SFL Div One 2013

[leftfootkick]

St. Pauls look like a well drilled and oiled machine and with a solid 2's the club is looking strong.

After Sunday's performance there is no doubt that they are the early premiership favourites.

Noticed big disco FRANCIS was in a tracksuit for the second half and rumour has it may have injured/broken his collar bone... any news out of EB?

 

[The_Koach]

Interesting move by the SFL/Clayton FC/EMFC to host a game tomorrow... anyone here going to get along?

What are your thoughts on the outcome? I'd suggest on form Clayton will go in favourites, however looks as thought EM put in a better effort last week against Chelt so may push them

http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_...ID=43147&&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=23295714

 

[Cousin Tiger]

St. Pauls look like a well drilled and oiled machine and with a solid 2's the club is looking strong.

After Sunday's performance there is no doubt that they are the early premiership favourites.

Noticed big disco FRANCIS was in a tracksuit for the second half and rumour has it may have injured/broken his collar bone... any news out of EB?

Could very well have been the bump put on him by Jarryd Allan in the first quarter.

 

[JustAnotherMembe]

Sssssssssh, be vewy vewy qwiet....

Congrats to St. Pauls. Deservedly carrying the Flag Faves tag. Far too good for us.

 

[Cousin Tiger]

Sssssssssh, be vewy vewy qwiet....

Congrats to St. Pauls. Deservedly carrying the Flag Faves tag. Far too good for us.

Fair few out from your end from the sounds of it.

 

[mightysainters]

St Paul's will walk this in...

Are they the best team in domestic football right now?

 

[JustAnotherMembe]

Fair few out from your end from the sounds of it.

Yeah, we're struggling a bit for fit soldiers at Beazley, which is affecting all sides. It's part of the reason we're not performing as well as we should. No excuse though, St. Pauls are flying and probably would've won anyways.


Would be nice to have a bit of luck though. Hopefully we can keep sneaking some wins in whilst we're a bit undermanned.

 

[Mahalo]

St Paul's will walk this in...

Are they the best team in domestic football right now?

Lets not get ahead of ourselves.

If they were playing a strong EFL Club they would consider invoking the "Mercy Rule" at 1/2 time such would be the difference in the scores. Having said that, they are improving, unfortunately for the league, and unlike the EFL, there is no club going with them and capable of challenging. Flow on effect, more 1 sided games and as a result, less support and exposure for our league.

Thank god for The Dingoes

 

[mightysainters]

Lets not get ahead of ourselves.

If they were playing a strong EFL Club they would consider invoking the "Mercy Rule" at 1/2 time such would be the difference in the scores. Having said that, they are improving, unfortunately for the league, and unlike the EFL, there is no club going with them and capable of challenging. Flow on effect, more 1 sided games and as a result, less support and exposure for our league.

Thank god for The Dingoes

As strong EFL Side? there are like 2 or 3 of them... Would like to see it happen, there would be no mercy rule, it would be a good game

 

[Blood Stained Angels]

highett in for a long year with the tunners, have plenty of numbers but in serious shortage of players with ability. Also seem to be paying over the odds to a number of there players, most of whom are relatively young and homegrown. Are we really going down the path where we are paying the 19 year old average footballer who is barely on the cusp of senior selection, and in all honesty on a comp that is not seen as "strong". Hopefully I am wrong and is not the case elsewhere...

Heatherton have to be the worst Div - 1 side ever, they should put their hands up and drop down to 3rd Division, give some other clubs a chance, they couldn't be any worse.
Maybe the league should step in, this is an embarrasment to them as well.

 

[Fish 20]

As strong EFL Side? there are like 2 or 3 of them... Would like to see it happen, there would be no mercy rule, it would be a good game

I would go out on a limb to say there are probably 7 better EFL Div 1 sides than St Pauls, no disrespect to Cousin Tiger mob.
To say they are best team in metro footy is a massive overstatement as you are also forgetting about A Section & some of B Section in the VAFA, then there's the top few sides in Essendon DFL & if you class Frankston YCW, Karingal etc the list goes on. Have definitely recruited well though & would be clear favourites thus far

 

[Mahalo]

Heatherton have to be the worst Div - 1 side ever, they should put their hands up and drop down to 3rd Division, give some other clubs a chance, they couldn't be any worse.
Maybe the league should step in, this is an embarrasment to them as well.

