News Port Adelaide have applied to join the VFL by 2025

[calculon559]

"Port Adelaide has formally taken the next step in its plan to leave the SANFL and enter its reserve side in the VFL from the 2025 season."

Makes sense in that 14 of the 18 teams have reserve sides in the one comp now but my goodness does it make all of the Power's talk of 'history' and 'heritage' before 1997 look very hollow.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/port-adelaide-applies-to-enter-its-reserve-side-in-the-vfl-from-2025/news-story/91e3f665190dc8cb1c3106db76d3233b

 

[random260]

Wow for a club that respect tradition and their so called many flags and prison bar stuff.

They sure do make odd moves. They turn the back on the league that made them famous. Ditching their fellow adelaide supporters and Alberton.

Might as well tear down Alberton oval since power turned their back on there for the Victoria league.

 

[1990crow]

Wow for a club that respect tradition and their so called many flags and prison bar stuff.

They sure do make odd moves. They turn the back on the league that made them famous. Ditching their fellow adelaide supporters and Alberton.

Might as well tear down Alberton oval since power turned their back on there for the Victoria league.

Dumb take. This is about a national reserves competition where development is in line with the rest of the league.

 

[HugeJohnson]

Great move. SANFL is a pissant league that are restricting us in any way possible and we would be shooting ourselves in the foot to stay there. The sooner the whole comp moves to a single reserves league the better. Shame we will probably lose the prison bars but I guess we will be reasonable about it again and accept the terms and conditions.

 

[Mr north man]

Great move. SANFL is a pissant league that are restricting us in any way possible and we would be shooting ourselves in the foot to stay there. The sooner the whole comp moves to a single reserves league the better. Shame we will probably lose the prison bars but I guess we will be reasonable about it again and accept the terms and conditions.

Personally I think you should wear the Prison bar stripes twice a year against the Crows as they should wear the SA state jumper against Port

 

[Rickee]

The VFL in it's current form is on it's last legs at this point, and with Tasmania joining in 2025 to prepare to enter the AFL, they might as well pull the trigger now and declare a full AFL Reserves return for 2025.

It gives the current stand alone VFA clubs, plus Sandringham, Box Hill and Casey a good 18 months to prepare for either the set up of an independent state league, investigate joining suburban leagues or fold. Southport obviously would go back to AFLQ without much issue.

 

[Schulzenfest]

Personally I think you should wear the Prison bar stripes twice a year against the Crows as they should wear the SA state jumper against Port

Great idea. On a similar note, I reckon Collingwood should wear the big V whenever they play North Melbourne.

 

[Couch Coach]

I look forward to the discussions over who gets to wear what jumper and who is called the magpies.

 

[boncer34]

SANFL is a pissant league

No need to tell us that.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

The VFL in it's current form is on it's last legs at this point, and with Tasmania joining in 2025 to prepare to enter the AFL, they might as well pull the trigger now and declare a full AFL Reserves return for 2025.

It gives the current stand alone VFA clubs, plus Sandringham, Box Hill and Casey a good 18 months to prepare for either the set up of an independent state league, investigate joining suburban leagues or fold. Southport obviously would go back to AFLQ without much issue.

I don't think there's any desire at all to demolish the VFL. If West Coast, Freo and Adelaide want to join then I think you'll actually see the VFL return to a smaller size.

West Coast
Freo
Adelaide
Port Adel
Sydney
GWS
Brisbane
Gold Coast
Tassie
Southport

There's your reserves comp

 

[raptalia]

Wow for a club that respect tradition and their so called many flags and prison bar stuff.

They sure do make odd moves. They turn the back on the league that made them famous. Ditching their fellow adelaide supporters and Alberton.

Might as well tear down Alberton oval since power turned their back on there for the Victoria league.

I am not sure what the situation is like in WA but Port Adelaide and Adelaide play under an agreement with the SANFL that places them real disadvantage in developing junior players. It will be sad to lose the Magpie brand and the iconic PB guernsey but the AFL have been pussy footing around a National Reserves competition for too long and this move, which is likely to be followed by Adelaide, West Coast and Fremantle should result in all AFL clubs fielding Reserve grade sides in the same competition and that makes sense.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

my goodness does it make all of the Power's talk of 'history' and 'heritage' before 1997 look very hollow.

How so? They're still the same club.

Port owe the SANFL absolutely nothing. This is the league that tried to stop Port bettering itself when Port were smart enough to see the writing on the wall. They've well and truly outgrown the SANFL which can return to being a provincial backwater.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

I look forward to the discussions over who gets to wear what jumper and who is called the magpies.

I look forward to you making relevant discussion instead of nonsense conspiracy theories about the nickname "Magpies"

 

[juss]

"Port Adelaide has formally taken the next step in its plan to leave the SANFL and enter its reserve side in the VFL from the 2025 season."

Makes sense in that 14 of the 18 teams have reserve sides in the one comp now but my goodness does it make all of the Power's talk of 'history' and 'heritage' before 1997 look very hollow.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/port-adelaide-applies-to-enter-its-reserve-side-in-the-vfl-from-2025/news-story/91e3f665190dc8cb1c3106db76d3233b

Seriously just make a national reserves comp like their should be for all 18 clubs and be done with it.

