Adelaide Footy League best clubs of the past decade including Rostrevor Old Collegians, Goodwood Saints
We’ve dug through the records to find which Adelaide Footy League teams have been the best in the modern era. See where all 67 clubs rank.
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With seven divisions and more than 60 clubs the Adelaide Footy League is one of the most competitive local competitions in the country featuring a stack of strong teams.
Messenger football reporter Patrick Keam has dug through the records to find out which side has experienced the most success in the past decade.
Ranked by A grade winning percentage from seasons 2011 to 2020, these are the most successful clubs the league has witnessed in the modern era.
See where your team rates among the competition in the table below and read about the successes of the top 10.
*Note: Clubs which joined part way through the decade have not been included. Teams such as Brighton (64.28 winning percentage) and St Paul’s Old Scholars (69.44) would otherwise have made the top 10.
10. UNLEY MERCEDES
Winning percentage: 59.66
Premierships: 2012 (D4)
Grand Finals: 2012 (D4), 2014 (D3), 2015, 2019 (D2)
Coming in at No. 10 is a club which soared up the divisions early on in the decade – Unley Mercedes.
Under the guidance of coach Troy Hall, the Jets catapulted themselves from division four in 2012 to the top flight in 2016 in stunning fashion.
But – despite four promotions in the past 10 seasons – it hasn’t been all joyous for the club from Kingswood Oval.
A premiership in 2012 over local rival Scotch Old Collegians was the highlight before three losing grand finals.
It included the 2019 season – this time under a new coach in Kane Stewart – where the Jets were the top side for much of the season but fell to Athelstone in the decider.
While Unley Mercedes doesn’t have as many flags to show for its strength as it would have liked, the past 10 years have been an undoubted success putting the Jets among the league’s top clubs.
9. BLACKFRIARS OLD SCHOLARS
Winning percentage: 60.32
Premierships: 2014 (D6)
Grand Finals: 2014 (D6)
For a club which only played its first game in 2006, to make the top 10 in the competition for winning percentage is a remarkable achievement.
A total of 111 wins from 184 matches placed Blackfriars Old Scholars in this elite category of teams.
The Hounds have been a consistent threat in divisions five and six over the decade with the 2014 grand final win in the latter the obvious high point.
Ruckman Matt Brincat – captain of the club’s team of the decade – is a six-time best and fairest at the Hounds and has been one of the driving forces of their success.
Over the years he’s been ably assisted by the likes of Bradley Hillman, Luke Bortolotti, Aron Fechner, Samuel Horsell and Phuoc Vo.
8. LOCKLEYS
Winning percentage: 60.54
Premierships: 2020 (D5)
Grand Finals: 2015 (D6), 2020 (D5)
It took 27 years and a whole lot of wins for Lockleys to break its A grade premiership drought last year.
And the one-point triumph over Kenilworth in division five capped a decade of dominant performances from the Demons.
A winning percentage of 60.54 from 185 matches by the Rutland Avenue club has been forged through impressive consistency – and finals appearances.
The Demons were locked in division six for four seasons before breaking through with a grand final appearance and promotion in 2016.
From there they were perennial contenders in the fifth tier until finally claiming a flag last year.
In fact, 2011 was the only season in the past decade where the Demons have experienced a losing season.
Across the 10 campaigns, including finals, Lockleys has notched totals of 16 wins (2015), 15 (2016) and 13 victories on two occasions (2016 and 2017).
7. PRINCE ALFRED OLD COLLEGIANS
Winning percentage: 61.17
Premierships: 2015 (D2), 2016 (D1)
Grand Finals: 2015 (D2), 2016, 2019 (D1)
Prince Alfred Old Collegians has transformed itself from a club hanging in the middle divisions to a top flight powerhouse.
While the 2000s saw the Old Reds move from division four to the second tier, in the 2010s they took it to the next level.
Several seasons of competitiveness in division two paid off when they defeated Unley Mercedes to claim the 2015 premiership.
But few would predict what would happen next.
With first-year coach Brett Backwell at the helm, PAOC shocked the league to win the club’s first ever division one premiership in its first season back in the top flight.
The Old Reds have gone on to become a perennial contender, playing finals in all but one season since.
It included the 2019 campaign where, with a highly-fancied side, they fell at the final hurdle.
6. WEST CROYDON
Winning percentage: 61.32
Premierships: 0
Grand Finals: 2016, 2019 (D6)
West Croydon has been a dominant force in the lower divisions the past decade but – along with just one other club on this list – does not have a flag to show for it.
The most heartbreaking occasion was in 2016 when the Hawks went undefeated in the minor rounds but were upset by Woodville South on last day of the season.
History somewhat repeated in two years ago with West Croydon red hot favourites for the division six grand final against Fitzroy, who had come from fifth spot.
But the Hawks again fell in the decider.
5. SEATON RAMBLERS
Winning percentage: 61.95
Premierships: 0
Grand Finals: 2018 (D3)
If any club in the Adelaide Footy League deserves a premiership, it would hard to go past Seaton Ramblers as the answer.
The boys from Pedlar Reserve have dominated the minor rounds on a string of occasions only to lose their nerve and capitulate come the finals.
