West Coast join Port Adelaide and Adelaide in raising state league concerns as talk of national AFL reserves competition gains momentum

After West Coast joined SA’s AFL clubs in raising concerns about state leagues, a national reserves competition is now a ‘serious discussion’. Here’s the latest.

Simeon Thomas-Wilson

@Simeon_TW

4 min read

May 14, 2021 - 6:08PM

News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom

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The future participation of AFL clubs in the SANFL and WAFL could be under a cloud after West Coast joined Port Adelaide and Adelaide in raising concerns about how state league rules are impacting player development.

The decision by the SANFL to ban AFL medical substitutes playing in its competition led Port Adelaide to write to the AFL claiming it “compromises” its ability to develop talent in the same way as interstate rivals.

The Crows seconded the Power’s concerns about how SANFL rules impact their ability to develop players, while this week the Eagles said they would consider withdrawing their players from the WAFL competition.

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Port Adelaide’s Pete Ladhams and Crow Kieran Strachan in the SANFL Showdown. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

West Coast football manager Craig Vozzo said the development of the Eagles’ fringe players was being compromised by recent thrashings suffered by the reserves side - including a 125-point loss to East Fremantle.

Vozzo said this could involve the removal of all listed players from the WAFL to allow them to play in another competition.

It comes after Port Adelaide chairman David Koch said the expanded VFL competition, with the Power, Crows, Eagles and Fremantle the only AFL clubs not a part of, was set to become the best second-tier competition in the country.

“That’s a massive disadvantage to the two AFL clubs for their extended squad, to actually play under a different set of rules when every other club that’s in a second tier (competition) has unified rules right throughout the country,” Koch said at last week’s SA Press Club lunch.

“We’d love to stay in the SANFL but… if we’re disadvantaged too much further you say to yourself well, why?

“Should we go into a national reserves comp? Because that will become the best second tier comp in the country to develop your players.

“It’s a serious discussion.”

On Friday Port chief executive Matthew Richardson said the club was still “committed” to the SANFL and any speculation that it was leaving the competition was “premature”.

“(But) if there comes a time when we feel the SANFL competition has been engineered in such a way that we can no longer develop our players in the same way as other AFL clubs, then we will need to consider our position,” he said.

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Jase Burgoyne, in his SANFL league debut for Port Adelaide, tackles Adelaide’s Tariek Newchurch. Picture: SANFL Image/David Mariuz

The AFL and Port Adelaide are expected to discuss the concerns raised by Power football boss Chris Davies on the eve of the 2021 season in the coming weeks.

This includes; access to state league contracted players, the ability to play NGA and father-son players in the Magpies side before they are drafted and the number of games that qualify prospects and differing rules in the SANFL to the AFL.

Port applied for, and was granted, special dispensation for father-son prospect Jase Burgoyne, who has been playing for Woodville-West Torrens in the Under 18 competition, to play in last week’s SANFL Showdown.

In his league debut, Burgoyne had 14 disposals, two marks and a tackle.

SANFL chief executive Darren Chandler said Port and the Crows had deals to compete in the state league until at least 2028 and he hoped they would remain beyond that.

“The current SANFL competition structure by far the best in Australia and is supported by both AFL clubs,” he said.

“We have a good relationship with both Port Adelaide and Adelaide football clubs and we continue to discuss and review the competition rules on an annual basis.”

SuperRankings: Mid-season draft prospect’s huge numbers

- Matt Turner and Jordan Pinto

A key-position player who shapes as a potential mid-season draft prospect is leading the SANFL’s Champion Data rankings after six rounds.

Woodville-West Torrens star and South Australian captain Jack Hayes is averaging a massive 141 points from five matches.

Hayes is registering 21.2 disposals per game, including 13 contested possessions (ranked eighth in competition), 6.6 marks (10th), 8.6 score involvements (second), 7.2 intercepts (eighth) and five tackles.

In Round 3 against the Crows, Hayes tallied 33 disposals, 20 contested possessions, 11 score involvements, 10 marks, six tackles, four clearances, three goals and a remarkable 210 ranking points.

The performance followed an impressive start to the year when the versatile 192cm big man finished with 20 disposals, 15 score involvements, seven intercepts, five hitouts-to-advantage and 153 points against Sturt.

The 25-year-old has never been on an AFL list but is widely regarded as one of the best players in the SANFL.

A pair of ex-Crows midfielders, Sturt’s James Battersby (130 points per game) and Eagle Riley Knight (127), West Adelaide midfielder Edward Allan (125) and Magarey medallist Campbell Combe (123) round out the top five of the SuperRankings.

Former Carlton and Adelaide star Bryce Gibbs sits sixth with an average of 121 in his first season at South Adelaide.