SFNL CEO Lee Hartman speaks on the arrival of ex-AFL talent this off-season
After a sudden influx of ex-AFL talent this off-season, Southern Football Netball League CEO Lee Hartman discusses how the competition continues to grow.
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Southern league CEO Lee Hartman is confident the influx of top-end talent this off-season “speaks volumes” of the competition’s growth.
Six players with AFL experience have entered the competition this off-season while an array of local superstars have also decided to call the Southern league home in 2024.
Jack Lonie, Sam Dunell, Jacob Edwards (Cheltenham), Trent Dennis-Lane (Dingley), Todd Elton (Murrumbeena) and Liam Sumner (Black Rock) have all joined since the end of the 2023 season.
Those half a dozen players coincide with further off-field additions.
Premiership-Blue Dean Rice will assist Keysborough in a coaching consultant role and 1999 Norm Smith Medallist Shannon Grant has signed with Hampton as its senior coach.
While it may appear to be a bigger arrival of stars this off-season than others, Hartman said the boom has been building for several seasons.
“It’s been growing over a number of years now,” he said.
“The influx of people from other leagues, both playing and coaching, has ramped up the last two to three years.
“That trend looks like it’s continuing into 2024, so that speaks volumes to the quality of the top end of the comp.
“It drags people through the gates, it’s a win for both the clubs and the leagues that they can attract those sort of people.”
According to Hartman, the competition isn’t just growing at the top end either, with the under-19s, Thirds, women’s and netball competitions all tipped to progress in 2024.
“It looks like under-19s is going to go from 10 teams to 16, there’s massive growth there,” Hartman said.
“We’ve done a lot of hard work, and it’s been a real focus of the league in the past 12 months, the youth football section.
“Women’s looks like it’ll gain another couple of teams there as well.
“We should have growth across the board.
“Netball has grown as well, we will go past 110 teams in the netball which is great.”
The Southern Football Netball League season will kick off on Saturday, April 6.
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