League Rankings South Australia
- Thread starter davej34
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Burton89onegoal
Team Captain
- Jan 1, 2019
- 468
- 1,072
- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
My guess would be (not including amateur league or Southern FL):
*Hill (Central)
*Great Southern
*Western Border
*Kowree Naracoorte
*Barossa
*River Murray
*Riverland
*Mid South East
*Port Lincoln
*Adelaide Plains
Then theres Pt Pirie, Whyalla, Port Augusta, which Im not really sure about telative strength....perhaps would be in 2nd or 3rd grouping above.
I imagine the weaker leagues would be the ones furthest away from Adelaide and/or a major metropolitan area...such as smaller areas on Eyre Peninsula, far north etc.
*Hill (Central)
*Great Southern
*Western Border
*Kowree Naracoorte
*Barossa
*River Murray
*Riverland
*Mid South East
*Port Lincoln
*Adelaide Plains
Then theres Pt Pirie, Whyalla, Port Augusta, which Im not really sure about telative strength....perhaps would be in 2nd or 3rd grouping above.
I imagine the weaker leagues would be the ones furthest away from Adelaide and/or a major metropolitan area...such as smaller areas on Eyre Peninsula, far north etc.
No real official rankings or way to objectively determine. I suspect:
D1 Adelaide Footy League
SFL
BLGFL
Hills D1
GSFL
KNTFL
RMFL
APFL
YPFL
Riverland
Mid South East
Don't know enough about the balance of leagues to be able to comment.
D1 Adelaide Footy League
SFL
BLGFL
Hills D1
GSFL
KNTFL
RMFL
APFL
YPFL
Riverland
Mid South East
Don't know enough about the balance of leagues to be able to comment.
WBFL in there before the Mid South East
Tandy
Norm Smith Medallist
The WBFL would be one of the stronger leagues in the state after the Adelaide leagues wouldnt it? Probably stronger 10 years ago.
It used to be. They are rebranded as the Limestone Coast Football League now. KNTFL has overtaken them in the South East as the strongest league in the Limestone Coast now and it has been like that for a few years now.
- Feb 12, 2010
- 15,447
- 20,678
- AFL Club
- Essendon
- Other Teams
- Central Districts, Detroit Pistons
Western Border survived Coleraine exiting (1994) without any impact to quality and I doubt losing Heywood (2011) would've had a big impact, however losing the 2 Hamilton teams (who subsequently merged) and Portland in 2012 left a massive hole which the league never recovered from.
10+ years as a 6 team comp. It's been weird to watch for a league centered on what is the 2nd largest population center in the state outside of Adelaide. There is activity on the horizon (supposedly) next year with 2 new clubs to be dragged in - 1 each from KNT and MidSE. Penola seem certain to join from KNT; not sure about who will join from MidSE.
- Feb 12, 2010
- 15,447
- 20,678
- AFL Club
- Essendon
- Other Teams
- Central Districts, Detroit Pistons
My dad played and coached in the Mid SE and I played all my juniors up to U18s in the WBFL before moving away so I have a leg in each camp. I've been keeping an eye on the plans for the region, something has to give but save for club mergers and creating a single super league, shifting clubs within leagues is the only other solution (unless you shut down the WBFL which the 4 Mount clubs wouldn't allow).
I'm not sure how the Mid SE side that gets dragged into the WBFL will react, it'll be done with them kicking and screaming you'd think. It'd surely be one of Port Mac or Kalangadoo based on location and the strength of the clubs but how can they be made to move (financial incentive?)?.
I have very little knowledge about the MidSE or WBFL but I get that same impression (the kicking and screaming part!). Port Mac probably makes sense geographically. The funny part to me watching from afar is that the one and only Vic team left (Casterton) basically brought all this to a head by requesting to join the MidSE. There's a perfectly good little district league on their doorstep (SWDFL) that you'd think they'd slot nicely into. It's my understanding that the SWDFL has a junior comp now as well although I don't know the specifics. Maybe they'd be strong initially in that league but these things have a habit of evening out over time - Cavendish & Dartmoor have both been premiers in the last few years as well as the former WBFL clubs.
Munners
Senior List
It's funny because the proposed leagues from May last year would have created a strong league. However it upset many people which is fair enough.
You'd have the bigger Mount teams and the northern clubs which attract a lot of Adelaide players/locals coming back from Adelaide. In saying that perhaps the travel to the Mount would deter Adelaide players.
For sure in theory that's a strong league (the 14 team league) plus you keep most of the good old fashioned rivalries (and introduce the possibility for new ones). Travelling distances would be the turn off for the locals (e.g. Keith from/to Mt Gambier for early games
) although it sounds like there's a ton of travelling going on already for some of these KNT clubs with players travelling from Adelaide. The 11 team league would probably benefit from Mt Gambier area players that weren't too keen on the travel, so they'd gravitate towards existing MidSE teams. My 2 cents worth is that things will happen whether there's a Working Party or not...it just takes time to play out (dwindling/ageing population, fewer volunteers, etc.).
- Feb 12, 2010
- 15,447
- 20,678
- AFL Club
- Essendon
- Other Teams
- Central Districts, Detroit Pistons
Do you know why Casterton/Sandford needs/wants to stay in the WBFL?
While it'd cause a stink, as any plan will, you could almost say merge the WBFL and Mid SE with Casterton/Sandford joining the Vic SWFL, and leave the KNTFL untouched. There's a 14 team comp staring them in the face right there.
I could see a couple of mergers happening pretty quickly if that were to happen though, for example Kongorong with Port Mac or Tantanoola, Nangwarry with Kalangadoo (or even Penola then into the KNTFL). My goodness though, my grandfather would turn in his grave if Kongorong were to merge with Port Mac!
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Munners
Senior List
Never asked anyone from Casterton but I assume they want to stay in a stronger league as long as they can.
Although the South West District League are incorporating more juniors now, being in the Victorian league probably makes it easier for juniors to play for the Rebels and they wouldn't have to compete with Coleraine as mentioned in this video.
Maybe the Casterton people just like shopping at Kmart. They can't do that in Heywood, Dartmoor, Coleraine, etc.
Other than losing a team each - the latest "plan" has the KNT & MidSE to carry on as they are now. It's hard to imagine there aren't going to be other changes to follow but it's worth noting that this is not a localized issue. If you look at some of the discussion on the Vic Country board, there's all kinds of chat around merging of clubs, clubs changing leagues, leagues combining, etc.
I'd be surprised if Penola wasn't in the Limestone Coast league in 2025.
Agreed. If not for a handful of club members, they'd be there this year. They set a pretty high bar (66% required to vote in favour) and it came in ~63% if I recall. Fair play to the club administration for wanting to get such a large majority, but that's kinda odd to think about it now ... more than 6 out of 10 members want to be in a different league!!! They'll get their way in 2025 you'd have to think. I'm really curious to see who they'll get from the MidSE ... the 2 main "contenders" from what I can tell are Port Mac & Kalangadoo.
The WBFL is no more : New league’s fixture announced | The SE Voice
Grand Final at Casterton too, so that's a good "get" for them.
