News Port Adelaide have applied to join the VFL by 2025

[Soggy2112]

I can see a wildcard weekend being useful in future though. Once Tasmania comes in, we'll need a 20th team, and only the top 8 teams out of 20 making the finals doesn't give half the comp a lot to play for. This way teams 7-10 can play wildcard weekend, top 6 get a bye, then the next week we still get our 8 team finals.

I find the whole “wildcard” concept to be so overhyped.

There’s no wildcard element it it, it’s literally just a 10 team finals series where the top 6 get a week off.

Personally I like the idea that as the competition grows it becomes harder and harder to make the finals. If the 8th team has to go 14-9 then I think we end up with a better finals product.

 

[ohmygewd]

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

The VFL/VFA died a long time ago and what Port has done or will do to the SANFL is no different to what the Vic AFL teams did to the VFL when they slowly but surely pressured changes to scrap limiting of AFL listed players to one VFL clubs until they started fielding their own reserves.

National Reserves comp is not far away and l think WAFL and SANFL can withstand the withdrawal of their AFL clubs...maybe the VFA/VFL could be restored back to the best independent league outside the AFL.

 

[ibd77]

Should have happened in 1997 but the SANFL insisted we had to have an side in their league. Then 2014 came around and they were eager to kick us out of the competition but the AFL said no as there was no viable alternative competition for PAFC to enter a reserves side.

The AFL will likely announces an national reserves competition by 2025. So where does this leave the VFL?

Our tradition of being in the SANFL ended in 1997 as we no longer had access to our recruiting zones to secure our talent. The SANFL moved pretty quickly to divide up our zones to the other 8 clubs and we were left to pick from the scraps of SA football. Hence why we must leave the SANFL now as our current reserves side comprises of 50% elite athletes & 50% C-grade amateurs.

 

[Powerade 08]

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.

well bloody farken said

 

[Enviable Tradition]

Is that more than the millions in license fees the Power paid to the SANFL?

Not to mention the exorbitant gate takings.

 

[Purple Suit]

I don’t see how anyone sees this as a bad thing. Adelaide, Fremantle, west coast won’t be far behind.

This doesn’t diminish Port Adelaide’s history in any way.

I do, it's just more travel for WA based players. They cop enough once they are playing AFL, you don't need it every 2nd week when you're in the two's. I doubt the standard is that much different.

WC will be falling over themselves to join in though. They have been getting flogged worse than their AFL team in the two's since the WAFL rules they agreed to only allow a bunch of amateur's to play with their AFL players.

 

[tiger_tough]

Join us.

 

[LordLucifer]

I have never understood why there isn't a national reserves competition anyway.

Play a full AFLW season at the same time too.

Follow the same fixture as the seniors and play all three games on the one day (just like the old days).

10:00am - AFLW

12:00noon - AFL Reserves

2:00pm - AFL Seniors

 

[marcmurphy3]

I have never understood why there isn't a national reserves competition anyway.

Play a full AFLW season at the same time too.

Follow the same fixture as the seniors and play all three games on the one day (just like the old days).

10:00am - AFLW

12:00noon - AFL Reserves

2:00pm - AFL Seniors

I like the idea of more curtain raisers. AFLW should stay as it is. If it overlaps to much with the men's season nobody will care about it. Current timing is perfect. Plus, it actually costs the league money every time they play. There is only so much you can spend on a product that runs at a net loss. Yes, there are broader benefits in terms of growth of the game ect but you still need to balance that with financials.

 

[brutus76]

Prison bars for the Reserves team a given surely

 

[Rickee]

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.

The current system is ridiculous and makes less sense than a full reserves competition.

I'd be interested to see how you think it would be much more expensive to have a reserves competition over having a reserves side in the VFL, or why it is less practical than the absolute mess the VFL is now. All AFL clubs, apart from Hawthorn, Melbourne, St Kilda and Fremantle already run a full reserves program, and Hawthorn and Melbourne are in full control of Box Hill and Casey anyway.

The lack of advantage also makes little sense as the transition would take minimal effort, at least for most Victorian based sides, as they already have full lists, grounds to play at and a streaming deal ready to go.

It's time to face the facts that the VFL is not working in its current model, and if/when Port Adelaide and Tasmania join in 2025 you will have 23 teams of incredibly varying strengths spread across 5 states. It's absolutely impractical to expect a side hanging on by its fingernails like Preston to try and plan to play, for example, Carlton, Tasmania, Southport, Box Hill and Port Melbourne over a 5 week period, that's insane.

 

[Rickee]

It didn't kill any. All the clubs that competed in 1999 competed in the merged league. Plenty of issues before and after of course, as a result of VFA club not being sustainable entities.

That's absolutely incorrect. 8 clubs left the VFA in the 3 seasons after the review was voted down, and most of them put some or all of the blame on the executive who were publically still very much in favour of the recommendations it put forward. Clubs complained that the VFA virtually gave up on them, letting them fail rather than trying to help them survive, and in a few cases actually drove clubs into administration with exorbitant fines and demands of levies they knew full well the clubs could not pay.