We stress equalisation, having every club in the same parameters for their lists/players competing in the same seconds league and calibre of competition is a good thing.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I am not sure what the situation is like in WA but Port Adelaide and Adelaide play under an agreement with the SANFL that places them real disadvantage in developing junior players. It will be sad to lose the Magpie brand and the iconic PB guernsey but the AFL have been pussy footing around a National Reserves competition for too long and this move, which is likely to be followed by Adelaide, West Coast and Fremantle should result in all AFL clubs fielding Reserve grade sides in the same competition and that makes sense.

The old "reserves makes sense" thing.

It actually doesn't make sense, and nobody has an argument as to why it does.

It's just "Footy. Reserves competition. Yep."

Scratch the surface and you'll see there's no actual argument for a national reserves comp. It's expensive and impractical and offers no actual advantages over the current setup. The state leagues exist for a reason.

 

[Couch Coach]

I look forward to you making relevant discussion instead of nonsense conspiracy theories about the nickname "Magpies"

Really, nonsense?

From the Port Board:


So the parameters that Port fans seem to think are important are:

• SANFL or AFL reserves
• Alberton or other ground
• Prison Bars or BiB guernsey
• Power or Magpies

The Port Board seems to think that the guernsey and name are important but when another club supporter comments it's a conspiracy theory!

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Really, nonsense?

From the Port Board:
View attachment 1865566

So the parameters that Port fans seem to think are important are:

• SANFL or AFL reserves
• Alberton or other ground
• Prison Bars or BiB guernsey
• Power or Magpies

The Port Board seems to think that the guernsey and name are important but when another club supporter comments it's a conspiracy theory!

Oh wow, you only had to go back 7 and a half years to find your smoking gun! Very relevant and pertinent to 2024, impressive.

 

[Elmer_Hauser]

The VFL in it's current form is on it's last legs at this point, and with Tasmania joining in 2025 to prepare to enter the AFL, they might as well pull the trigger now and declare a full AFL Reserves return for 2025.

It gives the current stand alone VFA clubs, plus Sandringham, Box Hill and Casey a good 18 months to prepare for either the set up of an independent state league, investigate joining suburban leagues or fold. Southport obviously would go back to AFLQ without much issue.

Nope.

Werribee made the VFL GF this year as a stand alone club plus them and ther other stand alone entities are still a great pathway to the AFL for undrafted and or mature age players.

 

[boncer34]

The old "reserves makes sense" thing.

It actually doesn't make sense, and nobody has an argument as to why it does.

It's just "Footy. Reserves competition. Yep."

Scratch the surface and you'll see there's no actual argument for a national reserves comp. It's expensive and impractical and offers no actual advantages over the current setup. The state leagues exist for a reason.

So the interstate clubs can absorb the travel cost and Victorian clubs get a free pass under your model?

I don't think there's any desire at all to demolish the VFL. If West Coast, Freo and Adelaide want to join then I think you'll actually see the VFL return to a smaller size.

West Coast
Freo
Adelaide
Port Adel
Sydney
GWS
Brisbane
Gold Coast
Tassie
Southport

There's your reserves comp

 

[Bunk Moreland]

So the interstate clubs can absorb the travel cost and Victorian clubs get a free pass under your model?

If they insist on it rather than staying in their state leagues.

But if that's ultimately the model that wins out, i'd be happy with the AFL covering travel costs - if the consensus becomes that the interstate state leagues aren't up to it, then sure. They need reserves.

 

[EBERT THE KING]

All it will take is one club out of WCE/Freo/Adelaide to do that same and the National reserves comp becomes a reality.

Absolute farce that it isnt already in place.

This is smart from Port Adelaide.

 

[Dylan8]

It's just "Footy. Reserves competition. Yep."

Yeah sounds class let's do it

 

[boncer34]

If they insist on it rather than staying in their state leagues.

But if that's ultimately the model that wins out, i'd be happy with the AFL covering travel costs - if the consensus becomes that the interstate state leagues aren't up to it, then sure. They need reserves.

Their state leagues aren't up to it. That's not a question.

Just can't see why Victorian teams get a special little bubble where their reserves never have to travel and the interstate teams are forced to send their players away regularly.

Essendon play Sydney in Victoria and you want to send Sydney reserves to WA instead of Victoria? Not great logic.

 

[yodellinhank]

The old "reserves makes sense" thing.

It actually doesn't make sense, and nobody has an argument as to why it does.

It's just "Footy. Reserves competition. Yep."

Scratch the surface and you'll see there's no actual argument for a national reserves comp. It's expensive and impractical and offers no actual advantages over the current setup. The state leagues exist for a reason.

I don't love the current model, where bye rounds don't align, games are on different dates, in different states etc.

Players missing games of footy is not development.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Their state leagues aren't up to it. That's not a question.

Just can't see why Victorian teams get a special little bubble where their reserves never have to travel and the interstate teams are forced to send their players away regularly.

Essendon play Sydney in Victoria and you want to send Sydney reserves to WA instead of Victoria? Not great logic.

It is a question. We're consistently told the SANFL is a better comp than the VFL. Yet Port want to switch (not that anybody has properly outlined their reasons as to why).

State leagues are an important part of the ecosystem but if they're not serving their purpose then the AFL needs to investigate why and fix it. This is what happened in Victoria in the 90s with the FORT taskforce. It came up with the structure than we still have today, giving both state league (VFA) clubs and AFL clubs different options to enter their own team or align.

Yet now people want to blow up this structure - that works well for more than half the league and has done for decades - for unspecified reasons.

I think we can have a proper review as to why and try to fix the issues before we dive in and do that.