Southport Sharks and Gold Coast Suns mulling over a raft of ideas for second tier football

A Suns academy team in the state league, a merged Southport and Gold Coast side in a revamped VFL or a return to the QAFL. They are among a raft of ideas being floated as the NEAFL competition hangs in the balance.

SOUTHPORT may not be sighted at senior level again in 2020, with Sharks hierarchy not convinced any informal proposals for a NEAFL restart are feasible.

The club’s board members met on Tuesday night to discuss a potential revamped NEAFL format that would be split into two conferences.

The league would have Southport play Redland, Aspley and academy teams from the Gold Coast Suns and Brisbane Lions with the winner of the conference to travel to NSW to play the winners of a second conference made up of Canberra, Sydney University and the Sydney and GWS academies.

NEAFL practice game between Southport Sharks and Redland at Fankhauser Reserve..(Photo Steve Holland)

Sharks powerbrokers voiced concerns about the quality of the competition and the lack of transparency around funds to be provided by the AFL.

“It hasn’t bee completely decided,” Sharks president Alan Mackenzie said when asked if Southport would decide to remain sidelined for the rest of 2020.

“Our decision was to wait and see what was exactly on offer and evaluate it all from there.

“My understanding of that it’s not a firm proposal, it hasn’t been funded at all.

“Once it has some detail to it we will have a look at it.

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“We are not going to speculate too much because everything changes from one day to the next.

“We will make a decision on it when it actually becomes a legitimate, fully funded proposal and the mechanics of it are explained.”

Rumours are swirling around what the second-tier football landscape will look like in 2021 in what is expected to be a different model.

NEAFL practice game between Southport Sharks and Redland at Fankhauser Reserve. Shark's player Jai Lyons in action. (Photo Steve Holland)

Among them is the reinstatement of the regular NEAFL season but with AFL clubs likely to have reduced list sizes they may be forced to use top-up players on a weekly basis.

Southport could also end up in a revamped Victorian Football League, either as an independent side or as a merged entity with the Suns.

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If the alignment went ahead, it would likely be mirrored by partnerships between Brisbane and Aspley, GWS and Canberra and Sydney and Sydney University.

The worst case scenario for Southport would be a return to the QAFL, something that could hinder the Sharks and hurt AFL Queensland.

It would hinder the player pathway for juniors, with talented youngsters and academy players forced to go interstate to play in higher leagues.

Southport would lose over a dozen players straight away from its current list with a host of Sharks hoping to be drafted or get a second chance at the top level.

It would also provide a salary cap nightmare for those in the QAFL with Southport operating with a salary cap of around $380,000 in the NEAFL while those in the QAFL restricted to around $65,000.