Expansion National reserves competition in 2025. Are you in favour?

Are you in favour of a national reserves competition

  • Yes

    Votes: 206 82.4%

  • No

    Votes: 44 17.6%
  • Total voters
    250

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Box Hill, Sandringham and Casey are so heavily ingrained in their alignments that I imagine they’d just join the reserves league as Hawthorn, St Kilda and Melbourne’s reserves.

I don’t know what would come of Port Melb, Willy, Frankston, Coburg or the Bullants. Their five club league isn’t really feasible.

It’s quite mind boggling in Victoria… our population is nearly double what is was 30 years ago. And where we had three full grades of footy every week - VFL Reserves, VFA and VFA Reserves - we now have one. It just shows how good the standard of local football is now, no matter how much people deny it. There are a lot of very good players playing locally.
 
Bunk Moreland said:
Box Hill, Sandringham and Casey are so heavily ingrained in their alignments that I imagine they’d just join the reserves league as Hawthorn, St Kilda and Melbourne’s reserves.

I don’t know what would come of Port Melb, Willy, Frankston, Coburg or the Bullants. Their five club league isn’t really feasible.

It’s quite mind boggling in Victoria… our population is nearly double what is was 30 years ago. And where we had three full grades of footy every week - VFL Reserves, VFA and VFA Reserves - we now have one. It just shows how good the standard of local football is now, no matter how much people deny it. There are a lot of very good players playing locally.
Click to expand...

There are good players playing local football but it's not to the extent that people think. Same as there are a few playing SANFL/VFL/WAFL who are AFL standard.

"I could play at a higher level but just want to play with mates and have fun" is one of the most used pickup lines. Most of the time, they just weren't good enough.

Trust me in South Australia, each higher division SAAFL club has only a handful of players that are good enough for regular SANFL football.

There is a role for what I would call a semi pro league in each football State. Just about every Sport has it in some form.

If you look at Cricket, they have Shield, State 2X1 games, District Cricket and local / country Cricket.

Each football state should have a comp that fits in that 2nd tier position. Reserves football won't be that.
 

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I don't think it would kill the sanfl and wafl. The afl aligned sides are only a small part of those comps. If anything it improves those competitions and makes them less compromised.

In terms of the VFL Southport would be fine. They are financially flush and just go back to being the powerhouse of the QAFL.

Box Hill, Sandringham, Casey just become Hawks, Saints and Demons reserves. Those alignments are ingrained. Maybe they even keep their names.

Coburg, Bullants and Frankston you sadly just let die. They have been struggling financially for years and getting belted on the field. If you are honest they don't even belong in the current vfl. The AFL made the easy call (not the right one) by letting them in in the first place

The tough part is what do you do with Port Melbourne, Werribee and Williamstown. If you are going to have a national reserves comp I think it needs to be just that. Would be a hard call on those clubs though.

What I hope the AFL don't do is just add the Eagles, Freo, Port, Adelaide reserves sides to the existing 21 team comp. It's already to big. If the AFL want to go forward with a reserves comp they need to be willing to make some tough calls.
 
greatwhiteshark said:
The AFL will simply demolish every other footy league to try and sell a seconds comp that the clubs don’t give a crap about winning.
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This is precisely why I am against a national reserves comp. AFL clubs don't care about reserves results and success. The reserves is purely for player development. I think it's a waste of time and money for clubs to fly their entire list (plus non-listed players) interstate, to play near meaningless games that the supporters will have to pay for through increased gameday and membership costs.
 
Great news.

The WAFL can go sit in their corner and congratulate themselves for being ‘WA’s Premier Football League’ that is exclusively watched by Barnacles and the elderly (which are usually the same thing).
 
MF said:
If having a national reserves comp will kill state leagues, why didn't it kill them when we had a proper reserves comp in the 90s?
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Because back then they were clubs and not franchises. All AFL teams are now big business franchises. And only the Vic sides had reserves then as they do now. Back then winning the reserves flag was an achievement for the club. It won't be like that anymore.
They won't play before the main game very often if at all. And as has been the case for over 20 years the AFL reserves teams are purely about development and training. They play in comps now they don't care about winning, that won't change.
 
greatwhiteshark said:
What has the WAFL done wrong?
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Made it as difficult as possible for WCE to run a reserves side - refusing to acknowledge a key function of the league.

