Whats happening in Sydney's South West

[Roo]

Just wanted to know peoples opinions on what is happening with footy in Sydney's south west.

Between Campbelltown and Camden they have hardly won a game. C'town havent won in premier div and camden have won just the once in div 2.

Campbelltowns 18's are going well in the challenge cup but dont have great numbers and struggle for a side each week.

Whats happening down that way?

[Tubzy]

Not sure, but a quality Prem Div team in the 'West' is VITAL to NSWACT AFL given the Giants starting in the AFL next year. If Campbelltown were to get relegated or, even fold, the 'most' Western side will be East Coast Eagles.....hardly a Western Sydney team. I reckon the league had better set up a process that either has Campbelltown improving, or start looking at a different club to take their place (i.e Penrith/Norwest/Parra)

Just my opinion

[Tassie]

Campbelltown have struggled in Premier Division this year no question. The year started well with a number of new recruits to replace the departures with a more then competetive side set for a solid season. Since losing the first game after the siren things started to go pear shapein relation to losing players. First we lost a young fella in David Wolfe - broken ankle followed by Owen Love (returned to SA), Shannan Kershaw (Broken Tibia and Fibia), Trent Wright (Injury), Joel Parson's over seas, Jacob Osborne overseas, Jake Brazill, Kurt Hanson (Sydney rep player) broken wrist who returned to Tasmania, Captain Nils Williams only playing 10 of 15 games, and numerous other usual injuries our depth has been sorely tested. Owen Love and SOS would both have been close to being selected in the rep game with Kurt, so to lose them early in the piece really set us back. If we had a little luck with our injuries and if we were able to keep the mentioned 9 on the paddock week in week out then Campbelltown Premier Division side would have won their fair share of games. If you take Hanson, Love, SOS, Brazill and Williams out of any side for an extended period of time then that side with minimal playing depth to replace them would also struggle. To the club credit it has battled on.

Reserve grade has fielded sides each week losing a number of close games to more fancied opponents. It has also won 3 games. Some people say so what 3, well it is a vast improvement on past years in the way they have been competetive in a lot of their games. One of their wins was against the Maroubra Saints who were coming second at the time. I believe if first grade hadn't been decimated with those leaving the club and by injury then reserve grade would have made the finals. It is a credit to the club that they have been able to field a competetive reserves side.

The under 18's are by far the dominant side in their league. They currently have approximately 27 players on their books but have suffered injuries which has left them with low numbers on some days, yet they still are undefeated and win by an average of 10 goals. With most of the injured players due back over the next few weeks the 18's are approaching the finals with a lot of confidence. The two under 16 feeder sides are on the top of their table quite comfortably and are expected to meet in the GF. Next year it is expected that these 16 year olds will join their team mates from last year at Campbelltown Football Club thus helping to build the foundation blocks of a solid Campbelltown FC in years to come.


So even though it looks pretty nasty and a lost cause from the outside, the club is in a lot better shape then some may expect. In years gone by I believe that Campbelltown would have had to forfeit a large amount of games. This year is hopefully the first step back.Yes, all clubs have injuries. But at some stage all clubs get these players back in the season. Apart from Nils, none of the other 8 players have been sighted again due to situations out of the clubs control. As Tubzy has mentioned, it is imperative that Campbelltown becomes a competetive side. If it doesn't and the league allows it to die, then their will be no AFL club of significance between St George and the ACT.

I hope I have shown why Campbelltown FC has struggled this year. I don't say we would have won the GF but do honestly feel that if we had kept all of our players that were originally here at the start of the season then we would have been competetive in our games.

[Hard Times]

Thanks for some quality detail. Have a strong finish to 2011.

[Roo]

Thanks for the input Tassie.

Surely not everything is rosy with players leaving mid season.

Does the club have anything in place for these 16's teams to get them to c'town?

[Tassie]

Roo - things have been out of our control really, Owen leaving to go home for family reasons, nasty injuries, work that takes you over seas etc. certainly doesn't help. Kurt left to return to Tamania for a job on the wharf that had come up. With the possibillity of playing 3 games at the of the year if his wrist was right and pass up a good job opportunity in an area that he was returning to at the end of the year he thought was to much. Even though as a club they weren't happy about it they understood and allowed him to go. I would say morale on the most part is good, especially for a team that is struggling to win. Even though we haven't won we certainly have played good quaters of football. We are just struggling to put 4 quaters together over an entire game. Against Illawarra was a good example of how we play well in the first half but go back to bad habits in the second which resulted in a 11 goal loss. As I heard Wayne Bennett say one day at a talk, "Bad habits are like a soft bed. Easy to get into but hard to get out of." This applies to our team this year.

The under 16 scenario I can't answer. I know Craig the 18's coach is well respected by these players and their parents. I believe most will come with some being pursued by other Premier 18 clubs if Campbelltown don't get promoted. In order to get promoted the 18's must win the div 2 title, and given their talent and results this year would be highly favoured to do so. It would be interesting to see what happens if they did fall over at the end of the year and did not win the title. It is this reason that I think the top side at the end of the home and away season is promoted for the coninued success over the duration of the season not just on 1 day which could be crueled by injuries etc. Campbelltown can't afford to lose these 16's to other clubs and I am confident that Craig and their old team mates will be enough to lure them to Campbelltown, especially now that they can see that they will be competetive in what ever division they play in.

[DLH]

Thanks Tassie, great to read some honest and informative stuff about a club without the usual backbiting and innuendo.

The kids coming through in the Campbelltown area are very promising, certainly they've dominated at the 14's and 16's level for the last couple of years, playing against kids from the Penrith region (who admittedly are split into four clubs).

Can't see them going anywhere else either, which is one of the few upsides of being geographically isolated to a degree.

What's the story with Jake Brazill?

Very talented young player who would no doubt make a difference.

[Tassie]

What's the story with Jake Brazill?

Very talented young player who would no doubt make a difference.[/QUOTE]

Jake is a talented player and would be in the top bracket of players at this club, hence why I mentioned him as a major loss. I'm not going to go into the reason on why Jake hasn't played at the club in the second half of the season.

[DLH]

What's the story with Jake Brazill?

Very talented young player who would no doubt make a difference.

Jake is a talented player and would be in the top bracket of players at this club, hence why I mentioned him as a major loss. I'm not going to go into the reason on why Jake hasn't played at the club in the second half of the season.[/QUOTE]

No worries mate.

A shame that he's not playing.

[Roo]

Thanks for the info Tassie.

Good to hear things in depth and straight from the horses mouth.

Pity about the player losses. You can only hope you can hang on to your top players for next season and they dont look for oppurtunities elswhere while the club tries to rebuild.

[Roscoe]

Tassie

You would never make it in politics, because

Your reply is too honest, without bullshirt, does not make excuses and doesn't point

fingers. You are too positive and too realistic and overall too truthful

Can you please challenge that red headed clown in Canberra.

Would be great to see 'town win a Prem game by season end

good luck in the future

Nathan Brailey is a terrific kid, (dad is tops as well) and after all his injuries derserves to succeed

[Roo]

Thanks Mr Brailey.