2014 NEW FM League Thread

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Originally Posted by Winner1

Maitland had an ok day.
The 19s were terrible as the score reflected and were very lucky that the referee failed to send off one of their centre backs. Coach was having to give them too much direction for players who have been playing that formation for 6 rounds.
23s was ok, scrappy but became better as the game went a long.
1sts was good. Started slow but found their rhythm. Dominated Belswans. Benny Martin needs to retire from penalties after ANOTHER failure to sink one. Maitland don't seem to have much cohesion up front with Benny Martin and whoever this Roger fellow is. He is dreadful! Misses from close range too many times this season and rarely does anything right. This pairing may cause maitland difficulties in the season.

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Originally Posted by Stevey G

Im not sure Rodger fits into the Maitland style of play anywhere across the park.
Ive been watching Maitland for a few years now and he just looks out of place in that side. He and Benny Martin dont look like they are working together at all and his team mates cut a frustrated figure when he runs the ball and loses it (which is too often). As a new player bought in with the new manager though it seems like he is one of the favourites so i dont see him being dropped anytime soon for Luke.

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Ok I'll bite on this one.

What a load of fkn bullshit about Rodger. The bloke is up there with the best in league and has plenty of assists to his credit this season, he score 20+ goals in first grade last season and without a doubt will start finding the net again very soon. The blokes training ethic is incredible and he is a fantastic bloke to have around the club.

I'll go out on a limb and say he will still score 15+ goals this season.

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Originally Posted by JCBT

Ok I'll bite on this one.

What a load of fkn bullshit about Rodger. The bloke is up there with the best in league and has plenty of assists to his credit this season, he score 20+ goals in first grade last season and without a doubt will start finding the net again very soon. The blokes training ethic is incredible and he is a fantastic bloke to have around the club.

I'll go out on a limb and say he will still score 15+ goals this season.

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I hope for Maitlands sake he does.
Ive been gunning for Maitland to get promoted for a while and you can see the boys are disappointed at the end of every season when they havent finished 1st.
But i just dont think he is the answer up front for Maitland.

Is scoring goals really maitland's problem though?

Maitland has always had a main goal scorer but never a 2nd noted goal scorer.
Even before Benny Martin there was Luke Lawless who topped the charts but never a 2nd strike partner as a back up incase either one was to be injured.
To get promotion i believe Maitland need a second striker to complete their squad.

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Originally Posted by JCBT

Ok I'll bite on this one.

What a load of fkn bullshit about Rodger. The bloke is up there with the best in league and has plenty of assists to his credit this season, he score 20+ goals in first grade last season and without a doubt will start finding the net again very soon. The blokes training ethic is incredible and he is a fantastic bloke to have around the club.

I'll go out on a limb and say he will still score 15+ goals this season.

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As a follower of Maitland for many years now I can quite comfortably say that Rodger will 1. Not score 10 goals, will be pushing for double figures. He looks uncoordinated and uncomfortable. 2. I would easily say he is NOT in the best of the league. He may train well but he certainly doesn't play well. 3. I would start the likes of 23 and 19 boys over him. He has been no asset to 1st grade and I don't see him creating anything apart from losing the ball almost everytime he receives it. The sooner the 1st grade coach sees this and replaces him with someone who can work with the likes of Benny Martin, more successful outcomes will be achieved and Maitland will reach their full potential.

I agree Stevey G, a second striker who plays with Benny Martin and can perform as an individual should BM be away is what Maitland need to be sourcing out asap

I think a big barrier maitland have struggled with is maintaining form for the entire season. Dropping points to teams way down the ladder and letting good leads slip in important games has cost them in the past.

What's everyone's opinion on how maitland would go in the nbn comp if they did win promotion this year.

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Originally Posted by onlooker

What's everyone's opinion on how maitland would go in the nbn comp if they did win promotion this year.

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They would be competitive. No doubt they would pick up a couple of other players but the foundation would be what they have now. It's not a bad thing after watching the likes of Lambton Jaffas buying their entire team last year, being somewhat short on cash this year, due to expenditure last year and not being able to retain the quality they wanted to. After watching the majority of their preseason games and how NPL teams played the strongest side against them at times, Maitland would be sitting around the middle of the NPL tables.

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Originally Posted by Imyourhero

I think a big barrier maitland have struggled with is maintaining form for the entire season. Dropping points to teams way down the ladder and letting good leads slip in important games has cost them in the past.

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I think your right, mid season dropped points has always been a problem.
with any luck the boys will over come that this year.