But that’s fine.

That won’t be a function of the league anymore - it can be its own thing.

Let’s just hope it’s open season for guys that prefer to join supplementary lists in the AFL reserves rather than playing in the local league.
 

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I disagree with the view that AFL clubs won't care about winning in a reserves comp. Yes, they will want to develop their players but getting beaten every week doesn't help with that. Clubs will want to build confidence and a culture of winning amongst players. Suns sure looked happy to win the VFL premiership. AFL clubs with better performing reserves teams like the lions sure benefited from their depth getting to play every week through finals. As a blues supporter I sure want our reserves side to win every week.

Also, if AFL clubs wouldn't care about winning in a reserves comp how is that different to the VFL at the moment? Only 2 of the top 10 clubs this year weren't aligned or AFL reserves sides. So, we are saying that those 8 clubs don't care?
 
Hoops said:
I would prefer clubs to be relegated, but that's never going to happen.
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In theory it sounds good but you could guarantee that the premiership winners would be a rotation of Collingwood, Carlton, Richmond, West Coast.

Also but you'd need to scrap the draft, salary caps, establish academies etc. and any shit team at the time would be a strong no to it.
 
Altum Volantes said:
Made it as difficult as possible for WCE to run a reserves side - refusing to acknowledge a key function of the league.

But that’s fine.

That won’t be a function of the league anymore - it can be its own thing.

Let’s just hope it’s open season for guys that prefer to join supplementary lists in the AFL reserves rather than playing in the local league.
Click to expand...

They did nothing of the sort.
Since the WCE inception the Eagles have done the following.

1) Spread players across all clubs (won 3 flags) - Were not happy so dumped it.
2) Went into an alignment - were not happy so dumped it.
3) Had a host club arrangement - Were not happy so dumped it
4) Went back to the alignment - Again not happy so it got dumped.
5) Stand alone side - Not happy again so sooked and asked for more concessions. Got given more concessions then sooked some more and has again applied for more concessions. And again the WAFL clubs have agreed.

Never once looking within to see if the real problem is the actual West Coast Eagles themselves. They are the common denominator.
There football program is miles behind every other AFL club and if it was up to scratch they would not of got the injuries they got and they would not of been so uncompetitive in the WAFL.

Sometimes the hardest thing in the world is to look within and realise you are the problem. Unfortunately the Eagles still like to blame everyone else instead of their own short comings.

Blame the WAFL all you like but it's the WCE that are the problem and they have been for decades.
 
Redline said:
There are good players playing local football but it's not to the extent that people think. Same as there are a few playing SANFL/VFL/WAFL who are AFL standard.

"I could play at a higher level but just want to play with mates and have fun" is one of the most used pickup lines. Most of the time, they just weren't good enough.

Trust me in South Australia, each higher division SAAFL club has only a handful of players that are good enough for regular SANFL football.

There is a role for what I would call a semi pro league in each football State. Just about every Sport has it in some form.

If you look at Cricket, they have Shield, State 2X1 games, District Cricket and local / country Cricket.

Each football state should have a comp that fits in that 2nd tier position. Reserves football won't be that.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about SA but the environment has changed hugely in Victoria.

We used to have two state leagues (VFL and VFA), each with seniors, reserves and U19s.

The U19s is now all NAB League.

The VFA seniors and reserves has simply disappeared completely - this reserves comp would be the final nail.

This has happened while the population has basically doubled.

I'm not making subjective comments about whether players "are good enough" etc... objectively, there's simply far less statewide (or city wide) footy than previously. All those players are just playing local footy.

There were rumours some years back that Victoria would have an U23 competition, as it was seen as the big hole in development pathways - a rep comp for players who don't get drafted, or who are delisted after a year or two. Perhaps that is the way they will go with the VFL. It would be open to standalone clubs, as well as NAB League clubs who want to expand to have U23s.
 
So does that mean the AFL teams have an expanded list to cover both teams?
If it is standard list size with top up players to fill reserves side will those top up players be able to be promoted to AFL during the season?
If it is a top up list format should there be an age limit for these players?
Will this reserves comp play in it's own comp or as a pre-game for the AFL so both teams travel together?
Will the AFL incorporate another Draft for the reserves comp players only.
Would they extend the rookie draft as part of the reserves list whereby X amount are able to be promoted to the main list throughout the season.
I am in favour, and have been for a while, of a direct reserves comp but it needs to be done right with as little impact as possible on the state leagues. That's if the AFL actually give a flying ........ about them of course.
 
adammania9 said:
How could any sane individual seriously believe a promotion and relegation system would work well?
Click to expand...
The english system of every club in the country being in the system? Yea nah it would never work.

