SFNL Div 1 2026

[Pendles1991]

Sourcing around seems to be the All Stars ruckman, Taberner, Avondale Heights. Has offers on the table from Peninsula based clubs and hasn’t put pen to paper anywhere is the mail.

Has any senior players actually stayed at East Brighton from there 2025 list? Seems like majority have left. Will they be worse off than Port Melbourne?

 

[bedford]

Has any senior players actually stayed at East Brighton from there 2025 list? Seems like majority have left. Will they be worse off than Port Melbourne?

There is only 1 Port Melbourne

 

[Greg Tivendale]

It's all well and good to say this, but it's fairly straight forward - if you don't pay players a decent whack, especially in the higher grades, you will simply get left behind. Clubs around you will pay above the market rate and land signings, while your club slowly bleeds players to competing teams. Loyalty is pretty rare these days.
You can preach 'club culture' all you want but culture & paying players are not mutually exclusive.

The landscape for local footy has changed forever (for better or worse).

For worse i'd say.

 

[bedford]

For worse i'd say.

So you offer young local VAFA players $400 a game

 

[notalegent]

For worse i'd say.

Greg, has number 88 retired. Also is Bevridge not playing this year.

 

[Pendles1991]

So you offer young local VAFA players $400 a game

If they're worth the money, why wouldn't he? St Pauls are in a massive VAFA club dominated area with some elite talent. Its smart recruiting.

 

[bedford]

If they're worth the money, why wouldn't he? St Pauls are in a massive VAFA club dominated area with some elite talent. Its smart recruiting.

Just frustrating , not just them , Black Rock are another

 

[JS#35]

That's on VAFA clubs to network and find those young lads high paying employment then. Nothing wrong with clubs in the SFL trying to recruit good players

 

[bedford]

That's on VAFA clubs to network and find those young lads high paying employment then. Nothing wrong with clubs in the SFL trying to recruit good players

Very hard for the smaller local ammo clubs to do that , but the old school and Uni teams have massive networks

 

[Wild Thing]

Very hard for the smaller local ammo clubs to do that , but the old school and Uni teams have massive net

If it’s too hard on these local ammo clubs why don’t they up and leave the VAFA and join the SFNL. Will then be able to pay players, less travel and local rivalries = bigger crowds and more money spent on the bar. No point whinging about it, that won’t do anything.

 

[bedford]

If it’s too hard on these local ammo clubs why don’t they up and leave the VAFA and join the SFNL. Will then be able to pay players, less travel and local rivalries = bigger crowds and more money spent on the bar. No point whinging about it, that won’t do anything.

Ive said this for 10 years , there is no future in the VAFA for local clubs

 

[Dons3188]

If it’s too hard on these local ammo clubs why don’t they up and leave the VAFA and join the SFNL. Will then be able to pay players, less travel and local rivalries = bigger crowds and more money spent on the bar. No point whinging about it, that won’t do anything.

played Vafa many years nothing like driving out to pegs 1 week than down to Williamstown the next, were div 1 is worst port Melbourne to cranny

 

[SaintsMagee]

played Vafa many years nothing like driving out to pegs 1 week than down to Williamstown the next, were div 1 is worst port Melbourne to cranny

Yeah the Port Melb trip is a bit of a hike. I personally don't mind it as it really feels like a proper away game. Thankfully only have 1 big trip like that per season.

 

[Jimmyjack]

Very hard for the smaller local ammo clubs to do that , but the old school and Uni teams have massive networks

This is a myth bedford and applies to a just handful of clubs and maybe one university. Recent history is littered with school-based clubs who have folded or have been forced to merge or transfer competitions to remain viable. I can provide numerous examples if required.

Fewer and fewer players want to play for nothing and fewer and fewer clubs have the capacity to satisfy existing players or recruits through employment opportunities. The landscape has changed significantly in the last decade or so. The gap between the haves and have nots in both the ammos and the paying comps is vast and getting wider.

