New NTFA Premier Division 2025

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buffalo soldier said:
Every day Scottsdale delay announcing a coach the more vulnerable they become.
What a dogs breakfast football has become in this state. Wade, Gill and Rhind should hang their respective heads in shame.
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It’s a debacle , witnessing these meetings first hand , you see how it’s a dogs breakfast . It’s comical
But have heard potential Scottsdale coach could be a exAFL player with recruits , but as fly in , fly out scenario .
But only rumours
 

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OneEyedPie7 said:
How would a 4 team comp generate enough interest to be sustainable?
Click to expand...
In the decades before the 1970's, when football interest in the state was at its all-time highest, most of the comps were running around with four teams, and those teams paid for themselves...

This comp, though, has two things dead against it: 1) No one watches local footy. 2) Numbers playing footy are much lower, and clubs in areas that have enough people are losing their teams.

So the structure that will exist in the near future will have a multi-million dollar AFL franchise absolutely dominating the football landscape, and a VFL side made up of AFL listed contractees and top-ups mostly from the local league. You are now expecting that local league to not only compete with viable teams in their top division (S, R and U), but also provide a standard that will accommodate those in the VFL side who aren't selected that week. There will be a huge gap between the VFL and the locals without a statewide comp, where 50k people have been represented mathematically by a single TSL side since 2009...

That means your premier division will include two sides with a clear lack of ability in reaching that target, and to be blunt they will always be up against it. It's said above somewhere else, but in a nutshell Scottsdale aren't the 1973 side anymore, and Deloraine has been axed for pretty much the reasons I'm saying, as well as being an underwhelming entity since they started full time top level footy in the 1980's. You guys are expecting those extra teams to compete with North Launceston! Right there, huge disparities, and out goes your notions of "interest", because already there are rumblings of how shit it all will be...!

The top league needs to be the elite one and hog all the good players, simple as that. It's a numbers game, and it's all subsidised by the AFL team, so no one is worried about the attendances, as they haven't been for years. Four strong teams with AFL backing, and relax the rules around everyone else, so they can put out a team purely built to beat the bastards up the road. You get punters angry and looking out for their local footy team this weekend for the right reasons, and you concentrate the elite talent into something serviceable for the big league. Unlike those old decades, there is no margin for error anymore. Circular Head is discovering that both a strong CHFA and a strong Saints team are mutually exclusive, and currently they don't have either. Teams everywhere with 5-10k populations have lost their side in recent years, dependant on influxes of players just to get the side back on the park again (Woodsdale, Oatlands, Bridport...Spreyton close, and East Devonport haven't revived). You'd subject Scottsdale to this?

You haven't got a better alternative suggestion, fellas, and you'll hate whatever gets put up anyway...! Go on, if mine is so dumb, what's your great take...?
 

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Gibbke said:
In the decades before the 1970's, when football interest in the state was at its all-time highest, most of the comps were running around with four teams, and those teams paid for themselves...

This comp, though, has two things dead against it: 1) No one watches local footy. 2) Numbers playing footy are much lower, and clubs in areas that have enough people are losing their teams.

So the structure that will exist in the near future will have a multi-million dollar AFL franchise absolutely dominating the football landscape, and a VFL side made up of AFL listed contractees and top-ups mostly from the local league. You are now expecting that local league to not only compete with viable teams in their top division (S, R and U), but also provide a standard that will accommodate those in the VFL side who aren't selected that week. There will be a huge gap between the VFL and the locals without a statewide comp, where 50k people have been represented mathematically by a single TSL side since 2009...

That means your premier division will include two sides with a clear lack of ability in reaching that target, and to be blunt they will always be up against it. It's said above somewhere else, but in a nutshell Scottsdale aren't the 1973 side anymore, and Deloraine has been axed for pretty much the reasons I'm saying, as well as being an underwhelming entity since they started full time top level footy in the 1980's. You guys are expecting those extra teams to compete with North Launceston! Right there, huge disparities, and out goes your notions of "interest", because already there are rumblings of how shit it all will be...!

