VFL to merge with NEAFL, under-18 comps revamped in massive changes to AFL’s second tier

[Tackle Bag]

That's incredibly poor if true. Some coaches are better suited to working with boys and vice versa Another point is at the moment the boys and girls are at very different stages in their development at that age

Agree 100%. Coaching 18 year old boys is worlds away from girls footy at the same age. Completely different approach required.

I think we have career administrators making decisions on football matters when they have little to no experience in coaching or football department issues at any level below elite.
Its been a problem with many appointments and decisions made by the afl in relation to footy below the elite level.

 

[Tackle Bag]

On the shorter season of NAB/TAC cup, so we will have 18 year old boys playing a heavily reduced season with their NAB/TAC cup side then going back to local clubs, all at different standards.
At the moment there will be no equivalent to SANFL or WAFL in Victoria for them to play their season with. This is not great.

 

[nWo]

Broadbeach never been in NEAFL - facts right

Go the Hornets

 

[Jen2310]

 

[Yeti]

Yep, Demons are out

I have a 2020 Canberra Demons LS Playing jumper for sale if anyone wants some memorabilia

 

[Our Game]

A disgraceful decision by the AFL letting local tams go to the wall - so much for developing the game above the Murray River.
The other codes will be laughing at this stupid decision!The travel costs alone will make it a very expensive comp to run!

 

[Jen2310]

A disgraceful decision by the AFL letting local tams go to the wall - so much for developing the game above the Murray River.
The other codes will be laughing at this stupid decision!The travel costs alone will make it a very expensive comp to run!

AFL are covering the travel costs

 

[chazwazza]

That sounds about right. But your suggestion to pay hundreds of players large amounts is not feasible.
Anyway, The SANFL & WAFL are more popular than the VFL, as they were once the highest level in their states. For those in SA, who gets bigger crowds - Norwood or Crows reserves?
Are you in Melbourne? Vermont in the EFL probably draws bigger crowds than most VFL clubs. Not all players want to play reserves football. Most would prefer to play for a real club than essentially be fill in for a reserves team even if it is AFL reserves.

As mentioned previously Adelaide gets one home game although there has been the odd game that a SANFL club has allowed them to play at Thebarton Oval. While it’s also true that most Adelaide supporters have allegiance to a traditional SANFL club the same is happening more and more for Port Power, I’d know half a dozen friends that follow Port in the AFL and a traditional SANFL club ie, not Power reserves. Power supporters are dropping off SANFL games since Port Magpies was turned into Power Reseves.
A reasonably good SANFL crowd would now be about 3k-4k, less is common with some traditional SANFL clubs that don’t draw more supporters and games against Adelaide especially and Power Reserves.
Norwood, Sturt, Glenelg and North Adelaide all draw pretty good crowds and have memberships consistently around 3k+.

 

[Walshawk]

A disgraceful decision by the AFL letting local tams go to the wall - so much for developing the game above the Murray River.
The other codes will be laughing at this stupid decision!The travel costs alone will make it a very expensive comp to run!

No clubs will fold. They will all return to their local comps. Amateur players don’t want to be travelling all over eastern Australia.
With next year also COVID affected, 2021 will likely see stand alone VFL/NEAFL clubs playing in state leagues with leftover AFL players playing scratch matches.
The new ‘VFL’ will start in 2022, or whenever a vaccine has been rolled out.

 

[Kwality]

No clubs will fold. They will all return to their local comps. Amateur players don’t want to be travelling all over eastern Australia.
With next year also COVID affected, 2021 will likely see stand alone VFL/NEAFL clubs playing in state leagues with leftover AFL players playing scratch matches.
The new ‘VFL’ will start in 2022, or whenever a vaccine has been rolled out.

The names will remain, their operating model wont be the 2019 model.

 

[The Victorian]

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Basically, tomorrow clubs will submit an "expression of interest" to be involved in the new league. Apparently, all NEAFL clubs expect for Canberra Demons will lodge an initial expression of interest.

The AFL are looking at a Northern and Southern Conference to reduce costs in travel/accommodation.

