Bendigo FL discussion 2023

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Trent the flight Steward said:
Bendigo is a shitload bigger than it was 20 years ago, what are kids doing today? The inception of development squads is pushing more kids away from playing, as if they don't make a squad, they give up, where's the afl to grow our participation rates from auskick to senior footy, I'm not sure they care, as long as elite talent is spotted and drafted
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The world has changed. Kids are on screens and getting jobs to try and get ahead in the world now. Parents are working more and more hours and don’t have time or money for sports.

There’s also a huge array of sports to choose from and every single one of them has some bullshit pathway system that tries to lock kids in to squads and extra training sessions which means they can’t try other sports.

When we were kids just about every boy played footy until they were 15 or 16. Now I doubt it is even a quarter of them.

The way numbers have declined over the past 20 years, if we see anything like a repeat of that in the next 20 we will lose 50% of the teams we have now.
 
Trent the flight Steward said:
Bendigo is a shitload bigger than it was 20 years ago, what are kids doing today? The inception of development squads is pushing more kids away from playing, as if they don't make a squad, they give up, where's the afl to grow our participation rates from auskick to senior footy, I'm not sure they care, as long as elite talent is spotted and drafted
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The pios system only works for those who live in Bendigo and attend school there.. doesn’t accomodate 16-18 year olds going out and getting a job to get ahead in life.. makes it hard for kids to travel from outside off the Bendigo area after work etc to go to training..
 
Have to say watching the Pioneers hierarchy dragging around trying to take credit for Harley Reid last night and today made me utterly sick.

They couldn’t develop the runs from a curry and yet are strutting around like they are Ron Barassi.
 

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Forest St End said:
Have to say watching the Pioneers hierarchy dragging around trying to take credit for Harley Reid last night and today made me utterly sick.

They couldn’t develop the runs from a curry and yet are strutting around like they are Ron Barassi.
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Why can’t they take any credit?? So
of you blokes need to get real

The Pios actually have an excellent ratio of draftees reaching 200 games
 
ROOTA#6 said:
Why can’t they take any credit?? So
of you blokes need to get real

The Pios actually have an excellent ratio of draftees reaching 200 games
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Because they make stuff all contribution to any of those kids.

They cherry pick the best players from clubs and then try and claim some influence over their development when in comparison to the top shelf TAC Cup programs they are well and truly sub par.
 
Forest St End said:
Because they make stuff all contribution to any of those kids.

They cherry pick the best players from clubs and then try and claim some influence over their development when in comparison to the top shelf TAC Cup programs they are well and truly sub par.
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The whole point of the TAC cup is for them to take the best kids from their catchment
 
Forest St End said:
Have to say watching the Pioneers hierarchy dragging around trying to take credit for Harley Reid last night and today made me utterly sick.

They couldn’t develop the runs from a curry and yet are strutting around like they are Ron Barassi.
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Yeah that’s right, f**k celebrating the great achievements of your team members who have been a big part of your team for the best part of 2-3 years.
Why even bother furthering the relationship, it’s not like these players could ever help develop future team members through the likes of mentoring.

Pios got what they wanted out of them, now cast em aside.
 
TBH, every club and coach should take some credit for developing drafted players. Harley Reid was going to be drafted from the age of 12. 14 of the 29 drafted last night played state U/12 football. It annoys me that Coates league clubs and schools take the credit for the trees planted well before the draft age year. The parents of every boy in that draft make enormous sacrifices as well. The Pioneers are just one of many clubs and coaches that developed the natural talent these lads were born with. Not one club or organisation should be at the front of the queue for pats on the back. The real work should be supporting the kids who have had their hopes destroyed when they miss out!
 
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Truck said:
Yeah that’s right, f**k celebrating the great achievements of your team members who have been a big part of your team for the best part of 2-3 years.
Why even bother furthering the relationship, it’s not like these players could ever help develop future team members through the likes of mentoring.

Pios got what they wanted out of them, now cast em aside.
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You can celebrate a kid without making it all about yourselves.

As for their relationships there’s at least three blokes running around in the AFL today who don’t speak highly of their experience there.

The greatest player they will ever produce declined to have any involvement with them after being drafted because of the way they treated him in the program. Wasn’t going to help them win the Herald Sun shield so didn’t want to know him until it became obvious he was so good they were going to look like fools.

The whole program is a cancer in community footy.
 
Forest St End said:
You can celebrate a kid without making it all about yourselves.

As for their relationships there’s at least three blokes running around in the AFL today who don’t speak highly of their experience there.

The greatest player they will ever produce declined to have any involvement with them after being drafted because of the way they treated him in the program. Wasn’t going to help them win the Herald Sun shield so didn’t want to know him until it became obvious he was so good they were going to look like fools.

The whole program is a cancer in community footy.
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The Pios don’t play for the herald sun shield unless I’m mistaken
 
Forest St End said:
You can celebrate a kid without making it all about yourselves.

As for their relationships there’s at least three blokes running around in the AFL today who don’t speak highly of their experience there.

The greatest player they will ever produce declined to have any involvement with them after being drafted because of the way they treated him in the program. Wasn’t going to help them win the Herald Sun shield so didn’t want to know him until it became obvious he was so good they were going to look like fools.