The top league needs to be the elite one and hog all the good players, simple as that. It's a numbers game, and it's all subsidised by the AFL team, so no one is worried about the attendances, as they haven't been for years. Four strong teams with AFL backing, and relax the rules around everyone else, so they can put out a team purely built to beat the bastards up the road. You get punters angry and looking out for their local footy team this weekend for the right reasons, and you concentrate the elite talent into something serviceable for the big league. Unlike those old decades, there is no margin for error anymore. Circular Head is discovering that both a strong CHFA and a strong Saints team are mutually exclusive, and currently they don't have either. Teams everywhere with 5-10k populations have lost their side in recent years, dependant on influxes of players just to get the side back on the park again (Woodsdale, Oatlands, Bridport...Spreyton close, and East Devonport haven't revived). You'd subject Scottsdale to this?

You haven't got a better alternative suggestion, fellas, and you'll hate whatever gets put up anyway...! Go on, if mine is so dumb, what's your great take...?
Click to expand...
Great take mate.
 
Hearing that Bridgenorth have rejected NTFA's offer to join the premier league. Opting to remain in Division 1. NTFA meeting with Deloraine tonight to discuss next steps
 
Gibbke said:
In the decades before the 1970's, when football interest in the state was at its all-time highest, most of the comps were running around with four teams, and those teams paid for themselves...

This comp, though, has two things dead against it: 1) No one watches local footy. 2) Numbers playing footy are much lower, and clubs in areas that have enough people are losing their teams.

So the structure that will exist in the near future will have a multi-million dollar AFL franchise absolutely dominating the football landscape, and a VFL side made up of AFL listed contractees and top-ups mostly from the local league. You are now expecting that local league to not only compete with viable teams in their top division (S, R and U), but also provide a standard that will accommodate those in the VFL side who aren't selected that week. There will be a huge gap between the VFL and the locals without a statewide comp, where 50k people have been represented mathematically by a single TSL side since 2009...

That means your premier division will include two sides with a clear lack of ability in reaching that target, and to be blunt they will always be up against it. It's said above somewhere else, but in a nutshell Scottsdale aren't the 1973 side anymore, and Deloraine has been axed for pretty much the reasons I'm saying, as well as being an underwhelming entity since they started full time top level footy in the 1980's. You guys are expecting those extra teams to compete with North Launceston! Right there, huge disparities, and out goes your notions of "interest", because already there are rumblings of how shit it all will be...!

The top league needs to be the elite one and hog all the good players, simple as that. It's a numbers game, and it's all subsidised by the AFL team, so no one is worried about the attendances, as they haven't been for years. Four strong teams with AFL backing, and relax the rules around everyone else, so they can put out a team purely built to beat the bastards up the road. You get punters angry and looking out for their local footy team this weekend for the right reasons, and you concentrate the elite talent into something serviceable for the big league. Unlike those old decades, there is no margin for error anymore. Circular Head is discovering that both a strong CHFA and a strong Saints team are mutually exclusive, and currently they don't have either. Teams everywhere with 5-10k populations have lost their side in recent years, dependant on influxes of players just to get the side back on the park again (Woodsdale, Oatlands, Bridport...Spreyton close, and East Devonport haven't revived). You'd subject Scottsdale to this?

You haven't got a better alternative suggestion, fellas, and you'll hate whatever gets put up anyway...! Go on, if mine is so dumb, what's your great take...?
Click to expand...
Absolutely agree that Scottsdale and Deloraine should have never been in the competition from the beginning. It was clear from discussions that I had with people at the Premier League launch that there were no concrete plans in place for Deloraine and Scottsdale, they simply assumed they would be able to recruit and improve on field from simply being admitted to the highest division. The onus is on AFL Tasmania and the NTFA to provide member clubs with adequate resourcing to compete at the highest level of the competition.

I think even South Launceston and Longford are realistic that the first 24 months of the competition will be difficult for them, as the football programs at North and Launceston are well entrenched coming from the TSL (as they well should be).

Let's not forgot that both of the above have been propped up by funding from the AFL through AFL Tasmania, so financially some of that money will now come down the pipeline to the member clubs participating in the Premier League alongside North and Launceston.