As per usual the promoted team would need to add a few quality players to make sure they maintain.
As to how many are needed its hard to say.

I don't think they'd make the top 5 within the first year, they definetly wouldn't be getting hammered every week though. I think one of the best things to happen would be the juniors being able to be involved with tougher competition. Maitland has a huge junior base of players however at the end of the day the best young kids have to eventually move away to other clubs if they want to play NPL level, Maitland being promoted would help them retain their best local talent.

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Originally Posted by Imyourhero

Maitland has a huge junior base of players however at the end of the day the best young kids have to eventually move away to other clubs if they want to play NPL level, Maitland being promoted would help them retain their best local talent.

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Not having ties to either Maitland or Adamstown myself, that was the biggest reason I had hoped Maitland would gain promotion last season. The entire area is crying for an increased youth level and inner Newcastle simply did not need yet another team in the NBN league.

Maitland in NBN now, as is, I think prob bottom 4 but not bottom 2. With the opportunity to retain and recruit, that would be an interesting question depending on who out of current squad wanted to commit to that level and who they could entice to come across. First season in NBN competitive without nearing semi finals... second season in I think mid table would be a reasonable expectation.

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Originally Posted by Let the bells ring blue

I'm only new to this forum business so crucify if you must but I believe this is a place for opinions and this is only my opinion and experience.

I've spent a lot of time watching football and I've been lucky enough to see games of both Maitland and Adamstown in recent years, seen how they've carried themselves and IN MY OPINION Maitland made the wrong choice in coach this season.

Watching that bloke blow his stack last year in the 23s for Adamstown particularly in the semi final they lost at West Wallsend suggests he isn't a professional and overhearing half time talks suggests he can't manage players at times either. Even the way he presented in this seasons game v West Wallsend in the players warm up gear suggests he doesn't really get the club and their culture because all the other coaches on the day and in years past have been immaculately presented, it seems he's there for him and that's not what you want as a head coach.
As for the striker at Maitland watching him last year for Adamstown I thought the lad was very good, but it sounds like he hasn't found his feet at the new club and maybe because the man who bought him to the club is struggling as well?

It's a rebuilding year for West Wallsend and there's been some hard times but I think myself lucky we haven't made a disastrous choice in coach.

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They didn't lose the 23s semi at wallsends it was a nil all draw with Belmont.

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Originally Posted by Imyourhero

I think a big barrier maitland have struggled with is maintaining form for the entire season. Dropping points to teams way down the ladder and letting good leads slip in important games has cost them in the past.

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They seem to be going OK at the moment. Don't really see what all the fuss is about. It would be different if they had lost 3 or 4 games. Time will tell though.

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Originally Posted by The General

They seem to be going OK at the moment. Don't really see what all the fuss is about. It would be different if they had lost 3 or 4 games. Time will tell though.

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Absolutely, my point was that they often go the first round undefeated. They did it last year from memory then dropped easy points against teams like thornton and gave up leads to lose games in a crucial matches against Atown etc. That's football though and why we all love it. I hope they can go undefeated all season to send a message.

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Originally Posted by The General

They seem to be going OK at the moment. Don't really see what all the fuss is about. It would be different if they had lost 3 or 4 games. Time will tell though.

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What everyone is 'fussing about' is that no one wants to see a quality team like Maitland not get promoted and that there are weak links (coach, striker etc) that will cause points to be dropped and cause a repeat of too many times in previous years. Once they are resolved, Maitland will not be under so much pressure.

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Originally Posted by Winner1

What everyone is 'fussing about' is that no one wants to see a quality team like Maitland not get promoted and that there are weak links (coach, striker etc) that will cause points to be dropped and cause a repeat of too many times in previous years. Once they are resolved, Maitland will not be under so much pressure.

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What is wrong with their coach? He hasn't lost a game there yet! Are the players unhappy? I think Roger is a decent player and will eventually find his feet. I still think Valentine are a quality side. Cant see why Maitland deserve to be in the NPL more than them. Maitland are a good club no doubt. If they deserve to be there, they will win it this year.

If they can keep from dropping points midseason they will be in the 2nd division for a while longer i will agree.

Now a question about the other end of the table. Surely if Singleton are not competitive again this year and finish last they should be relegated. I do understand there is a criteria to meet for ZPL teams. And it's two different association but surely something can be done as a more overall competitive comp is far more important then meeting all the criteria in the first year in comp. I would believe some ZPL teams have excellent grounds already.

Surely one of the top ZPL clubs has as good as facilities as the likes of singo?