 

[Wild Thing]

Ive said this for 10 years , there is no future in the VAFA for local clubs

Yet why haven’t the likes of Ormond, Hampton Rovers, Glen Eira, Beaumaris, Oakleigh, Parkdale made the move across to the SFNL then? All within the leagues catchment area.

 

[MortlockWatcher]

Probably just a matter of time. The exodus of clubs from the VAFA in recent years and the fact that clubs like Ivanhoe (NFNL Div 3) and Old Paradians (NFNL Div 2) are competitive (following in the footsteps of Banyule, NFNL Div 1) would interest some current VAFA clubs considering their options.

As one example, Ivanhoe have seen a lot of former players who crossed over to NFNL clubs come back to the club in the current off-season, which has the club on a much stronger footing than if they stayed in the VAFA. They finished just outside the finals in their first season and lost in the preliminary final in their second, so the transition from an amateur club to a paying club can be successfully made if committees don't go overboard with their transition.

One or two of the eastern VAFA clubs are currently tracking the progress of Bulleen-Templestowe to see if a move for their club is feasible on issues such as costs, match day revenue, senior and junior player retention.

 

[Jimmyjack]

Yet why haven’t the likes of Ormond, Hampton Rovers, Glen Eira, Beaumaris, Oakleigh, Parkdale made the move across to the SFNL then? All within the leagues catchment area.

Different clubs have different needs. Some of those you mentioned have very strong junior affiliates or are based in areas that already have a strong SFL footprint, so being a VAFA club offers a point of difference. There are both advantages and disadvantages to being in the VAFA. Not having to find endless funds through sponsorship, alcohol sales, entry charges, functions and a reliance on benevolent supporters is the most obvious. In the higher grades the quality of the football and playing on better grounds is an attraction. Disadvantages include the travel, the constant drain on player stocks from paying comps and the challenges of competing with a handful of 'superpower' clubs which is an impediment to moving up the grades (mind you this is not just confined to the VAFA). Some that left have thrived while others have gone backwards or disappeared. What I have found interesting is the number of school-based clubs rather than suburban based clubs who have left the VAFA recently in order to remain viable.

 

[Dons3188]

Yet why haven’t the likes of Ormond, Hampton Rovers, Glen Eira, Beaumaris, Oakleigh, Parkdale made the move across to the SFNL then? All within the leagues catchment area.

the likes Hampton, Beauy and Parkdale are up the top or near the top of the VAFA divs, the lower down ones are the more targetable ones if you wanted to move to southern comp since there is a perceived bias that it is a weaker comp makes more sense for a masala or Elsternwick

 

[bedford]

This is a myth bedford and applies to a just handful of clubs and maybe one university. Recent history is littered with school-based clubs who have folded or have been forced to merge or transfer competitions to remain viable. I can provide numerous examples if required.

Fewer and fewer players want to play for nothing and fewer and fewer clubs have the capacity to satisfy existing players or recruits through employment opportunities. The landscape has changed significantly in the last decade or so. The gap between the haves and have nots in both the ammos and the paying comps is vast and getting wider.

It's not a myth

 

[bedford]

the likes Hampton, Beauy and Parkdale are up the top or near the top of the VAFA divs, the lower down ones are the more targetable ones if you wanted to move to southern comp since there is a perceived bias that it is a weaker comp makes more sense for a masala or Elsternwick

Don't worry Beauy have been close , as well as Parkdale

 

[Jimmyjack]

It's not a myth

Yes it is. I am cognisant this is an SFL site so apologies for raising issues relating to the VAFA but it is relevant to broader football and recruitment discussions and some other comments made here. While the St Bedes /Mentone merger happened in the 90s, off the top of my head in recent years the following school based clubs have either left the VAFA, merged or folded: Rupertswood left, Eltham Old Colls left, St.Johns left, Mt Lilydale folded, Westbourne folded, Old Mentonians folded, Emmaus rebadged as Wattle Park with no school affiliation, Parade left, St Francis Xavier folded, Salesian merged with St Marys and Old Yarra merged with Manningham. Whitefriars, PEGS, Old Camberwell, Therry and many others are or have generally been competing in the mid to lower grades for decades. In regard to the Universities – Monash (the biggest Uni is the country) is in D grade. To the best of my knowledge, they have never been beyond B grade. Latrobe are permanently at the bottom of the grades and Swinburne just went into recess. Only the Melbourne Uni clubs seem to have any sort of sustained tenure near the top and both have had stints in B grade in recent years.