A fixed two division comp of 12 teams each with their own AFL, AFL Reserves, AFLW teams would work. Bottom 4 Div 1 get relegated, Top 4 Div 2 get promoted each year. The focus of the reserves should be players under 22/25 with development being the #1 goal. Reserves play based on the seniors fixture (including finals, but play no Granny). Div 1 plays a top 5 finals series and Div 2 plays a top 4 finals series with each crowning a premier (the Div2 GF played the week before the Div1 GF).

We currently have 18 teams, adding six:
1. Hobart
2. Deadlys (NT and NQLD, but based in Darwin)
3. Canberra
4. Auckland
5. SA3
6. WA3

Three teams in WA and one in Auckland gives immense flexibility in scheduling, however with 12 games to fit in a weekend, we're gonna have to get creative

Thur 7.30pm

Friday Night x2 (NZ/East Coast or East Coast/Perth Double Header)
5pm/7.30pm or
7.30pm/10pm

Sat 12pm
Sat 2.30pm
Sat 5pm
Sat 7.30pm

Sun 12pm
Sun 2.30pm
Sun 5pm
Sun 7.30pm

Mon 7.30pm

There's 12 games with no overlap. Some of the timeslots are shit for the fans, but built for TV (and V.v)
 
flyinghi64 said:
So does that mean the AFL teams have an expanded list to cover both teams?
If it is standard list size with top up players to fill reserves side will those top up players be able to be promoted to AFL during the season?
If it is a top up list format should there be an age limit for these players?
Will this reserves comp play in it's own comp or as a pre-game for the AFL so both teams travel together?
Will the AFL incorporate another Draft for the reserves comp players only.
Would they extend the rookie draft as part of the reserves list whereby X amount are able to be promoted to the main list throughout the season.
I am in favour, and have been for a while, of a direct reserves comp but it needs to be done right with as little impact as possible on the state leagues. That's if the AFL actually give a flying ........ about them of course.
Click to expand...

It'd be the same as the moment. Normal list sizes plus a smaller list of vfl top up players.
 
greatwhiteshark said:
Why would any seasoned player who is 25 and over want to join a league that has snubbed them for years just help younger players develop and play in a side that winning is of No importance?
Click to expand...
Because it will expose them to AFL grade training and footballers, and put them straight under the noses of club recruiters, a la Tom Stewart
 
JohnZ said:
The english system of every club in the country being in the system? Yea nah it would never work.

A fixed two division comp of 12 teams each with their own AFL, AFL Reserves, AFLW teams would work. Bottom 4 Div 1 get relegated, Top 4 Div 2 get promoted each year. The focus of the reserves should be players under 22/25 with development being the #1 goal. Reserves play based on the seniors fixture (including finals, but play no Granny). Div 1 plays a top 5 finals series and Div 2 plays a top 4 finals series with each crowning a premier (the Div2 GF played the week before the Div1 GF).

We currently have 18 teams, adding six:
1. Hobart
2. Deadlys (NT and NQLD, but based in Darwin)
3. Canberra
4. Auckland
5. SA3
6. WA3

Three teams in WA and one in Auckland gives immense flexibility in scheduling, however with 12 games to fit in a weekend, we're gonna have to get creative

Thur 7.30pm

Friday Night x2 (NZ/East Coast or East Coast/Perth Double Header)
5pm/7.30pm or
7.30pm/10pm

Sat 12pm
Sat 2.30pm
Sat 5pm
Sat 7.30pm

Sun 12pm
Sun 2.30pm
Sun 5pm
Sun 7.30pm

Mon 7.30pm

There's 12 games with no overlap. Some of the timeslots are s**t for the fans, but built for TV (and V.v)
Click to expand...
The English system doesn’t work, because it entrenches inequality.

Soccer can get away with this, because it’s such a low scoring game that upsets happen on a regular basis.

Watching a recently promoted side get pummelled by 30 goals every week in the state league… no thanks.
 

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Expansion National reserves competition in 2025. Are you in favour?

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