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There was an interesting article by Caroline Wilson in The Age yesterday about the future of a number of VFL alignments. According to Wilson, Essendon are set to part ways with the Bendigo Bombers and establish a standalone reserves team.
In addition, AFL Victoria are about to significantly increase license costs to discourage other clubs from following suit
The same article talks about Carlton negotiating for the Northern Bullants to be re-branded the Northern Blues, the efforts of St Kilda and Richmond to establish teams (put on hold for the time being due to contractual and financial reasons, respectively) and Melbourne searching for a way to improve its relationship with Casey.
Going by Wilson’s article, it appears as though only one Victorian club is genuinely happy being in a VFL alignment – Hawthorn with Box Hill (although no mention was made of North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, clubs that probably aren’t in the financial position to consider going it alone).
It also appears as though most Victorian clubs would choose to emulate Geelong and Collingwood – the current ladder leaders and only Victorian teams with standalone reserves – if they could.
What’s curious about all this is that it’s not just Victoria where this is happening.
The Crows and Power want reserves sides in the SANFL – and it’s a topic that has generated plenty of discussion in South Australia this year – but those in charge at the SANFL say it’ll never happen.
The Eagles and Dockers went as far as submitting a proposal to field WAFL teams as early as next year. It was rejected by the WA Football Commission, despite the AFL clubs offering $60,000 to each of the nine WAFL clubs.
It’s at this point where a few things become pretty obvious.
Most AFL clubs right now do not have their own reserves team. Most of these clubs would prefer to have their own reserves team. State league interests are a huge factor in why they don’t have one.
It doesn’t take a genius to realise that a system that bypasses the state leagues – and all the license fees and politics associated with them – could very well be the answer to the clubs’ problems.
If the state leagues continue to oppose AFL clubs from entering their competitions, it seems inevitable that those clubs will turn their energy to lobbying not the state governing body, but the AFL. They could pressure the league to form a nation-wide reserves competition.
Right now, there would be a lot of support among clubs for such a plan, and not just the clubs who are without a second team currently. Sydney, for example, has historically struggled to find quality opposition for its reserves and currently sits atop the NEAFL’s Eastern Conference ladder with a mindboggling percentage of 202.
You’d think the only clubs to oppose this kind of plan would be those who already enjoy the full benefits of having a reserves team playing in a quality league.
Perhaps there would also be opposition from those clubs where the cost of a reserves team is too much of a burden. While license fees would be avoided in an AFL-run competition, the cost of travel would be much greater.
Maybe clubs in this position will have to stick to their VFL alignments for a while longer.
Looking at the big picture, it just seems as though there are too many AFL clubs that harbour a strong ambition to have control over their reserves – not to mention too much opposition from the state leagues – for a nation-wide reserves to be anything but inevitable.
For somewhere between two and three and a half quarters, depending on how generous you want to be, Adelaide didn't do a whole lot…
Hopefully Jake Soligo doesn't keep it in there for too long!
Why wasn't Brandon Zerk-Thatcher right on the line?
