Itspetracca
Debutant
- Joined
- May 9, 2022
- Posts
- 127
- Reaction score
- 134
- AFL Club
- Melbourne
But the first 5 rounds isn't true grading is it. Whats to say if DC & Mont go down they arent a level above div 2 and Whit a level below the div 1 teams, you end up with the same issues. Your not comparing results between teams in different divisions to get a better understanding of each teams strengths.The realignment of the Under 19s has been very poor to say the least. It appears nothing more than a case of the tail wagging the dog. It should have remained as three divisions, and the clubs are TOLD where they are playing, not asked.
The league's role should be to place each team in their appropriate grade after 5 rounds. If not, then what is the point of having grading at all? If a Club has their ego dented for a season, then so be it. In the Senior grades, clubs don't get a chance to appeal to the league where they play. The results dictate that. If you are last, you go down, if you win the flag, you go up. The Under 19s should be no different. If you are belting teams, then you belong in a higher grade. If you are struggling, you go down where you might be more competitive.
I have also heard of clubs that want to play in Div 1 because their kids won't play in Div 2, or it's not as attractive to recruit players etc. Let's be fair dinkum though, how many are we talking? A couple of kids at most. They want to put themselves in the shop window of the Knights (or maybe their parents do), or they are told "you have to play Div 1 or we won't look at you". The case of the few shouldn't be dictating common sense for the rest. I'm very confident that if that if you asked the kids at Diamond Creek (for instance) if they mind going down to Div 2, that VAST majority would shrug their shoulders, say "whatever" and just get on with the season.
Reducing it to two divisions does nothing to improve the competitiveness. In fact, it just widens the gap. The likes of Kinglake and Epping now have to come up against the likes of South Morang and Laurimar. Kinglake were beaten by 132 points by Heidelberg in Div 3. What might the other two do to them? It seems to me that the powerful club like Heidelberg has more of a say than the smaller club like Kinglake, and that's plain wrong. If they are (wrongly) going to make it two divisions, then all of Laurimar, South Morang and Whittlesea should have been promoted.
The grading should have changed the divisions to this...
DIV 1 - In: Whittlesea. Out: DC & Mont. 8 Teams
DIV 2 - In: Heidelberg (Div 3) and DC & Mont (Div 1). Out: OP & Macleod (Div 3) and Whittlesea (Div1). 6 Teams
Div 3 - In OP & Macleod. Out: Heidelberg. 8 Teams