FWIW I have connections to both comps and follow the SFL with great interest. My VAFA allegiance is a with a B grade ACC based old boys team that gets pillaged every year by the SFL, EFL and country leagues. Last season we did not win a game and finished with a % of 40. We have not won a senior flag for 22 years. How's that for priviledge! Bentleigh, M’Beena and St Pauls are full of players that at one time or another played at the VAFA club I follow. These are all good local clubs operating in an overcrowded market who are doing their best to remain competitive. I don’t begrudge them for tapping into the VAFA and likewise I don’t begrudge any player for leaving to earn a few bucks if they are capable of doing so. For all but handful of well-connected VAFA clubs and some cashed up suburban clubs every year just seems to get harder and harder.

 

[notalegent]

Any news on Springvale, hear they have added and kept all from last. Also Dingley look like they have lost a few. Is Leony gone from Cheltenham.

 

[JohnHancock]

I love the banter with you Peter Bedford, but my honest view is that Ormond are a powerhouse local junior club wasting their time in the VAFA. They’re a salt-of-the-earth community club that, in the Southern League, would be a genuine Division 1 powerhouse.

The same applies to clubs like Parkdale, Beaumaris, Oakleigh Krushers and Hampton. All have outstanding junior programs, but they’ll never have the same networks or pipelines as the top-end ACC schools like St Bedes, Dela, St Bernard’s or the Grammar school football factories that dominate VAFA at the elite level and are just filling numbers from B-D1.

I watched a game this year between Murrumbeena and St Paul’s and there was Tolongs, Buckley, Martinez, McCartney and Kennedy. All ex monders. The talent is there.

If clubs could sell beers during games, drive bigger crowds, grow sponsorship off the back of that, and reinvest the revenue into paying players, the move to the SFNL becomes a no-brainer. Add in three or four strong clubs like Bentleigh—who’ve only gone forward since leaving VAFA—and suddenly the Southern League stacks up with the best competitions going around, right alongside the Mornington Peninsula and Eastern leagues.

Time to make the move, Bedford.

 

[bedford]

I love the banter with you Peter Bedford, but my honest view is that Ormond are a powerhouse local junior club wasting their time in the VAFA. They’re a salt-of-the-earth community club that, in the Southern League, would be a genuine Division 1 powerhouse.

The same applies to clubs like Parkdale, Beaumaris, Oakleigh Krushers and Hampton. All have outstanding junior programs, but they’ll never have the same networks or pipelines as the top-end ACC schools like St Bedes, Dela, St Bernard’s or the Grammar school football factories that dominate VAFA at the elite level and are just filling numbers from B-D1.

I watched a game this year between Murrumbeena and St Paul’s and there was Tolongs, Buckley, Martinez, McCartney and Kennedy. All ex monders. The talent is there.

If clubs could sell beers during games, drive bigger crowds, grow sponsorship off the back of that, and reinvest the revenue into paying players, the move to the SFNL becomes a no-brainer. Add in three or four strong clubs like Bentleigh—who’ve only gone forward since leaving VAFA—and suddenly the Southern League stacks up with the best competitions going around, right alongside the Mornington Peninsula and Eastern leagues.

Time to make the move, Bedford.

When have i been against this

 

[hansie]

Don't worry Beauy have been close , as well as Parkdale

Because they are both ex federal/sesfl clubs so that is not surprising