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The gap between rich and poor in the AFL has never been greater. In 2011, the chasm in quality and resources between the powerhouses and the cellar-dwellers was a massive talking point. It could widen in 2012.
Collingwood and Geelong were the premier teams last year – both in a good position off the field, with good crowds and sponsorship. To take advantage of that in a salary-capped league, they had to be creative.
Equalization rules restrict the elite clubs from paying more than the rest, so they channel their funds in a different direction – highly-paid coaches, world class facilities, off-season junkets to Arizona – to get ahead of the pack.
One such method, which is proving incredibly handy, is the movement toward clubs having their own standalone reserves side, under their complete control and behest.
That’s a luxury not everyone can afford – but not always because of fiscal reasons. For some, it’s a structural impossibility.
While the Pies and Cats have been able to go ahead with their own reserves sides in the VFL, and expansion clubs Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney have been gifted them by the AFL, teams in WA and SA have been lumped with a difficult arrangement for years now.
In those states, and for some other clubs in Victoria, players are ‘drafted’ off to separate teams in their respective state league, a consequence of affiliation with a league rather than a singular club.
For years now, there have been rumblings about how Port Adelaide, Adelaide, West Coast and Fremantle are unhappy with the current state of affairs.
AFL-listed players are at the mercy of SANFL and WAFL coaches, who often take it upon themselves to play footballers out of position, helping their team’s fortunes rather than assisting their own development.
If the AFL wants to move forward over the next 10, 20 years, then something has to change.
It seems the obvious solution is to simply allow the WA and SA clubs their own reserves team – but that’s easier said than done when dealing with a highly sensitive issue that few Victorians can comprehend.
That’s because nobody in Melbourne had to shift their allegiances when the VFL went national – their very own clubs made it big.
That didn’t happen in Adelaide. When the Crows were established in 1991, fans had to ‘abandon’ the clubs they’d followed all their lives, so to speak – clubs with rich histories, like Glenelg, Norwood and Sturt.
They’re still alive as part of the SANFL, a competition which has morphed into a relic of ‘old’ football – suburban grounds, down-to-earth players, a perceived ‘real footy’ vibe.
South Australians love it. They don’t want to see their league spoiled by the presence of reserves teams, and neither does the SANFL. Heaven help half of Adelaide if the Crows’ seconds took on Norwood. Heads and hearts would explode.
And that’s not even mentioning the two Port Adelaides. The same goes for the WAFL. There is no easy fix.
Clubs with their own reserves team hold a significant advantage over those who don’t. In a column for The Age back in April, Garry Lyon said there were many benefits – including the ability to deliver a ‘rigid consistency in message’ when players do not have to deal with two different footballing cultures in the one week.
It’s no coincidence that the two most dominant teams of the past five years – Geelong and Collingwood – have their own reserves teams. Another recent powerhouse, Hawthorn, has a strong 11-year-old alliance with Box Hill.
In the name of fairness, the only answer is a national reserves competition.
Yes, it would cost money – but after that $1b TV rights deal the AFL has very deep pockets. And surely, if the cash-strapped FFA can afford Australian soccer’s youth/reserves league hybrid, so too can the AFL.
But when it comes to evening out the competition, Andrew Demitriou has proven himself to have very short arms.
Instead of investing in equality and the development of players when he’s had the opportunity, he handed a blank cheque to the Giants in wait of a 30-year uphill battle.
Meanwhile, rich clubs like Collingwood can work on their fringe players exactly how they want, while players like former Power prospect Ryan Willits are torn between two clubs, two cultures, two positions.
Willits is a case study in how the South Australian solution stunts the growth of players. Port saw him as a forward, but Glenelg played him down back and he had to apply for a transfer to West Adelaide to find an attacking role. It must have played at least a minor part as to why he never kicked on at AFL level.
The AFL seems set on world domination, but they have real problems at home that need to be addressed first – or else the divide between rich and poor will increase by the season.
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