SFNL Div 1 2026

[Peta Deutschland]

I'm astonished at the $$ that is paid in local footy these days. i hate to be that guy talking about the good ol days but we would have been lucky to have 5 - 6 paid players, the rest we tried to get jobs for etc but they still had to work for their money. We just used club connections to help them out in their lives and it was accepted as reasonable.

Like Bedford said, something has to give.

 

[Marousses]

I think so Bedford. The money that’s thrown around currently is astonishing.
Has to be state wide too.
Instead of just punishing clubs for breaching salary caps I’d introduce a minimum 5 year ban from playing footy to any players involved. Might make a few blokes question taking that extra cash payments and sign ons.

It is a Great debate. Don’t mind the idea but Personally I would haul in the club hierachy - as the fish rots from the head - President , Secretary, Treasurer and Senior Coach. Clubs and their respective governed personal pay the bills not the players, players don’t pay themselves. Players can ask for ‘ex amount’ but they only can accept or decline the offer and terms that’s put on the table , if you are silly enough to pay the sign ons and massive contracts and refuse to build culture and prioritise what’s inside to keep the respective clubs viable and culture to ensure longevity of a club, well that’s just very poor management and therefore that brings the blame and ownership on the clubs hierarchy. Biggest penalties to the Presidents and coaches as President is responsible for all off field runnings and the Coach for onfield as they have the biggest say on lists and recruitment but neither will ever happen and we will continue to see a club or 2 have big falls every 2/3 years and they are the clubs that are looked upon as being very poorly managed

 

[Peta Deutschland]

It is a Great debate. Don’t mind the idea but Personally I would haul in the club hierachy - as the fish rots from the head - President , Secretary, Treasurer and Senior Coach. Clubs and their respective governed personal pay the bills not the players, players don’t pay themselves. Players can ask for ‘ex amount’ but they only can accept or decline the offer and terms that’s put on the table , if you are silly enough to pay the sign ons and massive contracts and refuse to build culture and prioritise what’s inside to keep the respective clubs viable and culture to ensure longevity of a club, well that’s just very poor management and therefore that brings the blame and ownership on the clubs hierarchy. Biggest penalties to the Presidents and coaches as President is responsible for all off field runnings and the Coach for onfield as they have the biggest say on lists and recruitment but neither will ever happen and we will continue to see a club or 2 have big falls every 2/3 years and they are the clubs that are looked upon as being very poorly managed

Yep, like it a lot. It’s always the club as a whole that cops all of the punishment.
Never is it the actual people doing all the dodgy shite cop anything.

 

[Wild Thing]

Yep, like it a lot. It’s always the club as a whole that cops all of the punishment.
Never is it the actual people doing all the dodgy shite cop anything.

Were the All Stars under the cap last season? Who should be held accountable for their swift demise?

 

[Marousses]

Were the All Stars under the cap last season? Who should be held accountable for their swift demise?

The All Stars demise from what’s rumoured around the traps requires forensic investigation.

 

[GreenPen]

Clubs don’t usually make money off subs, $650 is a lot of money and is on the higher end but it isn’t outrageous especially for Division 1 southern or premier A or B in VAFA. Most clubs give concessions for students or low income earners.

League fees have gone up astronomically from filming games, the cost of umpires and overpaid executives at HQ.

It gets harder and harder each year to justify to the players, a women's team costs $10,000 to put out on the park (in league fees alone).

You might be lucky to get 18-20 players, that's $580 per head (and that's before you even think about the cost of trainers) which as someone said is as high as it's ever been as well as medical supplies.

With sponsorship so hard to find, it just makes it so cost prohibitive. Something has to give, the league's answer is to just keep passing on costs to club year on year.

Not sure what the AFL is doing about grassroots or if they even give a shit, with their pockets being lined by gambling money regardless my bet is they dont give a shit.

 

[bedford]

It gets harder and harder each year to justify to the players, a women's team costs $10,000 to put out on the park (in league fees alone).

You might be lucky to get 18-20 players, that's $580 per head (and that's before you even think about the cost of trainers) which as someone said is as high as it's ever been as well as medical supplies.

With sponsorship so hard to find, it just makes it so cost prohibitive. Something has to give, the league's answer is to just keep passing on costs to club year on year.

Not sure what the AFL is doing about grassroots or if they even give a shit, with their pockets being lined by gambling money regardless my bet is they dont give a shit.

The AFL/VFL don't give a stuff

 

[chumbawumba]

Soon no one will be playing footy because it's so bloody expensive!!

 

[Dons3188]

Soon no one will be playing footy because it's so bloody expensive!!

still bloody cheap compared to Soccer. fee's, council rates, trainer etc have all gone up massively since covid, I know Monash council wanted to charge a club 2grand a day to host the woman's finals and had to say no since it would be flushing and money they could make away

 

[JohnHancock]

Murrumbeena has announced 7 new signings, all look to be between 19-23 years old but Levi Young and the fountain boys will be very very good in Division 1 from all reports, can they push for finals?

Hampton Park are coming up with a mature team and have added some good players including Mitch Cox who will be a star next season so on their day they will be a very good challenge for teams like beena and bentleigh who still play a lot of kids.


Bentleigh and NW have added again, can they take the next step and challenge the never changing top 3 of St Paul’s Dingley and Chelt.

East Brighton with their coach Edgar walking out late and they reportedly had less than a dozen players at their first training session so back to D2 for them and reload again….

 

[tiga2017]

Murrumbeena has announced 7 new signings, all look to be between 19-23 years old but Levi Young and the fountain boys will be very very good in Division 1 from all reports, can they push for finals?

Hampton Park are coming up with a mature team and have added some good players including Mitch Cox who will be a star next season so on their day they will be a very good challenge for teams like beena and bentleigh who still play a lot of kids.


