SANFL clubs at war with Power, Crows over top-up players amid discussion over National Reserves competition

SANFL and AFL clubs in South Australia are locked in a struggle over where Port Adelaide and Adelaide can recruit top-up players for their reserve sides. SIMEON THOMAS-WILSON has the latest.

Logan Evans was recruited from the Power’s SANFL side. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

Allowing Adelaide and Port Adelaide to have better access to top-up players in the SANFL would improve the health of South Australian footy, Power chief executive Matthew Richardson said.

With a national reserves competition now on the backburner at AFL House, the Crows and Power will continue to field their reserves sides in the SANFL next year. But this is on the proviso the state league addresses key concerns around top-up players and fixture equality.

Currently the two AFL clubs have to look outside the SANFL for top-up players and are pushing for greater access to promising youngsters through the league’s rookie program.

Thomas Scully of the Magpies reacts after scoring a goal during the Round 10 SANFL match between Port Adelaide and West Adelaide in June. Picture: SANFL Image/David Mariuz.

This year Logan Evans, who continued his strong start to his AFL career against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday, trained with the Power and played for the Magpies in the SANFL as part of the program, before he was picked up in the mid-season draft.

Adelaide has father-son prospect Tyler Welsh at West Lakes as part of the program.

Richardson said the Power wanted the same playing-list rules as the 14 AFL clubs competing in the VFL.

“In order to ensure Port Adelaide and Adelaide are strong in the AFL competition, we need to be able to develop our players at least equally to the way the clubs in the VFL are,” he said on Grandstand SA.

“When you’re a young player, the players you’re playing with are more important than the players you’re playing against because that’s how you learn.

“At the moment there are 14 clubs in the VFL system that are able to put better quality players around their kids.”

Logan Evans was recruited from the Power’s SANFL side. Picture: Graham Denholm/AFL Photos/via Getty Images.

SANFL clubs want the Crows and Power to instead focus on recruiting talent from interstate.

But Richardson said the two AFL clubs having better access to top-up players for their SANFL sides would only benefit footy in South Australia.

“An important element of the health of South Australian footy is having two strong, highly competitive AFL teams,” he said. “What that does is it drives the economy at Adelaide Oval because if they’re both performing, more people turn up and that money flows back into community support and the SANFL.

“We’re operating in a system where we feel like we’re starting to be disadvantaged against the other (AFL) clubs.

“If you step back and look back at what’s best for South Australian footy, at the moment there are some warning signs – there’s less talent coming out of South Australia.

“If we keep doing things how we’ve always done them … we’ll go backwards. We don’t want to be in that position, we want to play our role to strengthen South Australian footy.”