But it has given them one of the biggest winning percentages in the competition, claiming victory in 111 of a possible 184 matches.
All that will not matter for the Ramblers though, whose A grade flag drought has now stretched to 31 years.
The closest they have come was in the 2018 division three grand final.
Heading into the match as heavy favourites, Seaton was toppled by a spirited Scotch Old Collegians side.
Since 2012, the Ramblers have had the double chance in the finals six times – three times they have made it to the preliminary finals before bowing out and twice they lost two finals in a row without winning one.
They’ve also finished as division three minor premiers twice.
4. PAYNEHAM NORWOOD UNION
Winning percentage: 64.28
Premierships: 2013 (D3), 2014 (D2), 2019 (D1)
Grand Finals: 2013 (D3), 2014 (D2), 2015, 2017, 2019 (D1)
A combination of the expertise of coach Garry McIntosh, some strong recruiting and reaping the benefits of juniors coming back to the club has been behind Payneham Norwood Union becoming one of the feared clubs of the modern era.
The Falcons stormed up the divisions under McIntosh and claimed three fantastic flags along the way.
A history-making maiden division one premiership in 2019 was the climax.
It came after two failed attempts in 2015 and 2017.
While McIntosh has now handed the reins over to Jace Bode, the dynasty created at PNU which resulted in 126 victories from 196 games has set the club up for long-term success.
3. NORTH HAVEN
Winning percentage: 64.51
Premierships: 2017 (D4)
Grand Finals: 2014 (D5), 2017 (D4)
Some may be surprised to see a club which has bounced between divisions three and five land so high in this ranking.
But it is no shock for North Haven, which has experienced just three losing seasons across the past decade.
The Magpies spent five years in division five before breaking through with a grand final appearance in 2014 and promotion to the fourth tier.
Strong seasons followed in the next two years but it all came together for the club in the 2017 campaign.
North Haven went 17-1 in the minor rounds before overcoming Morphettville Park, which had joined the competition from the SFL that year, in a resounding 61-point grand final victory.
Players such as Mark Rowe, Tom Lipson, Chris Lipson, Kyran Dixon and Matthew Davoren-Searcy have helped drive the Magpies to a consistent winning formula.
2. GOODWOOD SAINTS
Winning percentage: 65.44
Premierships: 2014, 2015, 2020 (D1)
Grand Finals: 2014, 2015, 2020 (D1)
It is no surprise Goodwood – the league’s powerhouse club since the turn of the century – finds itself near the pointy end of this list.
The Saints have claimed more division one flags than any other club in the past 10 years and have a stack on victories to go with them.
Crucially however, a 6-12 campaign in 2016 and nine-win seasons in 2017 and 2019 mean Goodwood falls short of the competition’s top winning percentage.
The Saints’ 100 per cent strike rate in grand finals has been impressive, along with their ability to turn over the playing list enough to find continued success.
The likes of the late Shane Tuck, Eric Kells and Brad Dabrowski were key to the 2014 and 2015 flags.
Then there’s those who have been there for the decade’s early successes and the 2020 triumph, such as captain Lou Whitelock, Anthony Dempsey, Benjamin Holzbauer and Tom Anderson.
So has player turned coach Luke Donaldson, who returned to coach the club last season with immediate impact.
1. ROSTREVOR OLD COLLEGIANS
Winning percentage: 70.98
Premierships: 2013, 2017 (D1)
Grand Finals: 2011 (D2), 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2020 (D1)
Coming in at No. 1 is a side which won promotion to the top flight in 2011 and did not look back.
With 137 wins in the past 10 seasons, division one stalwart Rostrevor Old Collegians has achieved a greater winning percentage than any other Adelaide Footy League club in that time.
And it comes as no surprise, with ROC having not missed the finals in division one for eight-straight seasons.
A second tier flag in 2011 was the beginning of the brilliant decade and it did not take long for the club to then settle in the top flight.
ROC tasted the ultimate success – a division one premiership – just two seasons later and came close to going back-to-back.
However, another flag would not be too far around the corner when a wave of fresh blood into the seniors culminated in the 2017 title under coach Adrian Rocco.
Since then ROC has been bridesmaids twice in the past three seasons, losing deciders to Tea Tree Gully in 2018 and then Goodwood last year.
Speaking to The Messenger before the beginning of this season, playing co-coach Will O’Malley said the club’s ability to keep a consistent senior side together was behind its success.
“We’ve had a core group of players who have played 150 or so games together now,” O’Malley said.
“Every year we have new guys coming in but there’s never a huge turnover and that’s a huge advantage for us.
“We’ve got blokes who know how to win in this league and play good, consistent footy – that’s been the key.”
O’Malley, who took over as coach from Rocco ahead of the 2019 season, has been at the heart of ROC’s success alongside the likes of dual division one medallist Craig Holm, midfielder Luke Manuel and brothers Charlie and James Jordan.
Current stars Tim Baccanello and Daniel McCallum have also been key to many wins in their time.
Forwards Michael Coad, Heath Commane and Paul Fantasia have are all now retired but provided much of the club’s firepower the past decade.
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