Perhaps the league should have spent more time worrying about Div 1 Heatherton and less time giving Div 3 PCFC assistance to start in an area that is already saturated with footy clubs.
It is not as if Heathertons plight occurred over night, they had enough time to restructure the Divisions and to make sure that Clubs would play in a Division that they could at least be remotely competetive. They did it with Black Rock and Caulfield didnt they?

 

[Raging Rhino]

Heatherton have to be the worst Div - 1 side ever, they should put their hands up and drop down to 3rd Division, give some other clubs a chance, they couldn't be any worse.
Maybe the league should step in, this is an embarrasment to them as well.

Bit harsh on the Tunners. They are celebrating their 100th year. Fair Effort. Also had a tough start to the year. St Pauls, Dingley and East Brighton in the opening 3 rounds. At this stage they all appear to be top 3. They did ask to go down to Division 2 along with Highett pre season but no one in Divvy 2 wanted to step up. Battling times for a lot of clubs. Good luck to St Pauls, they have picked the right year to have a crack at a flag. Whilst they have improved 10-20% the rest of the teams appeared to have gone backwards 10%.

 

[Blood Stained Angels]

Bit harsh on the Tunners. They are celebrating their 100th year. Fair Effort. Also had a tough start to the year. St Pauls, Dingley and East Brighton in the opening 3 rounds. At this stage they all appear to be top 3. They did ask to go down to Division 2 along with Highett pre season but no one in Divvy 2 wanted to step up. Battling times for a lot of clubs. Good luck to St Pauls, they have picked the right year to have a crack at a flag. Whilst they have improved 10-20% the rest of the teams appeared to have gone backwards 10%.

Yeah, fair call raging, but the tonners have been going nowhere for a few years now.
Even Jewelly couldn't do anything with them, he saw the light and got out.
Maybe its time for an 8 team Div 1 comp at least there would be better games across the board.
Two more teams in Div 2 would strengthen that Division, and 2 more in Div 3 as well.
We need our top Division to be stronger not weakend by teams who are not up to it.
How can the tonners survive when they are going to be belted every week by 10 - 15 goals, no quality in the reserves, no juniors coming through.
Division 1 final 5 is already sorted and is a formality, how is this good for the comp?

 

[Blood Stained Angels]

Perhaps the league should have spent more time worrying about Div 1 Heatherton and less time giving Div 3 PCFC assistance to start in an area that is already saturated with footy clubs.
It is not as if Heathertons plight occurred over night, they had enough time to restructure the Divisions and to make sure that Clubs would play in a Division that they could at least be remotely competetive. They did it with Black Rock and Caulfield didnt they?

Solution = Div 1 to have 8 teams.

 

[Fish 20]

Solution = Div 1 to have 8 teams.

I see what you're saying & on paper it would definitely strengthen Div 1 & 2, but you'd only have a 14 round fixture which is far too short.

You'd have to play 4 other teams three times to make up the 18 rounds, which would heavily comprimise the fixture. You'd have clubs complaining that some teams were gifted a finals berth, as the played the bottom team 3 times.

This is unless you have 21 rounds so everyone plays each other 3 times, for that 8 team comp, which is never going to happen, as you still have to play finals. No easy solution

Salary cap maybe??

 

[Blood Stained Angels]

I see what you're saying & on paper it would definitely strengthen Div 1 & 2, but you'd only have a 14 round fixture which is far too short.

You'd have to play 4 other teams three times to make up the 18 rounds, which would heavily comprimise the fixture. You'd have clubs complaining that some teams were gifted a finals berth, as the played the bottom team 3 times.

This is unless you have 21 rounds so everyone plays each other 3 times, for that 8 team comp, which is never going to happen, as you still have to play finals. No easy solution

Salary cap maybe??