Vic clubs will be given zones. With list sizes at 40, standalone clubs will need to have 20 players under 23 and 10 must be under 21. For the AFL aligned clubs, give wll need to be under 23 and 20 others under 21 sourced from their allocated zones. Primary list players can come from anywhere

Frankston- Power/Stingrays
Casey- Stingrays/Melbourne NGA(Mornington Peninsula)
Box Hill- Ranges/Power- Which is Hawthorn's NGA zone
Coburg- Cannons/Pioneers
Werribee, Williamstown, Footscray, North Melbourne- Western Jets- which is their NGA zone

The official applications to be part of the VFL 2021 must be lodged by the end of the month

 

[Johnny Bananas]

A disgraceful decision by the AFL letting local tams go to the wall - so much for developing the game above the Murray River.
The other codes will be laughing at this stupid decision!The travel costs alone will make it a very expensive comp to run!

Why is it a stupid decision? The NEAFL was an abortion of a competition, giving all the disadvantages of long distance without the increase in quality you'd want to see. Being integrated into the VFL would at least increase the standard of football. It's an improvement, but still an imperfect solution.

Personally, I think it'd be a better idea just reintegrating each club into their existing state league, with the AFL reserves kept entirely separate. Distance would no longer be a serious problem, and there'd be more local rivalries. The savings from transport costs could then be reinvested in higher player salaries and better training facilities, which hopefully brings about an increase in the standard of football over time.

 

[Kwality]

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Basically, tomorrow clubs will submit an "expression of interest" to be involved in the new league. Apparently, all NEAFL clubs expect for Canberra Demons will lodge an initial expression of interest.

The AFL are looking at a Northern and Southern Conference to reduce costs in travel/accommodation.

Vic clubs will be given zones. With list sizes at 40, standalone clubs will need to have 20 players under 23 and 10 must be under 21. For the AFL aligned clubs, give wll need to be under 23 and 20 others under 21 sourced from their allocated zones. Primary list players can come from anywhere

Frankston- Power/Stingrays
Casey- Stingrays/Melbourne NGA(Mornington Peninsula)
Box Hill- Ranges/Power- Which is Hawthorn's NGA zone
Coburg- Cannons/Pioneers
Werribee, Williamstown, Footscray, North Melbourne- Western Jets- which is their NGA zone

The official applications to be part of the VFL 2021 must be lodged by the end of the month

Is there a timeframe on this kite flying exercise?

Cynically the AFL plan is already on a white board at HQ & to be reviewed after financial balance date.

 

[Tackle Bag]

What a joke.
The biggest state in the game doesn’t have its own State league.
No way locals will take an interest in this monstrosity and go watch it.
I don’t think the AFL could handle the game any worse than it has in the last 10 years.

So now there is only 20 spots for local players over 23 on the “VFL” list and they can’t go back to their actual local club because it’s not worth it with the salary cap only 100k so they will just work on saturdays.

The game is going to lose so many players in the next few years because it’s just not worth it anymore

The standard will not be as strong as a state league should be because many mature players simply won’t be allowed a list spot.

they are dead set killing local footy, one shocking decision after another.

 

[Kwality]

What a joke.
The biggest state in the game doesn’t have its own State league.
No way locals will take an interest in this monstrosity and go watch it.
I don’t think the AFL could handle the game any worse than it has in the last 10 years.

So now there is only 20 spots for local players over 23 on the “VFL” list and they can’t go back to their actual local club because it’s not worth it with the salary cap only 100k so they will just work on saturdays.

The game is going to lose so many players in the next few years because it’s just not worth it anymore

The standard will not be as strong as a state league should be because many mature players simply won’t be allowed a list spot.

they are dead set killing local footy, one shocking decision after another.

The AFL competition keeps the dollars rolling, thats what they care about. Its why WA & SA have battled to keep control of local footy.

Players will move:
EX Frankston player Leigh Kitchin has been playing for Subi in WAFL for maybe 5 years, including captaining a flag, a B&F a represnting WA on multiple occasions.

 

[Tackle Bag]

The AFL competition keeps the dollars rolling, thats what they care about. Its why WA & SA have battled to keep control of local footy.

