of reinstates it a bit. I too would prefer to see games played than forfeits, but unfortunatley when it does happen to these 'one' team clubs, its not just the club that hurts. I drove past the Coota pub, -the family hotel i think- on my way out on saturday and that joint was packed to the rafters. If no footy is played, i wouldn't think all that many people would head back there. I think thats a great gesture you are thinking to let Coota have a canteen/bbq and I hope it works out, however, I will add that if you go to any of these towns -Cooma Yass Coota there is always a bigger crowd there than any 'regional div' game played in Canberra and it is simply because yes they only have the one team. So alot of people from the town head down to catch a game of footy, and thats the reality of it.
In the end if a game of footy gets played, I'm pretty sure all involved would be happy.
 
DropPunt12 said:
Exactly. Unfortunately I think Coota just have to miss out. I remember a few years back when they had to forfeit a few rounds at the end of the year. They never repaid those games the next year. Teams eb and flow with numbers etc and that's just what happens. To ask them to give back home games will just make more forfeits.
.
Click to expand...

DropPunt, I could be wrong here but I am pretty sure Cootamundra didn't just forfeit, they FOLDED. Massive difference!
I too am all for games to go ahead instead of forfeits.
 
Last edited:
Corkies said:
Plugga, I could be reading this wrong and I am not here to start any rubbish, but this to me reads that some players from Ainslie are not willing to travel. After reading earlier posts about Ainslie being shafted for having to travel so much due to being in this comp it sort of reinstates it a bit. I too would prefer to see games played than forfeits, but unfortunatley when it does happen to these 'one' team clubs, its not just the club that hurts. I drove past the Coota pub, -the family hotel i think- on my way out on saturday and that joint was packed to the rafters. If no footy is played, i wouldn't think all that many people would head back there. I think thats a great gesture you are thinking to let Coota have a canteen/bbq and I hope it works out, however, I will add that if you go to any of these towns -Cooma Yass Coota there is always a bigger crowd there than any 'regional div' game played in Canberra and it is simply because yes they only have the one team. So alot of people from the town head down to catch a game of footy, and thats the reality of it.
In the end if a game of footy gets played, I'm pretty sure all involved would be happy.
Click to expand...

I'm sure all/most teams have a few blokes that are unable to commit to two and a half hours of footy, with another 3-4 hours in transit on top of that. Then when you're losing blokes to the 3 grades above you through injury and unavailability (and obviously losing blokes on top of this to the Jets) etc, you're suddenly left with 10+ inexperienced blokes out of the 16 you have available, and are scrambling to find blokes who are interested in giving up their half their weekend to go and cop a hiding at a moment's notice.

I definitely agree that forfeits are very ordinary, especially for the one team country clubs, but they generally only happen as a final resort. Rest assured Plug is doing all the recruiting he can to get sides up for these games (whilst also preparing a div 2 team for a crack at finals)...

The league changing the competition structure at the last minute (at the request of Woden, I believe, who couldn't fathom how 2 teams would play at separate grounds) wouldn't have helped things either.
 
I would be interested to know if any of the country teams find that they have more players available for home games than away games?

I'm sure you've got your core of players who are always available no matter what, but how about the fringe blokes? Those who can only get off work long enough or early enough to play at home with no travel time, but can't afford the extra 3 hours of travel for an away game? How are the support staff numbers at away games as opposed to home games? Do you get some juniors who can play at home after their other game, but not away because their junior game finished just before the senior game started?

My experience has been that it is harder to get players to travelling away games than it is to home games. I came through the system when the Wagga Tigers played in the AFL Canberra comp and they were regularly undermanned in U/18's and Reserves when they played in Canberra, with those teams sometimes forfeiting so the other could play. But when Ainslie travelled to Wagga they always had more numbers available. It always seemed that they found a handful of extra gun players at home who never made the trip to Canberra.

That's just the reality of a competition where travel times are over an hour each way. That time factor will affect availability for a number of legitimate reasons. It's not usually a case of players having a sook and saying they DON'T want to travel. It's a case that they CAN'T make it to the game because of travel.
 
I think most teams would have this problem, we could only get 20 together to play in Coota this weekend. We had one water runner who was conned into it. Luckily the Coota water runners shared it round... Always more players and helpers at home.
 
Corkies said:
Plugga, I could be reading this wrong and I am not here to start any rubbish, but this to me reads that some players from Ainslie are not willing to travel. After reading earlier posts about Ainslie being shafted for having to travel so much due to being in this comp it sort of reinstates it a bit. I too would prefer to see games played than forfeits, but unfortunatley when it does happen to these 'one' team clubs, its not just the club that hurts. I drove past the Coota pub, -the family hotel i think- on my way out on saturday and that joint was packed to the rafters. If no footy is played, i wouldn't think all that many people would head back there. I think thats a great gesture you are thinking to let Coota have a canteen/bbq and I hope it works out, however, I will add that if you go to any of these towns -Cooma Yass Coota there is always a bigger crowd there than any 'regional div' game played in Canberra and it is simply because yes they only have the one team. So alot of people from the town head down to catch a game of footy, and thats the reality of it.
In the end if a game of footy gets played, I'm pretty sure all involved would be happy.
Click to expand...