Good call, but something has to be done or crowds will not come to watch local footy.
Salary caps, for me personally won't work, and i'm all for attracting better players to our comp and rewarding players who put in and deserve a quid or two.
Its up the club to have internal processes to manage their player payments, granted, not all clubs have the luxury like the doggies with Merkon Constructions.
How many comps at the moment know who will end up in the top 5, not many, but SFL Div 1 is already decided with the possible exception of 1 spot.
Then we have 3 out of the top 5 who will be at least 10 goals shy of the top 2.
Not good for local footy.

 

[Moody Blue]

Football Victoria has got to get off its well padded behind and finally do something. Whether it is a salary cap or a points system similar to what some cricket comps have in place. There is a salary cap on the VFL and yet suburban competitions can pay whatever they want. Have a system which rewards loyalty. Penalise clubs that recruit the cowboys who move from club to club annually trying to get a bigger pay cheque. I don’t care how good someone is, If I knew they would only be at my club for a year I wouldn’t bother. They could do more harm than good.

This continual boom and bust cycle that most clubs go through does footy no good. The Ammos continue to benefit from clubs that get sick of the constant battle trying to find dollars to pay players.(Well not all of them but most of the clubs) I totally agree with some of the comments regarding Heatherton & Highett. If they were able to identify that they were not up to Division 1, then they should have been allowed to go down to Div 2.

One year of pain for First Division then they could properly plan for the next season. It’s not just the Southern League, there are a few competitions that employ well paid officials who have little vision and basically live the same day every day.

 

[mightysainters]

I would go out on a limb to say there are probably 7 better EFL Div 1 sides than St Pauls, no disrespect to Cousin Tiger mob.
To say they are best team in metro footy is a massive overstatement as you are also forgetting about A Section & some of B Section in the VAFA, then there's the top few sides in Essendon DFL & if you class Frankston YCW, Karingal etc the list goes on. Have definitely recruited well though & would be clear favourites thus far

7 clubs in EFL? No chance in the world... Have you watched it? It is a very good standard but 3 or 4 teams are good rest are average... St Pauls would dispose of the rest of that division...

St Paul's recruiting has been huge and they will Waltz it in this year, over 10 goals in the granny, i'm being a realist.... They have poached players from rivals and made others weeker as they have become much stronger..

Will become a scenario of who will play them in the granny as the season progresses... too much quality in midfield and forward line

 

[Fish 20]

If you're trying to tell me that St Pauls would play finals in EFL Div 1, then you haven't yet convinced me. Let's leave it at that

 

[go_nodders]

If you're trying to tell me that St Pauls would play finals in EFL Div 1, then you haven't yet convinced me. Let's leave it at that

I get to a lot of local footy and I can tell you there is no chance of St Pauls being competitive in Div 1 of the EFL.
The top 5 are outstanding, the next five are pretty good but the top 5 are so good they make the bottom 5 look bad.

 

[superfreak]

Have said it since February. St Pauls to go through undefeated.

Glad to see everyone is catching on!

 

[Blood Stained Angels]

Have said it since February. St Pauls to go through undefeated.

Glad to see everyone is catching on!

Spot on Super, dogs are barking and if you look at their structure you can understand why.
- Strong List both 1's and 2's; good numbers in the colts and performing well; some stunning net ballers [ go you good things ]; player payments on the mid to lower scale; good helpers around the club, although Shawey could do with some help on the bar; Have now got back their oval from Old Hails; Electronic score board on the horizon; Ground surface the best in the comp at the moment;
Could achieve the 4 cups at the end of the season ?

 

[superfreak]

I'd argue the player payments point. Would be in the top 2 easily, probably miles more than 2nd actually.

Great club though. Good on em.

 

[Cousin Tiger]

I'd argue the player payments point. Would be in the top 2 easily, probably miles more than 2nd actually.

Great club though. Good on em.

You'd be surprised if i told you figures but i'm obviously not going to.

All i will say is the player payments are at the lowest they have been for years. Hard to fathom i know, but obviously jobs via Merkon etc assist us with this.