Bendigo FL discussion 2025

[Arnold Horshack]

OK I will come at this in another direction. No one does not want their younger players go up to the highest level and be successful. This is a source of pride for all clubs.

What I find exceptionally disappointing, as reflected in the three kids recently drafted from Sandhurst, is you almost never see them play senior BFNL football. You no longer get a Rod Ashman playing for Eaglehawk seniors, Trevor Keogh Sandhurst seniors, Ray Byrne Golden Square seniors etc etc. You don't get Ray Byrne playing on Rod Ashman. How good was that! Now these talented players effectively get removed from their local club at a junior level. This has taken away what for years was a great aspect of country football. Watching a young guy star like Dusty Martin in senior football. It drew crowds to the games.

I cannot believe one year of senior football against men harmed the careers of all of the above and many more.

I don't like the Pioneers for this reason. The more Sandhurst players on the Pioneers list the more disruptive it is to the club. Much like having VFL players on your list. Will Wallace was great for Sandhurst last year wasn't he!

Didn't seem to matter too much in 2024. Good clubs manage it.

 

[Arnold Horshack]

That's not what my post is about.

Please enlighten us all.

 

[AlburyE]

Didn't seem to matter too much in 2024. Good clubs manage it.

Arnold good clubs manage it as they have the resources. In the past they have had to manage Covid. That doesn't make it good for the game.

Not seeing the rising stars of the game play country football anymore is disappointing.

 

[Arnold Horshack]

Arnold good clubs manage it as they have the resources. In the past they have had to manage Covid. That doesn't make it good for the game.

Not seeing the rising stars of the game play country football anymore is disappointing.

The game evolves Albury and not always for the best I agree. Unfortunately, the AFL cares only about its clubs accessing and developing potential listed players. Kids on the borderline are simply used without any regard for their future and mostly played in roles that give them no chance - wasting years where they could be playing locally, starting jobs/careers and getting on with life. I don't know if there are many players drafted that wouldn't have been if there was no Coates league anyway and they played locally. Need an overhaul. Ringo has mentioned it many times.

 

[Forest St End]

Finals shared on a rotation system from year to year. Club hosting the final get everything except the gate.

GF played at Huntly, all clubs work different shifts. League gets gate, everything else divided equally between clubs once overheads are covered.

Which would be a very interesting conversation if my understanding about no BFL dividends is correct.

Why would one hub league receive funds and not the other?

I’m genuinely interested in the first 5 things you would change / do if you were given the solo reigns of AFL central vic and asked to help fix this mess.

Some of these are across the while AFL Vic but greatly impact AFL CV as well obviously.


1. Use the points system as a equalisation tool.
Remove the points discounts that heavily favour clubs with large junior population bases. Make junior players a one point discount and other points discounts one point after 100, 150 and 200 games.
Bigger and longer lasting loadings for moving clubs in same league.
Adjust the points allocation each season based on ladder position and premiership. Top three teams lose 1-3 points each season, bottom three gain the same.
Forget the salary cap, if the points system is used correctly it won’t be required.

2. Restructure the region
Form a three tiered league system with promotion and relegation. If netball can’t be worked into that then let it go alone.

3. Cut hub staff to two full time on good money, which will still greatly reduce the wages bill and should be ample to service the leagues and umpires. Make them purely administrative roles, policy and practice lies with a board formed from club representatives.

4. Ditch TAC Cup completely and return to a model where players are drafted directly from clubs. Open an extra spot on each AFL team list for a mid season draft pick that must come from a community club player.

5. Address the umpiring crisis in numbers and standards by putting money into attracting and paying more umpires. Ditch the wastes of money like interleague footy (now that it is meaningless), rep netball teams and whatever else and get those funds into saving umpiring.

 

[localfootyguru]

Arnold good clubs manage it as they have the resources. In the past they have had to manage Covid. That doesn't make it good for the game.

Not seeing the rising stars of the game play country football anymore is disappointing.