Local football actually has a great following at NTFA level, it was at TSL level that interest was dwindling and crowds were falling, as the fabric had been ripped from those clubs.

The right decision was to admit North and Launceston to the current premier league and relegate Scottsdale and Deloraine under the restructure. This needed to happen for the first two years at least and then the league would have been able to get an accurate assessment of where each club in the Premier League stood.

If it was to be a 6 team model, it was clear that Rocherlea and Bridgenorth were in the best position to join South and Longford from the current premier division.
 
Gibbke said:
In the decades before the 1970's, when football interest in the state was at its all-time highest, most of the comps were running around with four teams, and those teams paid for themselves...

This comp, though, has two things dead against it: 1) No one watches local footy. 2) Numbers playing footy are much lower, and clubs in areas that have enough people are losing their teams.

So the structure that will exist in the near future will have a multi-million dollar AFL franchise absolutely dominating the football landscape, and a VFL side made up of AFL listed contractees and top-ups mostly from the local league. You are now expecting that local league to not only compete with viable teams in their top division (S, R and U), but also provide a standard that will accommodate those in the VFL side who aren't selected that week. There will be a huge gap between the VFL and the locals without a statewide comp, where 50k people have been represented mathematically by a single TSL side since 2009...

That means your premier division will include two sides with a clear lack of ability in reaching that target, and to be blunt they will always be up against it. It's said above somewhere else, but in a nutshell Scottsdale aren't the 1973 side anymore, and Deloraine has been axed for pretty much the reasons I'm saying, as well as being an underwhelming entity since they started full time top level footy in the 1980's. You guys are expecting those extra teams to compete with North Launceston! Right there, huge disparities, and out goes your notions of "interest", because already there are rumblings of how shit it all will be...!

The top league needs to be the elite one and hog all the good players, simple as that. It's a numbers game, and it's all subsidised by the AFL team, so no one is worried about the attendances, as they haven't been for years. Four strong teams with AFL backing, and relax the rules around everyone else, so they can put out a team purely built to beat the bastards up the road. You get punters angry and looking out for their local footy team this weekend for the right reasons, and you concentrate the elite talent into something serviceable for the big league. Unlike those old decades, there is no margin for error anymore. Circular Head is discovering that both a strong CHFA and a strong Saints team are mutually exclusive, and currently they don't have either. Teams everywhere with 5-10k populations have lost their side in recent years, dependant on influxes of players just to get the side back on the park again (Woodsdale, Oatlands, Bridport...Spreyton close, and East Devonport haven't revived). You'd subject Scottsdale to this?

You haven't got a better alternative suggestion, fellas, and you'll hate whatever gets put up anyway...! Go on, if mine is so dumb, what's your great take...?
Click to expand...
OneEyedPie7 said:
Absolutely agree that Scottsdale and Deloraine should have never been in the competition from the beginning. It was clear from discussions that I had with people at the Premier League launch that there were no concrete plans in place for Deloraine and Scottsdale, they simply assumed they would be able to recruit and improve on field from simply being admitted to the highest division. The onus is on AFL Tasmania and the NTFA to provide member clubs with adequate resourcing to compete at the highest level of the competition.

I think even South Launceston and Longford are realistic that the first 24 months of the competition will be difficult for them, as the football programs at North and Launceston are well entrenched coming from the TSL (as they well should be).

Let's not forgot that both of the above have been propped up by funding from the AFL through AFL Tasmania, so financially some of that money will now come down the pipeline to the member clubs participating in the Premier League alongside North and Launceston.

Local football actually has a great following at NTFA level, it was at TSL level that interest was dwindling and crowds were falling, as the fabric had been ripped from those clubs.

The right decision was to admit North and Launceston to the current premier league and relegate Scottsdale and Deloraine under the restructure. This needed to happen for the first two years at least and then the league would have been able to get an accurate assessment of where each club in the Premier League stood.

If it was to be a 6 team model, it was clear that Rocherlea and Bridgenorth were in the best position to join South and Longford from the current premier division.
Click to expand...
Excellent contributions from both of you. Either of these options would have produced more sustainable outcomes than what the NTFA landed on.