I think some others have touched on it already, but it is those 4 or 5 fill ins that we are more likely to get for a local game then a long road trip. Particularly juniors who might not drive etc.
After writing that yesterday, I was thinking the same thing, besides the players buying a beer and possibly a snag after the game, there is very little 'crowd' at our home games, a couple of girlfriends, and a few of the Div 2 boys. Coming for a country league in South Australia myself, I can understand how supportive these home towns can be for home games, so the gesture is probably just that, a gesture and not really that worthwhile of an exercise.
Hopefully we are in a position to realistically entertain the swapping of home games in a couple of weeks time.
 
All valid points and great discussion. I also think most clubs have more 'availabilty' at home games however, I also think that none of these country teams in the last 8 or so years have ever forfeited and they are travelling 1+hrs one way to a game every 2nd weekend (yass maybe a bit less than 1 hr). There may have been a few 16 a side games, but they have always made a game regardless of the smashing they knew they would get.....
Lets hope we have seen the last of the forfeits.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Corkies said:
All valid points and great discussion. I also think most clubs have more 'availabilty' at home games however, I also think that none of these country teams in the last 8 or so years have ever forfeited and they are travelling 1+hrs one way to a game every 2nd weekend (yass maybe a bit less than 1 hr). There may have been a few 16 a side games, but they have always made a game regardless of the smashing they knew they would get.....
Lets hope we have seen the last of the forfeits.
Click to expand...
After seeing the Saturday/Sunday forecast a forfeit might not be such a bad thing! ;)
 
Ainslie lads forfeited tomorrow against Cooma... Do you know whats going on Motley? I thought i read earlier in the week you guys hada few numbers this week
 
From what I understand we've had quite a few injuries through the higher grades, and then a few more who didn't come after training last night... So backfilling through the grades has ended up with us losing 6 or 7 regulars, then a few injuries of our own too, and a couple who have work and couldn't travel... Think we had 14 maybe, but that could have dropped again by now... Plug was working the phone like mad today trying to get a team up but no good, unfortunately.

Apologies to the Cats boys, but it's a bit hard when you're at the bottom of the pecking order.
 
Do you reckon we could've got a game if we had've moved the game to canberra? This may have been offered already btw by our pres and i wouldn't know. just wonder that same thing every time we have been forfeited against in past years
 
jectz said:
Do you reckon we could've got a game if we had've moved the game to canberra? This may have been offered already btw by our pres and i wouldn't know. just wonder that same thing every time we have been forfeited against in past years
Click to expand...

Yeah still not sure we'd have been able to field a side here, we're that strapped for guys at that moment. Hopefully get a few back next week across the club and it'll filter down.
 
Travel once to each rural? Is that correct cause i noticed on the draw that Ainslie went to goodhew twice?
 
Shame about the Cooma forfeit to Goulburn. Hope a few of our sides can start getting players back
for some contests leading into the finals.
Bit of an unknown facing Ainslie tomm. Having been belted by them and a forfeit. Should be an interesting
tussle with the NEAFL side playing the curtain raiser at Alan Roy.
 
clarkeovalblue said:
Shame about the Cooma forfeit to Goulburn. Hope a few of our sides can start getting players back
for some contests leading into the finals.
Bit of an unknown facing Ainslie tomm. Having been belted by them and a forfeit. Should be an interesting
tussle with the NEAFL side playing the curtain raiser at Alan Roy.
Click to expand...

Word I hear is that they have no trouble getting good numbers along to spray Tuggeranong and Goulburn.
This comp is slowly becoming a shambles. 3rd place forfeiting 4 weeks out from finals. AFL Canberra really need to look at this comp for next year
 
DropPunt12 said:
Word I hear is that they have no trouble getting good numbers along to spray Tuggeranong and Goulburn.
This comp is slowly becoming a shambles. 3rd place forfeiting 4 weeks out from finals. AFL Canberra really need to look at this comp for next year
Click to expand...

The comment is mostly true DP. We had about 10 blokes to go along and watch that game because of the Ainslie forfeit that day but in defense all but 2 of those were available this to play Goulburn this week. We had 15 or 16 available with 2 of us carrying injuries that really shouldn't be playing but didn't want another forfeit to happen. I was gutted when Ainslie forfeited last week to us and now we have done it in turn. AFL Canberra have really f&*cked our division up this year and i hope they care enough to fix it next year
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
AFL Canberra 2024
Replies
13
Views
3K
BitOfBants
B
R
AFL Canberra 2023
2
Replies
29
Views
4K
ilovemeatpies
I

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top