Hills Football League

Jul 27, 2009
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Not in any official capacity, although I lived in Mount Barker for 6 years and across the road from one of the Barkeroos' A grade players, so I still take some interest in how they're going. As the town has grown, they have become quite a powerhouse.
 
Sep 15, 2011
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Perth
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Not in any official capacity, although I lived in Mount Barker for 6 years and across the road from one of the Barkeroos' A grade players, so I still take some interest in how they're going. As the town has grown, they have become quite a powerhouse.
Yeah lost the GF yesterday after only losing once all year :( devastating!
 
Jul 27, 2009
7,911
11,394
Adelaide
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Geelong
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South Adelaide Panthers
Yeah lost the GF yesterday after only losing once all year :( devastating!
It's not the first time they've dropped a GF to Uraidla Districts. Uraidla itself doesn't produce a lot of good players, but they tend to get some good players from the Norwood area to compensate which makes them very competitive. Disappointing nonetheless though.
 
Sep 15, 2011
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It's not the first time they've dropped a GF to Uraidla Districts. Uraidla itself doesn't produce a lot of good players, but they tend to get some good players from the Norwood area to compensate which makes them very competitive. Disappointing nonetheless though.
Yeah they're struggling a bit for juniors these days so they have to do a bit of recruiting.
 
Jul 27, 2009
7,911
11,394
Adelaide
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South Adelaide Panthers
Yeah they're struggling a bit for juniors these days so they have to do a bit of recruiting.
I was driving through the hills a couple of months back and saw a big sign between Summertown and Uraidla which was advertising for players. It doesn't surprise me that they struggle to get juniors as the township is small and relatively inaccessible to attract juniors outside a 10km radius. They do however, not seem to find it difficult in attracting talented journeymen from the SANFL reserves and wherever else in order to field a competitive team.
 
Sep 15, 2011
10,975
5,370
Perth
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Hawthorn
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Canberra Raiders,Crystal Palace F.C
I was driving through the hills a couple of months back and saw a big sign between Summertown and Uraidla which was advertising for players. It doesn't surprise me that they struggle to get juniors as the township is small and relatively inaccessible to attract juniors outside a 10km radius. They do however, not seem to find it difficult in attracting talented journeymen from the SANFL reserves and wherever else in order to field a competitive team.
Yeah exactly. I used to work in Uraidla (was tough after losing grand finals to them :( ) and most of the people in the town that you see tend to be very old. There was even talk that Brett Ebert was going to join Uraidla after he retired from Port :p
 
Jul 27, 2009
7,911
11,394
Adelaide
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
South Adelaide Panthers
Yeah exactly. I used to work in Uraidla (was tough after losing grand finals to them :( ) and most of the people in the town that you see tend to be very old. There was even talk that Brett Ebert was going to join Uraidla after he retired from Port :p
I would have thought Brett Ebert would be the perfect candidate to captain Port's inaugural seconds team, so going to Uraidla wouldn't have been the first club that came to mind. But if he goes to Uraidla that'd be very interesting and would be a big coup for the Demons.
 

summerfan

Senior List
Dec 12, 2010
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I played for torrens valley lions for 7 games this year when i visited the state. They pay good money for us to play there.
 
Jun 23, 2008
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Headed for Kirribilli House
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They sure do pay well apparently!

Not making accusations of impropriety, a genuine question - Where does this money actually come from for local and country clubs? There's only so much money they can make over the bar, and only so much that local sponsors would contribute. Have never understood the economics of local footy TBH.
 
Sep 15, 2011
10,975
5,370
Perth
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Canberra Raiders,Crystal Palace F.C
Not making accusations of impropriety, a genuine question - Where does this money actually come from for local and country clubs? There's only so much money they can make over the bar, and only so much that local sponsors would contribute. Have never understood the economics of local footy TBH.
Yeah I'm not fully into the economics of it either but some clubs have big local businessmen backing them whereas others are just the bigger clubs with lots of juniors that must feed money into the club.
 

summerfan

Senior List
Dec 12, 2010
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g
Not making accusations of impropriety, a genuine question - Where does this money actually come from for local and country clubs? There's only so much money they can make over the bar, and only so much that local sponsors would contribute. Have never understood the economics of local footy TBH.