Bentleigh and NW have added again, can they take the next step and challenge the never changing top 3 of St Paul’s Dingley and Chelt.

East Brighton with their coach Edgar walking out late and they reportedly had less than a dozen players at their first training session so back to D2 for them and reload again….

I like Beena’s approach, recruit the youngsters and get games into them. Kudos to list management and recruiting people..

 

[bedford]

Murrumbeena has announced 7 new signings, all look to be between 19-23 years old but Levi Young and the fountain boys will be very very good in Division 1 from all reports, can they push for finals?

Hampton Park are coming up with a mature team and have added some good players including Mitch Cox who will be a star next season so on their day they will be a very good challenge for teams like beena and bentleigh who still play a lot of kids.


Bentleigh and NW have added again, can they take the next step and challenge the never changing top 3 of St Paul’s Dingley and Chelt.

East Brighton with their coach Edgar walking out late and they reportedly had less than a dozen players at their first training session so back to D2 for them and reload again….

Was Edgar ever officially announced , i think not

 

[Wild Thing]

Was Edgar ever officially announced , i think not

Edgar was appointed….didnt stick around long.

Was Edgar ever officially announced , i think not

 

[bedford]

Edgar was appointed….didnt stick around long.

What i was saying was that the club never announced it in public

 

[JohnHancock]

What i was saying was that the club never announced it in public

Yes, agreed they never publicly announced but he was offered the role and accepted. Was going to their trainings and games. He also recruited players for Brighton before walking out.

On the Edgar note, I also saw his son who just won a flag at Brighton in Prem A has moved across to dogland which is a handy as he can hit the scoreboard and coming from a level like vafa prem im sure he’ll be playing at a higher speed than a lot of his opponents.

Also what do people think of the Berry appointment at Cheltenham? Got Highett relegated from D1 in 2021 then took the st Bedes job and got them relegated from B to C grade and then got fired after an unsuccessful campaign in C grade, just to be appointed to a power house like Chelt.
I know they lost Hayes which is enormous, will they be getting a few out of St Bedes ?

 

[bedford]

Yes, agreed they never publicly announced but he was offered the role and accepted. Was going to their trainings and games. He also recruited players for Brighton before walking out.

On the Edgar note, I also saw his son who just won a flag at Brighton in Prem A has moved across to dogland which is a handy as he can hit the scoreboard and coming from a level like vafa prem im sure he’ll be playing at a higher speed than a lot of his opponents.

Also what do people think of the Berry appointment at Cheltenham? Got Highett relegated from D1 in 2021 then took the st Bedes job and got them relegated from B to C grade and then got fired after an unsuccessful campaign in C grade, just to be appointed to a power house like Chelt.
I know they lost Hayes which is enormous, will they be getting a few out of St Bedes ?

He never actually signed anything
Would love to know how St Pauls will be going with the cap

 

[Pendles1991]

Has anyone seen where Tom Brasher from E.B has landed? Was a very sought over signature so would be interested to see who picked him up

 

[Marousses]

Has anyone seen where Tom Brasher from E.B has landed? Was a very sought over signature so would be interested to see who picked him up

And another from All Stars- Kyle Cooper? Any All Stars participants who have all seemingly gone to ground willing to share any knowledge would be greatfully appreciated

 

[Pendles1991]

And another from All Stars- Kyle Cooper? Any All Stars participants who have all seemingly gone to ground willing to share any knowledge would be greatfully appreciated

I know Kyle Cooper would be getting a big amount offered to head back home to the country, not sure if he will stay metro or not. Good player though.

 

[pendlebury_10]

It is a Great debate. Don’t mind the idea but Personally I would haul in the club hierachy - as the fish rots from the head - President , Secretary, Treasurer and Senior Coach. Clubs and their respective governed personal pay the bills not the players, players don’t pay themselves. Players can ask for ‘ex amount’ but they only can accept or decline the offer and terms that’s put on the table , if you are silly enough to pay the sign ons and massive contracts and refuse to build culture and prioritise what’s inside to keep the respective clubs viable and culture to ensure longevity of a club, well that’s just very poor management and therefore that brings the blame and ownership on the clubs hierarchy. Biggest penalties to the Presidents and coaches as President is responsible for all off field runnings and the Coach for onfield as they have the biggest say on lists and recruitment but neither will ever happen and we will continue to see a club or 2 have big falls every 2/3 years and they are the clubs that are looked upon as being very poorly managed

It's all well and good to say this, but it's fairly straight forward - if you don't pay players a decent whack, especially in the higher grades, you will simply get left behind. Clubs around you will pay above the market rate and land signings, while your club slowly bleeds players to competing teams. Loyalty is pretty rare these days.
You can preach 'club culture' all you want but culture & paying players are not mutually exclusive.

The landscape for local footy has changed forever (for better or worse).

 

[bedford]

It's all well and good to say this, but it's fairly straight forward - if you don't pay players a decent whack, especially in the higher grades, you will simply get left behind. Clubs around you will pay above the market rate and land signings, while your club slowly bleeds players to competing teams. Loyalty is pretty rare these days.
You can preach 'club culture' all you want but culture & paying players are not mutually exclusive.

The landscape for local footy has changed forever (for better or worse).

Worse

 

[bedford]

And another from All Stars- Kyle Cooper? Any All Stars participants who have all seemingly gone to ground willing to share any knowledge would be greatfully appreciated

Cooper and Brasher might both be at Noble Park and Sandy

 

[bedford]

And another big name gone as well

 

[Pendles1991]

And another big name gone as well

Who's the other big name? I know Keath is contemplating retirement but would also be getting offered huge money to play elsewhere