The whole program is a cancer in community footy.
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Full of criticism but no solutions
 
The tac cup is broken in my opinion. Back when it began footy was half professional, training together one night a week sufficed. Now 40 kids are expected to sacrifice their life all been fed that they'll be harley reid, who in my opinion should be a bushie, far closer to shepp than bendigo is tongala.


There's always been stories of cliques at the pios, I think ringo and danny have got ridden that element a fair bit, but you can't have kids travelling all over the state each week, with such a low percentage drafted.
 

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Trent the flight Steward said:
The tac cup is broken in my opinion. Back when it began footy was half professional, training together one night a week sufficed. Now 40 kids are expected to sacrifice their life all been fed that they'll be harley reid, who in my opinion should be a bushie, far closer to shepp than bendigo is tongala.


There's always been stories of cliques at the pios, I think ringo and danny have got ridden that element a fair bit, but you can't have kids travelling all over the state each week, with such a low percentage drafted.
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It is but the Pios have always seemed to have had more than their share of issues when compared to the Bushies & Rebels.
Whilst the overall system needs an overhaul, I think there's still a place for a Coates League-style setup representing the various regions across the state.
The current setup caters to the cohort that get scholarships and gets picked in the draft, furnishing the AFL with the next generation of talent - everyone else be damned, which not surprisingly results in many people walking away disillusioned especially now when the option of playing in the VFL becomes harder with the absence of the Roosters & Gold.
Until the AFL/Government start to give a s**t about grassroots footy, these issues will persist IMO.
 
ringo1 said:
TBH, every club and coach should take some credit for developing drafted players. Harley Reid was going to be drafted from the age of 12. 14 of the 29 drafted last night played state U/12 football. It annoys me that Coates league clubs and schools take the credit for the trees planted well before the draft age year. The parents of every boy in that draft make enormous sacrifices as well. The Pioneers are just one of many clubs and coaches that developed the natural talent these lads were born with. Not one club or organisation should be at the front of the queue for pats on the back. The real work should be supporting the kids who have had their hopes destroyed when they miss out!
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Well said.
 
ringo1 said:
TBH, every club and coach should take some credit for developing drafted players. Harley Reid was going to be drafted from the age of 12. 14 of the 29 drafted last night played state U/12 football. It annoys me that Coates league clubs and schools take the credit for the trees planted well before the draft age year. The parents of every boy in that draft make enormous sacrifices as well. The Pioneers are just one of many clubs and coaches that developed the natural talent these lads were born with. Not one club or organisation should be at the front of the queue for pats on the back. The real work should be supporting the kids who have had their hopes destroyed when they miss out!
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Far more disappointed individuals and their families than those who are drafted. All that hard work and effort has not resulted in the dream eventuating but clubs and recruiters often do little/ no follow up on how they are and what are their future plans. No wonder many walk away from the game disillusioned and totally over it all which can also be attributed to all the false promises and rubbish they have been told over the years.

I also get frustrated seeing the Coates League club take prominence with where the player has come from. How about their 'home club'. A good example this year was Ryley Sanders who is a Tasmanian and played one season at Sandringham Dragons due to moving to Melbourne for a school scholarship. No mention of his home club of North Launceston or the Tasmania Devils who spent the majority of time supporting and coaching him to achieve his dream.
 
localfootyguru said:
Far more disappointed individuals and their families than those who are drafted. All that hard work and effort has not resulted in the dream eventuating but clubs and recruiters often do little/ no follow up on how they are and what are their future plans. No wonder many walk away from the game disillusioned and totally over it all which can also be attributed to all the false promises and rubbish they have been told over the years.

I also get frustrated seeing the Coates League club take prominence with where the player has come from. How about their 'home club'. A good example this year was Ryley Sanders who is a Tasmanian and played one season at Sandringham Dragons due to moving to Melbourne for a school scholarship. No mention of his home club of North Launceston or the Tasmania Devils who spent the majority of time supporting and coaching him to achieve his dream.
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Harley had the Tongala logo on his shirt and each draftee called out had their home club name read out
 
MortlockWatcher said:
Great to see Harley buck the trend by wearing a Tonny polo. Maybe he was sending a subtle message while other draftees wore their TAC gear. He did actually make a clear reference to Tongala's role in his development when being interviewed on Fox.
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He had a Poi’s shirt on but had replaced the AFL logo with the Tongala logo. It was a great idea.
 
Trent the flight Steward said:
Would harley reid been better off playing a year in kyabram seniors rather than Coates league?
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As arguably the most hyped no.1 pick in recent memory, the system served him as intended. That question is probably better asked of some of his teammates who are likely thinking, what now?
 
Trent the flight Steward said:
Well should he have had a year vfl level against men, I think as a footballer your game improves playing against men
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I don’t think they need to play against men to improve but I definitely think playing against men sorts out who will really cut it and who won’t.

Anyone who saw Dustin Martin play in the BFL knew his ability was going to translate (except the Pioneers) but in the same draft you had a private school boy go number 1 who was found out a bit when it came time to mix with the ruffians.

If I were a recruiter I’d want to have seen any physically able kid play open age.

Edit: Correction, it was the previous draft!
 
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