Agree AlburyE. The under 18 system has a lot to answer for.

I have experienced situations where an Under 18 player was available due to a bye or non selection in the team and then informed by Under 18 club staff members the player cannot be selected as he needs 'recovery time' and they are 'managing their workload'. People involved at this level are disconnected from the wishes of the player, their family and their willingness to go back and play with their 'home' club. They live in a 'bubble' and have no idea of the community football environment and how much benefit there is in having a 'home grown' suit up for their original club.

The uncertainty with selection of players and being 'told' at what club they should be playing at has been an ongoing problem and nothing has ever been done to address it. All the AFL worry about is getting players drafted and not the club where the player comes from. No wonder many young players walk away from the game disillusioned.

 

[AlburyE]

Agree AlburyE. The under 18 system has a lot to answer for.

I have experienced situations where an Under 18 player was available due to a bye or non selection in the team and then informed by Under 18 club staff members the player cannot be selected as he needs 'recovery time' and they are 'managing their workload'. People involved at this level are disconnected from the wishes of the player, their family and their willingness to go back and play with their 'home' club. They live in a 'bubble' and have no idea of the community football environment and how much benefit there is in having a 'home grown' suit up for their original club.

The uncertainty with selection of players and being 'told' at what club they should be playing at has been an ongoing problem and nothing has ever been done to address it. All the AFL worry about is getting players drafted and not the club where the player comes from. No wonder many young players walk away from the game disillusioned.

My last work on this topic.

All of the above regular contributors including me lock horns on various issues but it is pretty clear that there is a blanket disillusionment with the under 18 system and related negative impacts of AFL self interest.

 

[Forest St End]

My last work on this topic.

All of the above regular contributors including me lock horns on various issues but it is pretty clear that there is a blanket disillusionment with the under 18 system and related negative impacts of AFL self interest.

Agree Albury but I’d extend it to the entire junior system needing review.

Castlemaine loses lots of good and very good players who aren’t elite but want to be because of the schooling system. You’ve got the Bendigo secondary schools actively marketing themselves to athletes and the obvious next step is changing clubs. It creates an impossible situation for a club.

Then you have the situation where a couple of clubs have twice as many juniors as other clubs do, largely because of demographics. You don’t need a mathematician to tell you twice as many juniors will likely lead to twice as many seniors. And therefore twice as many points discounts.

I’m not sure what the answer to that issue is, it’s incredibly complicated and as I say ad nauseam is what the AFL should be analysing and making policy for.

 

[JP Ollards]

Agree AlburyE. The under 18 system has a lot to answer for.

I have experienced situations where an Under 18 player was available due to a bye or non selection in the team and then informed by Under 18 club staff members the player cannot be selected as he needs 'recovery time' and they are 'managing their workload'. People involved at this level are disconnected from the wishes of the player, their family and their willingness to go back and play with their 'home' club. They live in a 'bubble' and have no idea of the community football environment and how much benefit there is in having a 'home grown' suit up for their original club.

The uncertainty with selection of players and being 'told' at what club they should be playing at has been an ongoing problem and nothing has ever been done to address it. All the AFL worry about is getting players drafted and not the club where the player comes from. No wonder many young players walk away from the game disillusioned.

It might have worked for the first 10 years but it's clearly not working and hasn't been for a decade. Many clubs in the West of Melbourne and country clubs have now got bugger all draftees, they are either the majority thru oakleigh and Sandringham and it's pushed by commentators, who are invested in the private school system. The push towards private school drafting is nauseating, where we've ended up with an old boys club of scratching each other's backs.

I'd have the afl first round only 18 year olds. The second round should be 19+. Ditch the tac cup, have an ais team play in the vfl of the best 18 year old kids in the country and have under 23 interleague once a fortnight in regions through the state to cut down on travel. Have a recently retired player coach the team, run school footy clinics and coach the worst side in the region, where it changes every 3 years to promote footy