Sydney Swans Reserves - a missed opportunity

On a lazy Sunday afternoon, The Balls ventured out to Manuka Oval to watch the Sydney Swans reserves take on Belconnen in the ACTAFL Grand Final.  Now, the game itself will be discussed later, but right now The Balls would like to take the opportunity to discuss the Swans reserves and their place in the footballing landscape.

Now, in recent times, the Swans reserves have been playing in the ACTAFL, taking home the premiership trophy for the last 4 seasons.  This is an impressive achievement, but there are two issues with this.

Firstly, is it really providing the Swans players with the best grounding for AFL football?  I mean, playing against Les from Les’ paint and scaffolding supplies isn’t really the best preparation for standing Lance “Buddy” Franklin is it.  That’s not to say that Les shouldn’t be proud of his efforts making the first grade Eastlake side.  More that the developing Sydney CHB needs a bit more of a challenge to prepare himself for a future in the AFL.

But it’s the second issue that is of more concern at the moment.  The Sydney Swans reserves are not playing in the Sydney local competition and this is a massive missed opportunity to promote the game in the rugby league dominated State.

Now, I don’t mean having the Swans playing against Pennant Hills, St George and North Shore.  This would prove as much of a mismatch as the early days of the Swans in the ACTAFL where victory margins of 200 points were not uncommon with Jarrad McVeigh and Adam Schneider combining for 16 goals from the midfield.

What the AFL should be making the Swans do is similar to what happens in the SANFL and WAFL.  All players on the Swans list should be assigned evenly across the local Sydney clubs.  Then, those players on the Swans list that are not selected to play in the firsts would then play for their respective Sydney league club.

This would improve the quality of players available to play in the Sydney league, as well as ensuring that it is not just one club that has an advantage.  This would promote a much more even competition with more quality players distributed across all sides.

Who knows, it may even encourage some recently retired AFL footballers to stay in Sydney (or even move to Sydney) to compete in the AFL Sydney competition, therefore further improving the standard of the teams.  And if the AFL is serious about Sydney, it needs to put some cash into enticing these blokes to come and play.

This is even more important now as the AFL look to expand further into the New South Wales market with a side in Western Sydney.  The AFL cannot expect to merely suggest this idea and have it materialise in front of their eyes.  There needs to be planning and there needs to be funding.

The AFL has to pump some money into the existing NSWAFL clubs and improve the facilities and marketing of the code.  Get some marquee players to come and play.  Recently retired players that usually go and play for Vermont, Subiaco or Sturt.  Encourage them to play for the Balmain Dockers or East Coast Eagles.  This will do wonders for the code and will bring juniors to the game.

And that’s where you have to start.  Improve the seniors, encourage and attract the juniors and you’re well on your way to a successful local competition and a greater fan base for the seemingly inevitable 2 AFL sides based in NSW.

But the Sydney Swans Reserves is the first piece of the puzzle.

Come on AFL.  Show some balls and get it done.