TOPIC:

As a colts player I feel like I give a bit of insight here.

Moving from Year 12s to a WAAFL team is weird experience and for some probably quite intimidating especially during the preseason months. You walk into a group of adult men who virtually all know each other and it's quite difficult to feel like you're part of a team which is what we're all playing footy for, is it not? Obviously once the season moves into full swing and there's regular games and social events it becomes easier to have a sense of belonging within a squad but for those first few months I'd guess there's a lot of guys deterred by the fact that you don't feel like you fit in/can relate to the guys around you no matter how welcoming they may be.

My other thing would be to ensure that colts players, if they're playing well enough, get a run in league or ressies. Just because they're a bit younger doesn't mean they're less able to play and coaches should be open to letting younger blokes play up if they're performing well. Nothing motivates people to improve more than increasing the level of difficulty. This would also give other guys in the colts teams an opportunity to push themselves and fill the hole that's been left by taking a good player out of the side (also means colts players who want to push themselves will be motivated by the fact that they know their efforts are being seen and noticed).

If anyone wants clarification on what I've said I'm happy to oblige, it accidentally became a bit of a rant.

It's great to have player in the discussion. Do you have any suggestions about what would make the transition easier? Do you think there are any good ideas set out in this thread? Any ideas that you think are no as helpful?

Good ideas I've seen include building a culture within clubs that makes eveyone there feel like they belong. Easier said than done but organising a social event during the preseason that's a bit of fun, not necessarily a piss up because there would be colts players that can't legally buy drinks would help out in that regard I think. Much easier to get to know people that way because there's no chance to do so during training. The other thing in terms of culture I can think of would be for some of the older guys to act as a mentor of some sort for the new guys. They do it in the AFL to the extreme and I'm not suggesting that but just having a more experienced guy to talk about the team and that sort of thing with would be helpful. It's rather intimidating being surrounded by all these blokes who know each other and are actually adults which for most colts is a completely new life experience.

16 a side is something I'm not totally in favour of but I think possibly on a division by division basis it may be able to be implemented (higher grades can fill a full squad easily whereas lower grades may struggle for numbers).

Restricting sides to one colts team is a double edged sword. On one hand yes it puts more guys into the pool but on the other if guys can't play for the team they want to play for then they're likely to just say screw it and go sign up for the winter basketball season.

Having close alignment with local junior clubs is another one of those things that are good but can have its drawbacks. Training with our aligned ammos side last year made me want to look elsewhere because I wanted a bigger challenge. But that's more of a case by case situation.

Thanks IG99. Great ideas about mentoring and preseason welcome. They don't seem too hard to put in place.
You also seem to agree that clubs need to be flexible in giving colts playing opportunities that are right for the individuals. Thanks

The talent development pathway by design fails more football participants than it helps. There is massive drop off with playes at Yr 10 and Yr 12 and these coincide with players not being selected into Development Squads, State Football programs and/or Colts footy. Massive squads are formed for these, the kids which arent selected in these squads are told they're not good enough and then again the majority that are cut are left deflated that they also aren't good enough. It is not promoted to juniors that the WAAFL exists (except by the individual proactive WAAFL clubs) and the WAAFL is a great option for them to continue to enjoy footy.

We need to
- create viable Yr 11 & 12 competitions by merging these two age groups together.
- remove the combined Yr11/12 comp from the WAFL District councils and have it managed by the WAAFL
- promote the WAAFL to kids throughout their junior career not just to the Yr 12 teams when WAAFL clubs go looking for the next years colts.
- stop WAFL clubs taking on 100+ kids to try out for 15-20 available spots in colts each pre-season.

Limiting clubs to one colts side is a backwards move. The idea that by capping numbers that players who can't play at one club will automatically go play at the next club down the road is flawed. It only serves to help clubs who don't put effort into engaging with their junior players and doesn't reward the proactive clubs. Every club in our area has a colts side, and 2 or 3 have 2 colts sides. Where are these excess colts expected to go? Most likely they won't play at all.

Currently the WAAFL have 18 players on field with a 7-man bench. To reduce the onfield number to 16 would need to reduce the team number to 20 or 22 otherwise having a 9 man bench would be impossible to manage and game time for all players would be limited. If a colts side only has 16 players the other team is currently required to also play with the same numbers so not sure how reducing numbers will create more teams or viable competitions?

Again more good input from all perspectives.
I love the Waafl taking over year 11/12

Ic99, u give some great insight, do u or any other colts players have to pay fees or spend money on compulsory uniforms etc?

Not sure yet. I'll cross that bridge in the coming weeks.

IG99 wrote: Not sure yet. I'll cross that bridge in the coming weeks.

IG99 congratulations on a very articulate discussion. As is the case in all sports the development of juniors is essential for any club's long term future. In the case of adult footy clubs working closely with junior clubs in the area is essential. Do you have any exposure to the junior development programme within the WAFC control?

I didn't personally have any experience with development by the WAFC itself. I had experience with development squads at Swan Districts and frankly it was an awful experience.

The amount of favoritism, the "your dad is on the board so you're on the team" bs and so on. There's many other things that I hated with that club that I witnessed occur and it put me off ever wanting to play football at a high level. Would I even belong at a high level? Probably not but I'm fine with just playing footy for the fun of it. Last time I said that Swan Districts supporters were upset at me but unfortunately it's what goes on there and probably at the other clubs.

In my opinion the talent pathways in place in WA are flawed. U/18s competitions and development needs to be taken out of the hands of WAFL clubs and given to organizations set up by the WAFC who's focus is to find and develop young guys because frankly the WAFL clubs do a terrible job of scouting for talent and let far too many talented individuals waste away at lower levels when they shouldn't be there.

And that's my experience with the talent pathway that exists in WA.