Of course there were outside issues but in this particular case none of them were insurmountable as long as the VFA executive committed to the survival of all of the clubs in the competition, which they weren't.

 

[Rickee]

I have never understood why there isn't a national reserves competition anyway.

Play a full AFLW season at the same time too.

Follow the same fixture as the seniors and play all three games on the one day (just like the old days).

10:00am - AFLW

12:00noon - AFL Reserves

2:00pm - AFL Seniors

Every single league I've ever heard of below the AFL plays under age games then reserves then seniors, except the VFL.

I personally love it, if it's a nice day you can wander down early and get your fill of footy action across the whole day.

 

[JimmyBC]

Port owes the SANFL nothing and never have that whole league was propped up by Port & Norwood money for a gazillion years, the magpies are an AFL reserves side in the wrong comp time to pull the cord that should've been pulled in 1996.

 

[WillHayward]

What does this mean for Kenny?

 

[Soggy2112]

Hence why we must leave the SANFL now as our current reserves side comprises of 50% elite athletes & 50% C-grade amateurs.

Are you expecting the club will pay their top ups significantly more to play now?

I know for a fact that the SANFL is weaker then what it could be, simply because for many of the top players, the level of commitment over a long period of time is not justified by the pay, particularly when compared to what they can earn in “amateur” football.

You’re proposing getting players to take on more commitment (travelling interstate every second week), while also now playing for a side who’s first priority is not winning, where they will likely be dropped at some point for a lesser player because they happen to be AFL listed. You’re gonna have to pay them a decent amount.

The added costs of doing this will be significant, and I’m still not convinced how this benefits the league side all that much.

 

[kirky]

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

They aren’t prison bars, they are wharf pylons and the “prison bars” originated in the 1980’s by a Norwood supporter of all people but it has now stuck.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Jesus - The Crows sweep them 5-0 across all 3 competitions, and they spit their dummy and run off to avoid more humiliation.

 

[Dirty Bird]

All this does is fasttrack the national reserves comp as you know West Coast will join asap too.

The only club I haven't heard any murmurs at any time to join are Fremantle.

Everyone else had plans to join, was just a matter of when, not if.

This'll just be annoying because Port fans will go on about setting the trend, forcing change, crows following us etc. etc.

When in actuality, we've wanted it ourselves, but have put our focus on finding a new home.

 

[Kreuuuzeurns]

All this does is fasttrack the national reserves comp as you know West Coast will join asap too.

The only club I haven't heard any murmurs at any time to join are Fremantle.

Everyone else had plans to join, was just a matter of when, not if.

This'll just be annoying because Port fans will go on about setting the trend, forcing change, crows following us etc. etc.

When in actuality, we've wanted it ourselves, but have put our focus on finding a new home.

Is it really that deep?

 

[JimmyBC]

All this does is fasttrack the national reserves comp as you know West Coast will join asap too.

The only club I haven't heard any murmurs at any time to join are Fremantle.

Everyone else had plans to join, was just a matter of when, not if.

This'll just be annoying because Port fans will go on about setting the trend, forcing change, crows following us etc. etc.

When in actuality, we've wanted it ourselves, but have put our focus on finding a new home.

No we understand the 'bad guy' role we have to play because of how spineless you lot are.

 

[Lagooner]

All this does is fasttrack the national reserves comp as you know West Coast will join asap too.

The only club I haven't heard any murmurs at any time to join are Fremantle.

Everyone else had plans to join, was just a matter of when, not if.

This'll just be annoying because Port fans will go on about setting the trend, forcing change, crows following us etc. etc.

When in actuality, we've wanted it ourselves, but have put our focus on finding a new home.

Yeah couldn’t possibly do two things at the same time.

 

[Schulzenfest]

This'll just be annoying because Port fans will go on about setting the trend, forcing change, crows following us etc. etc.

Because ... that would objectively be exactly what happened?

 

[masai tu]

I do, it's just more travel for WA based players. They cop enough once they are playing AFL, you don't need it every 2nd week when you're in the two's. I doubt the standard is that much different.

WC will be falling over themselves to join in though. They have been getting flogged worse than their AFL team in the two's since the WAFL rules they agreed to only allow a bunch of amateur's to play with their AFL players.

It is an interesting query for non Vic AFL clubs.

From my grassy knoll on the western wing, I can see that Freo seems to be getting good results out of their WAFL team (after many years of behind the scenes work with Peel). The setup for the Eagles is a shambles (various reasons), so I can see they will be eyeing off the VFL comp.

Have a big query over more travelling. The second tier comps have been used to bring senior players back to top fitness after injuries. Travelling + returning injured player, is not a great formula.

 

[Elmer_Hauser]

I have never understood why there isn't a national reserves competition anyway.

Play a full AFLW season at the same time too.

Follow the same fixture as the seniors and play all three games on the one day (just like the old days).

10:00am - AFLW

12:00noon - AFL Reserves

2:00pm - AFL Seniors

There is no way the AFLW could survive if played in the same time/season as the AFL(M)