I would think so I'm not to familiar with all the ZPL home grounds tho. And I believe one of the top ZPL teams would have no problem competing in this comp.

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Originally Posted by onlooker

I would think so I'm not to familiar with all the ZPL home grounds tho. And I believe one of the top ZPL teams would have no problem competing in this comp.

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If you look at the clubs in ZPL and their grounds:

Barnsley - not a fenced ground.
Cooks Hill - may have a fence but well, I think everyone who has seen Newcastle Athletics would agree current clubs do not want to be dropping down field standards that far.
New Lambton - again, not a fenced ground.
University - not a fenced ground.
Dudley - I don't believe its fenced (but it has been many years since I was there)
Swansea - not a fenced ground
Wallsend - surface aside because I havent seen it this season, Northern informed them when they were dropped from NewFM one issue was they play on a private owned surface with no long term lease.
Mayfield - possibly come closest but then begin to fall over on seating/covered seating quickly
Kahibah - same as Barnsley and Swansea
Cardiff - might actually come closest to qualifying at present.

And I used the fenced in grounds because it is one of the most basic criteria for NewFM currently not to try and simply rule clubs out.

And thats before the other facilities issues are addressed. Uni does not have public toilets for example, Swansea due to layout would need to fence entire Oval area and has little seating and no covered seating. Barnsley is in a similar position to Swansea due to its layout, Cooks Hill is simply sub standard as a playing surface and while the demountables are an improvement is there a definite long term plan with NCC for the permanent improvements considering their financial issues.

I would love to see NewFM return to ten teams, now how you do that (reduce NBN or increase NewFM is an argument for the current clubs to have with Northern at season end) but with facilities as they are it is hard to promote clubs.

What I would dearly love to see if those ZPL clubs with their Associations coming up with 3-5 years plans to get closer to whatever NewFm standards are to be.

An expanded NewFm with say a Cooks Hill and Uni, is about as good a geographic cover as anyone could hope for (or if father xmas is very generous a promoted Maitland and a demoted Adamstown).

Upper Hunter guys then have Singo, Cessnock to choose from. Lower Hunter would still have Cessnock and Thornton. Western Lake Mac has Toronto and Westy, Eastern side Belmont and Valo and slot in two city/suburban based sides and players have a choice of clubs without needing to travel too far.

And after that miracle has been performed everyone will be invited to see Northerns Board walk on water at Nobbys

Here's a question then, with standards not really that far out of reach if funding was able to be found, would these clubs even WANT to be promoted?

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Originally Posted by curious_fan

Uni does not have public toilets for example

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We have male, female and disabled public toilets mate. Unfortunately we don't meet a few other criteria.

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Originally Posted by Imyourhero

Here's a question then, with standards not really that far out of reach if funding was able to be found, would these clubs even WANT to be promoted?

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Wallsend - yes, lol there is still quite a bit of animosity with some at the club that they were ever dropped.

Uni - speaking with a few of their committee about just this topic pre season they are pretty much resigned that they will never be promoted because of the facilities. They have approached the Uni many times but never any success on improvements. So at this stage I would say no.

Wallsend and Uni are in a tougher situation that they are so little chances for improvements, being privately owned they do not qualify for any government grants to assist and the Greyhound track themselves are somewhat hindered in that any government tied capital exp has to be directed to improving the facilities for greyhound racing not other uses.

Cooks Hill & New Lambton I think would be two of the keenest. And Barnsley and Swansea probably the two at the other extreme end of the scale with little interest because of the proximity to clubs already there and the immense changes required for each of them.

Mayfield & Dudley dont forget were there in previous times when it was called 2nd Division, I don't know what position they are in but I am sure if it was ground ready they would consider it.

The others wouldnt even guess at.

Really wish facilities and all that didn't matter, just need teams to compete across 3 grades regularly!!

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Originally Posted by Imyourhero

Here's a question then, with standards not really that far out of reach if funding was able to be found, would these clubs even WANT to be promoted?

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some wouldn't want to. Just to have stupid age restrictions and to play in a sub standard comp?

Some of these clubs have the same players year in and year out because there is no age restrictions crap therefore good loyal players aren't getting cut because of age .Therefore there is a nice club atmosphere with good 'club men ' present.

Zpl is a closely fought out comp with all teams in with a chance. They would the leave all the bottom Newfm teams for dead. Nbn is a clear first division. But people won't be calling Newfm 2nd division football for much longer. It's a joke.

