The case for a national reserves competition has once again been thrust into the limelight.
As we sit, the VFL competition - which enveloped the eastern board (NEAFL) from 2021 - comprises 14 out of the 18 AFL clubs, leaving South Australian (Port Adelaide and Adelaide) and West Australian (West Coast and Fremantle/Peel Thunder) on the outer.
However, a strong push from the Port Adelaide Magpies, who are 155-year members of the SANFL, is reportedly "open" to departing the league in search of equality.
Speaking on Fox Footy'sย Midweek Tackle, Herald Sun's Jay Clark provided an update on the news that has been speculated for months, with most clubs (Adelaide and West Coast) supporting the move.
โPort Adelaide are quite open about their plans to exit the SANFL - 150 years of history โ (it's) certainly a massive story in South Australia,โ Clark said.
โAdelaide have followed suite, so they both want to exit that league and be part of a national second-tier competition, which will involve all 18 clubs.
โI think this will happen, and they're pushing for it to happen next year - so I think we get used to that idea that SANFL, potentially the WAFL, is going to be missing those traditional clubs,โ Clark added.
โI think for the fairness and the quality of the whole competition, that really needs to happen.โ
Despite the interest from Adelaide, Port Adelaide and West Coast to join a national reserves league, interest from Fremantle and their WAFL affiliate Peel Thunder remain out of sync.
In April,ย Fox Footy reported that the Dockers were keen to continue their association with Peel Thunder and the current program in the WAFL.
โAs a Club, we are very proud of our alignment with Peel Thunder in the WAFL competition,โ a Dockers spokesperson told Foxfooty.com.au.
โWe will always review what is best for our players in terms of preparing them for AFL football and as it stands the current arrangement is best for our program.โ
Fremantle aligned with Peel Thunder in 2013, meaning all AFL-listed players would feature for them.
Peel chief executive Paul Lekias said at the time that he'd "love to be a stand-alone" club but admitted work needed to be done to see that happen.
โBeing an aligned club does have an anomaly; in a sense, we are trying to serve two masters.
โWe are trying to do the right thing by Fremantle, and trying to showcase our own local talent at the same time.
โThe agreement (to conjoin with Fremantle) started in 2013, and was due to end in 2018 - it is sort of rolling over at the moment on a notice period, so there is not a fixed agreement.โ
