Victorian Football - The Path Forward

[murphster]

I believe the way forward for Victorian clubs is in the alignment of the under 18's comp with the VFL comp, this gives under 18's players the chance, when warranted, to step up and play against men and play against players already on AFL lists, it would then give recruiters a better idea of there capabilities against bigger bodies and would also give recruiters the ability to pick talent deeper into the draft by having the extra criteria to use as an identifier.

And most importantly this gives players that do not get drafted in the national draft a better chance of being identified and snapped up by a Victorian club as a rookie list player as the clubs have seen them play against men, this is especially important for ruckman and the like who tend to develop later.

I believe this is how the interstate clubs have been able to identify talent so deep into drafts and find so many talented rookies, they have seen them play against men in the WAFL or the SANFL before the National Draft, thereby giving them an extra criteria to use to judge there value as senior players in years to come, this especially applies in the case of ruckman like Dean Cox and Aaron Sandilands, who where both rookies, and who they got a good look at playing senior footy before rookie listing them with eyes to the future, which as you know with ruckman and to a lesser extent KPP they tend to take longer to develop than midfielder utility types.

If Victorian clubs are ever going to match it in terms of talent identification with the interstate clubs alignment is essential, especially with the increased use of rookie lists as a tool in the identification and development of future AFL players. The interstate clubs can not be left with an extra criteria on which to judge future talent, hence in my opinion the alignment of the TAC under 18's with the VFL teams is a must if Victorian football wants to compete on a national level.

Eg: Northern Knights and Nothern Bullants

 

[SurreyBlue]

You mean like the old under 19's and Reserves team used to run within the club. Heard an interesting discussion about "home ground" advantage this morning also on the radio and how the Victorian clubs have lost out without one of these and the interstate clubs are capitalising.

So how about we use the Northarn Bullants as our "reserves team" and the "Northarn Knights" as our Under18's under our control and playing out of our home ground say "Princess Park" that will be an improvement, right?

What a great and novice idea!

 

[murphster]

You mean like the old under 19's and Reserves team used to run within the club. Heard an interesting discussion about "home ground" advantage this morning also on the radio and how the Victorian clubs have lost out without one of these and the interstate clubs are capitalising.

So how about we use the Northarn Bullants as our "reserves team" and the "Northarn Knights" as our Under18's under our control and playing out of our home ground say "Princess Park" that will be an improvement, right?

What a great and novice idea!

Thats what i am talking about Surrey putting the structure back in Victorian footy, although they would not be totally under our control they would just be aligned with us and there players can still be drafted by anyone.

 

[Johnny_3]

i dont see much benefit... its just like junior clubs making u/12s play with u/18s just to see their progress, they still gotta develop...

 

[drusswaylander]

It is being aligned that is the part of the problem. So many players aren't getting a go because their spots are being taken by AFL list blokes. Victoria has ten teams sending players back to play in the next tier of football, but WA and SA have only two. More players are getting exposure and so because the two other states have more scouts in their own backyard they are reaping the rewards.

Traditional Late developers such as defenders and Ruckmen just aren't getting a go in Victoria because their spots are being taken by AFL list players. The ten Vic teams then fight over the few talents who are unearthed in the comp, who are not already signed up. Aligning the underage with VFL and Thus AFL clubs isn't a bad idea to give players the chance to play against older bodies, but because so many AFL list players are in these teams they are unlikely to get a run anyway