Juniors playing in SANFL seniors

[melbournemartin]

I have wondered for a while but never fully understood the rules/ettiquette/traditions of juniors playing senior SANFL football. I remember back before we drafted him that Jack Trengove was very good for Sturt in their (Grand?) Final performance, and obviously as a kid doing well against men that was a good sign (if only his body could keep that up his whole career...)

What are the rules though? I would have thought that some prospective top 5 or so draft picks could get a game every week in the SANFL seniors (is this true?) and so why would they ever play juniors? Perhaps there is a limit on how many senior games they can play. Does this change for finals though?

Always seemed like such an advantage to me that SANFL and the WAFL players have. Very curious to have someone explain this to me so I can finally understand it properly

 

[chazwazza]

I have wondered for a while but never fully understood the rules/ettiquette/traditions of juniors playing senior SANFL football. I remember back before we drafted him that Jack Trengove was very good for Sturt in their (Grand?) Final performance, and obviously as a kid doing well against men that was a good sign (if only his body could keep that up his whole career...)

What are the rules though? I would have thought that some prospective top 5 or so draft picks could get a game every week in the SANFL seniors (is this true?) and so why would they ever play juniors? Perhaps there is a limit on how many senior games they can play. Does this change for finals though?

Always seemed like such an advantage to me that SANFL and the WAFL players have. Very curious to have someone explain this to me so I can finally understand it properly

There’s not really any rules on how many senior games they can play, it totally depends on the club and the player, one of the main limitations on the games they can play is that of their school, mainly if they’re at a private school who put a great emphasis on the availability of their students to play for them.
Trengove had a standout game in Sturt’s preliminary final against Glenelg and was a bit subdued in the GF against Centrals.