Players will move:
EX Frankston player Leigh Kitchin has been playing for Subi in WAFL for maybe 5 years, including captaining a flag, a B&F a represnting WA on multiple occasions.

The worst thing to happen to Victorian footy was the AFL taking over state and local leagues. it needs to become independent once again.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

What a joke.
The biggest state in the game doesn’t have its own State league.
No way locals will take an interest in this monstrosity and go watch it.
I don’t think the AFL could handle the game any worse than it has in the last 10 years.

So now there is only 20 spots for local players over 23 on the “VFL” list and they can’t go back to their actual local club because it’s not worth it with the salary cap only 100k so they will just work on saturdays.

The game is going to lose so many players in the next few years because it’s just not worth it anymore

The standard will not be as strong as a state league should be because many mature players simply won’t be allowed a list spot.

they are dead set killing local footy, one shocking decision after another.

How funny is it reading all this stuff about “aligning U18s with senior clubs” and “pushing a real pathway” so players “know they have a senior transition if they don’t get drafted”.

What... you mean like every footy competition in Australia, and like the VFA used to be before you spent 30 years destroying it?

 

[garlic munchers]

AFL = joke of an organisation.

Times are good = all about maximising revenue (apparently)

Times are bad = all about integrity of the competition.

Just think of all the money that could have been generated by having more teams hub in WA and having up to 30,000 attending games Against WC and Freo (Roos could a made a motza out tonight’s game if they had been allowed by the AFL to move it to Perth).

The $ opportunities lost could well have avoided the need for massive changes.

 

[chazwazza]

The worst thing to happen to Victorian footy was the AFL taking over state and local leagues. it needs to become independent once again.

The worst thing to happen to footy in general was the AFL electing themselves as the “custodians of the game“ and making every decision wholly about themselves. It’s arse about, all State bodies should’ve been on a national commission that ultimately oversaw the game at all levels.
Classic capitalist trickle down bullshit that never seems to trickle past the self interest of the few.

 

[Kwality]

Classic capitalist trickle down bullshit that never seems to trickle past the self interest of the few.

More like power corrupts absolutely ..... remember the VFL view that it was 'senior football', Polly Farmer didnt play senior footy until he was 27 so it goes, even though he had 3 x AAs & a Tassie Medal. These guys took control of the game.

If last nights game is testament to the AFL, they'd resign.

 

[The Victorian]

 

[Breretonisahood]

Not surprised. Little point in returning to QAFL which has strong fellow GC clubs PBC, Broadbeach, Surfers and Labrador. Southport can offer access to a much stronger comp close to the action in Vic. Redland won’t bother but not sure about Aspley as I can see pros and cons for them.

 

[fargothegreat]

Richmond won't be in this comp in 2021. Either going with an alignment or just playing scrimmages.

 

[Rickee]

No clubs will fold. They will all return to their local comps. Amateur players don’t want to be travelling all over eastern Australia.
With next year also COVID affected, 2021 will likely see stand alone VFL/NEAFL clubs playing in state leagues with leftover AFL players playing scratch matches.
The new ‘VFL’ will start in 2022, or whenever a vaccine has been rolled out.

What local comp do you think the existing stand alone VFL clubs come from?

Port has been in the competition since 1886, and Williamstown since 1864. Where do you think they will play if not the VFL? And our players aren't amateur, they are semi professional.

It really gets my goat when people who have little to no knowledge of the VFA pontificate about our clubs and our competition. There are still a core of rabid supporters at these clubs that are quite over having AFL fans sweep in and act like they are better than we are because we support a "reserves" team.

 

[Kwality]

What local comp do you think the existing stand alone VFL clubs come from?

Port has been in the competition since 1886, and Williamstown since 1864. Where do you think they will play if not the VFL? And our players aren't amateur, they are semi professional.

It really gets my goat when people who have little to no knowledge of the VFA pontificate about our clubs and our competition. There are still a core of rabid supporters at these clubs that are quite over having AFL fans sweep in and act like they are better than we are because we support a "reserves" team.

So all the old clubs play in the East Coast League & you can save money?