AFL to lay down the law to SANFL
Today’s SANFL grand final could be the last game played under unique rules, as part of plans to persuade the SA state league to play by the same rules as the AFL, WAFL and VFL in 2020.
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Today’s SANFL grand final could be the last game played under unique rules, as part of plans to persuade the SA state league to play by the same rules as the AFL, WAFL and VFL in 2020.
AFL football operations manager Steve Hocking admitted to me this week that he hoped to “align all the rules and salary caps” across the second tier leagues around Australia next year.
The SANFL will be asked to scrap its last possession out of bounds rule, as well as its 25m penalty and 60-interchange rotation cap, and fall in line with the AFL.
The motive is to make it easier for players to jump from the SANFL one week to the AFL the next, especially given the success of this season’s mid-year draft and the expectation that next season’s mid-year draft will be far bigger.
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Hocking named former West Adelaide star John Noble, who was plucked from the SANFL mid-season and played in Collingwood’s AFL preliminary final last night, as an example of the ideal new world where “anyone, anywhere can actually be parachuted in at any time,” Hocking said.
But Hocking is likely to face a heavy SANFL resistance on two fronts.
SANFL general manager of football Adam Kelly gave me a glowing report of how successful the unique SANFL rules have been, and gave no indication that the SANFL intends to scrap any of them.
“We brought in the last possession out of bounds rule and the rotations cap of 60 and we now have gone from the lowest scoring competition of any state league, to the highest,” Kelly explained, adding that the SANFL stoppage numbers had also reduced dramatically.
Kelly repeated that while the mid-season draft was good for individuals such as Noble, the SANFL and its stand-alone clubs were still totally against the mid-season draft and any future extension to it.
“That disruption to any club’s list in the middle of the year when it’s out of your control, is unfair,” Kelly said, repeating the SANFL’s well-voiced stance.
Hocking’s counter to that view, was that the SANFL was being enhanced by its growing reputation as a pathway to an AFL career for mature-age AFL aspirants and second-chance stars.
And the standard of the SANFL has improved, and will continue to improve, if it keeps luring the very best players from minor and country leagues across Australia like moths to a central flame.
“What it does is, it actually retains players at that level, because as a 24 and 25 year old, your dream is still alive,” Hocking said. “We want players to have the opportunity to play AFL.”
Hocking also confirmed what this column revealed last month, that the AFL’s plans for a national second tier competition have been scrapped, officially reaffirming that the Port Adelaide Magpies and Adelaide Crows reserves teams will remain part of a 10-team SANFL for the long-term future.
Hocking was full of praise for how the balance of power has settled out between the SANFL clubs, with Port Adelaide and the Crows adding a higher professional level to the league, but in no way dominating it.
“They are setting benchmarks that others need to get to,” Hocking said.
Which is one thing Kelly and Hocking did agree on.
“Certainly the standard of our competition has lifted,” Kelly said, confirming the 10-team SANFL system has been a success on many levels, including from a TV ratings and attendance perspective.
And if close to 50,000 turn up to Adelaide Oval today and witness a close SANFL decider between a non-AFL-aligned club and an AFL-aligned club, it will confirm a mini renaissance for the SANFL built on both classic rivalries and clever evolution.