Could open the way for cashed up clubs like Albury and a few other O & M, even as far as the GVFL. Hope for a few games at Blacktown.
Soooo basically it's just the same as now, except a few times a year you play a team in the other conference, and then eventually play the two conference winners against each other?
177th Senior AFL Match - Round 4, 2009 - Sydney vs Carlton, SCG. This is obviously out of date. I suppose I'll update it once I could be bothered sitting down with the fixture and working it out....
Des' Weblog
Although it looks the same the Canberra clubs are pumped up and it is having an affect on player movements. Expect Sydney footy to lose a few, particularly young blokes who can get well looked after down there
With my "fan of the code" hat on, having a second team in Sydney and this new Northern League generally look like positives for the game when looked at from the perspective of the low base the code is coming up from in Sydney. With an older Sydney AFL person hat on though I can see, somewhat depressingly that these two initiatives are based on rather rushed AFL Head Office commercial imperatives (which these days you must agree = the same as "good for the code" or else you are in trouble......) AND its the same old AFL Head Office "top down" approach to Sydney footy we have seen for decades - years in which the local Sydney AFL objective was meant to be building the Sydney AFL Premier Division towards being a genuine state league - with thriving clubs and a competition good enough for the Swannies 2s to compete in. Instead we see the Sydney comp being overlooked as STILL not good enough (anyone taking responsibility for that ?......) and effectively being consigned to another lower level - player drain will occur, maybe even teams will be pulled out of local comp in years to come to prop up the Eastern ressies league. I know the recent money spent by the AFL on facilities can't be anything but good for the local comp - and the Talented pathway and AFL scholarships stuff has had important flow on effects for clubs - BUT I still wish we could see some bottom up approach from the AFL, which nurtures and assists local clubs, the same clubs for whom the local league remains their biggest cost centre and continuing demander of all things "more professional". Unfortunately I despair that this will ever happen when I see the many smart folks being thrown at the job of looking to quickly build the "grass roots" for Team GWS and the AFL folks not acknowledging the irony that at the same time they do this work for GWS, they continue the decades long failure to effectively engage with, support and help build the local clubs, who remain its Sydney community base.
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