Garry Hughes payed for me and 9 other players when i played. The club actually spent nothing kind of like a man city in soccer but a smaller role i suppose.
 

Scoopar

Team Captain
Aug 22, 2006
450
652
Long Way from Arden St
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North Melbourne
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Not a bad effort by Echunga. Wins the premiership in the Country division (Division 2) in 2013, is promoted to the Central division for 2014 and this weekend plays Uraidla in the Grand Final. Interestingly both teams are the demons, wearing red & navy blue.

The team that was relegated from Central in 2013, Mt Lofty ended up winning the premiership in the Country divison on the weekend. No doubt Mt Lofty will be looking at getting back into Central in 2015.

There is talk of Echunga going back to the Country division because of under performing in the other grades (Reserves, Senior & Junior colts). If that happens it will be a joke. A Central grand finalist being relegated? The relegation/promotion system should be dictated by your senior team. If the senior team finishes on the bottom of the Central, the club should be relegated.
 
Sep 15, 2011
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So what if (and I'm not saying that Echunga did this) a team came up from Country spend loads of money and win the flag but all their other grades cop a flogging each week? Should they stay up just coz they focused souly on A Grade? But I'll agree that the system is stupid in that Country Division is based souly on A Grade whereas Central is based on the whole club. That said Id like to see Echunga stay up because I think they've added something good to Central.
Word is it will be an 11 team Central and 8 team Country with Lofty coming up. Interesting times ahead.
 

Scoopar

Team Captain
Aug 22, 2006
450
652
Long Way from Arden St
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North Melbourne
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Hearts of Midlothian, GB Packers.
"Word is it will be an 11 team Central and 8 team Country with Lofty coming up. Interesting times ahead."

Not sure that would be such a great idea. That would mean a 20 game (if everyone plays each other twice) fixture in Central Division. Ten teams in Central is the ideal number. The second division, - Country should always be the odd number comp.

Teams in second division should be aspiring to be in Central Division. And conversely, Central teams at the foot of the ladder, should be working towards avoiding relegation. A healthy relegation/promotion system with a 10/9 mix is the best way to conduct a competition with nineteen teams.
 

Scoopar

Team Captain
Aug 22, 2006
450
652
Long Way from Arden St
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Hearts of Midlothian, GB Packers.
Echunga won the Central (Division One) premiership and its reward? It gets relegated to the Country (2nd) Division for 2015. I guess rules are rules and Echunga was the worst performed of all the clubs in Central Division across all grades with its B Grade, Senior Colts & Junior Colts all performing poorly. But it is a very odd & unique situation for the best senior team in the Hills League to end up in an inferior competition.

It will make it hard for the other Country Division teams to vie for the senior flag next year. It would be like Goodwood Saints winning the SAFA Division One flag and going to Division Two in 2015.
 
Sep 15, 2011
10,975
5,370
Perth
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Canberra Raiders,Crystal Palace F.C
Echunga won the Central (Division One) premiership and its reward? It gets relegated to the Country (2nd) Division for 2015. I guess rules are rules and Echunga was the worst performed of all the clubs in Central Division across all grades with its B Grade, Senior Colts & Junior Colts all performing poorly. But it is a very odd & unique situation for the best senior team in the Hills League to end up in an inferior competition.

It will make it hard for the other Country Division teams to vie for the senior flag next year. It would be like Goodwood Saints winning the SAFA Division One flag and going to Division Two in 2015.
Yeah well done Echunga. Never liked Uraidla much so was good to see them lose on Saturday, I think it will be almost impossible to relegate them though seeing as we will be seen as a laughing stock for relegating a premiership team. I think the threat of relegation actually got Echunga the premiership.
 

Scoopar

Team Captain
Aug 22, 2006
450
652
Long Way from Arden St
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Hearts of Midlothian, GB Packers.
I agree Milang-Panthers.

Well done Echunga on the premiership. It takes a lot of hard work behind the scenes to build a team to win a premiership and to go back to back with Country & Central flag is a huge effort.

I think a senior premiership should save Echunga from being relegated. My view is making the A Grade finals in the Central Division should preclude a club from being relegated. The team with the worst results over the four grades that did not make the senior finals should be relegated.
 
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