The fact that having women’s programs etc was a key selection criteria perhaps shows that the process was flawed, because with all due respect, we all know that Scottsdale and Deloraine were never going to be able to compete at that level. Therefore, maybe too much emphasis was placed on criteria that really shouldn’t matter when it comes to running a club in a premier men’s football competition.

Yet another case of amateur hour if this all goes to shit, although AFL Tas have their fingerprints all over this, as it was obvious that this particular model they are proposing is not ideal for footy in the North.
 
Gibbke said:
In the decades before the 1970's, when football interest in the state was at its all-time highest, most of the comps were running around with four teams, and those teams paid for themselves...

This comp, though, has two things dead against it: 1) No one watches local footy. 2) Numbers playing footy are much lower, and clubs in areas that have enough people are losing their teams.

So the structure that will exist in the near future will have a multi-million dollar AFL franchise absolutely dominating the football landscape, and a VFL side made up of AFL listed contractees and top-ups mostly from the local league. You are now expecting that local league to not only compete with viable teams in their top division (S, R and U), but also provide a standard that will accommodate those in the VFL side who aren't selected that week. There will be a huge gap between the VFL and the locals without a statewide comp, where 50k people have been represented mathematically by a single TSL side since 2009...

That means your premier division will include two sides with a clear lack of ability in reaching that target, and to be blunt they will always be up against it. It's said above somewhere else, but in a nutshell Scottsdale aren't the 1973 side anymore, and Deloraine has been axed for pretty much the reasons I'm saying, as well as being an underwhelming entity since they started full time top level footy in the 1980's. You guys are expecting those extra teams to compete with North Launceston! Right there, huge disparities, and out goes your notions of "interest", because already there are rumblings of how shit it all will be...!

The top league needs to be the elite one and hog all the good players, simple as that. It's a numbers game, and it's all subsidised by the AFL team, so no one is worried about the attendances, as they haven't been for years. Four strong teams with AFL backing, and relax the rules around everyone else, so they can put out a team purely built to beat the bastards up the road. You get punters angry and looking out for their local footy team this weekend for the right reasons, and you concentrate the elite talent into something serviceable for the big league. Unlike those old decades, there is no margin for error anymore. Circular Head is discovering that both a strong CHFA and a strong Saints team are mutually exclusive, and currently they don't have either. Teams everywhere with 5-10k populations have lost their side in recent years, dependant on influxes of players just to get the side back on the park again (Woodsdale, Oatlands, Bridport...Spreyton close, and East Devonport haven't revived). You'd subject Scottsdale to this?

You haven't got a better alternative suggestion, fellas, and you'll hate whatever gets put up anyway...! Go on, if mine is so dumb, what's your great take...?
Click to expand...
So you’re suggesting we go back to competitons with 4 teams like they did in the 50’s & 60’s .
How is that sustainable playing the same teams every few weeks .
Could you name these competitions please ?
I have heard some rippers , but that suggestion is absolutely ridiculous.
Unfortunately the whole NTFA has been ripped apart because AFL TAS demanded NLFC & LFC go back to the NTFA , neither of those clubs wanted to come back. Premier League was a strong even comp. Longford , South , Rocherlea , Hillwood , Bridgenorth we’re all fairly even teams ( and have been for years )
The NTFA wanted the obvious 4 teams plus 2 out of town regional clubs , ie Scottsdale & Deloraine.
In a perfect world if Scottsdale and Deloraine were thriving areas ( like they used to be ) it could work , unfortunately those days are over and it can no longer work. Yes wrong decisions have been made by a this NTFA board but unfortunately it’s been forced upon them by AFL TAS . They are the real villains here.
By personal opinion is that the NTFA wants clubs to fall over .Imagine Uni gone . 40 players playing amongst other city clubs . No Meander ( more area for Deloraine to work with ) No Bridport ( more area for Scottsdale ) Evandale , Perth , Campbell Town gone (players filtering back amongst Longford , South Launceston , Bracknell etc etc .
Nobody knows the correct decision, because every option is flawed , but I do know having a 4 team competition is just crazy .
 

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