Scrap The criteria crap seriously. All that needs to be up to standard is the football pitch. Who gives a shit about anything else! fences? who cares. seating? take a blanket sit on the ground ffs! dressing shed standards? who cares! Not a bunch of princesses.

Promotion and religation from zl3 up to nbn. Year in year out. Scrap the age crap. And you could go out and watch Nbn and actually watch 3 grades of the best players in Newcastle play. Wouldn't that be nice! Kids earn your nbn/ newfm spots! And if your a 35 year old good enough to be knocking around in Nbn reserve grade good on ya! If a 18 year old 'rising star' cant take your spot he's going to be nothing anyway.

Good call fresh

Fresh if you want to run for the top job in local football you have my vote. Agree with everything you have just said.

A great post Fresh, I agree totally. The age thing was the worst thing that happened in the New FM league. I understand the need for youth development but I don't think there needs to be restriction. You will find that the best players in the 23's squads are over 23 and from experience teams have had to drop overage players because of the restrictions. Promotion and relegation should happen in all leagues every year no matter what the standards of the facilities. It's great to play on quality pitches and sit in a huge dressing room but at the end of the day you have to be the most consistent team and beat everyone to win the comp? Relegation is terrible and promotion is wonderful and every team should have the opportunity to experience it.

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Originally Posted by onlooker

Fresh if you want to run for the top job in local football you have my vote. Agree with everything you have just said.

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Haha I'd take it mate would love the job! Im sure the spelling/ grammer police of this forum would have something to say about that !

I'm not even soccer (football) mad . Never been my favorite sport or anything.

I just cant believe how much of a joke everything is and how simple things really need to be. Instead they over complicate it all with shit grounds criteria, shit age restrictions, shit point systems and we end up with Newcastle football. Where the best teams are not in the best comps because they may not own a fence or have a dressing shed 1 metre to small etc etc.
And the best players aren't all in the best leagues because once your ****ing older than 22/23 in this town your considered 'over the hill' and you should **** off to your retirement home and out of top level football.

An up and coming Nbn player of say 18 years of age, Is going to learn more in a 'real nbn reserve grade' copiled of the best players that cant quite make firsts( or dropped from firsts due to getting older) from all around Newcastle . Rather then being in with a bunch of 22 year olds without the football knowledge some of those older blokes would possess. Not to mention the younger blokes actually good enough to make the cut without being given the spot just because there young would be playing against more manly frames which is better for the transition, After all isn't this all about trying to develop youths into professionals? Cant still be babying them against other youngens at 22!

And when kids ( wont name names) do everything they can in the junior jets system and still cant get a look into the main team.with the jets opting for overseas has bins and people that can't get a run on start in there own country. What chance do these kids taking up age restricted places in Newfm really have of getting anywere? Considering there's already at least 100 kids just in there age group just in Newcastle ahead of them! Almost slim to none!

there's my drunk 2.43 am rant. Goodnight people!

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Originally Posted by fresh

Scrap The criteria crap seriously. All that needs to be up to standard is the football pitch. Who gives a shit about anything else! fences? who cares. seating? take a blanket sit on the ground ffs! dressing shed standards? who cares! Not a bunch of princesses.

Promotion and religation from zl3 up to nbn. Year in year out. Scrap the age crap. And you could go out and watch Nbn and actually watch 3 grades of the best players in Newcastle play. Wouldn't that be nice! Kids earn your nbn/ newfm spots! And if your a 35 year old good enough to be knocking around in Nbn reserve grade good on ya! If a 18 year old 'rising star' cant take your spot he's going to be nothing anyway.

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For those of us old enough to remember thats what we used to have in the days when Northern looked after 1st Div to 5th Div and competitions like All Age and 035 didn't exist.

And I don't think many would argue things have improved since those days, on and off the field. If there is not criteria to progress then clubs won't work for improved facilities, better administration etc.

On of the better examples I remember happened to West Wallsend..... regulated because their amenities at the time were not good enough for what we call NBN. That was the reason.

Now that got the club motivated, they improved via grants and LMCC etc and have a decent club house nowdays and won promotion again. But they had had decades to do that work prior but never did until the criteria forced it upon them. Ask the poor guys in ZL3 who have to travel to play RAAF with no dressing sheds, no amenities, no canteen, or the Uni boys in ZPL who have to fully empty the dressing sheds after changing because the dressing sheds double as the public toilets if things are all about the playing surface.

The criteria should never be (and isn't) the be all and end all but it is important in improving our clubs and our competitions. What gets forgotten is that participating clubs agreed to the age brackets in the competitions.

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Originally Posted by curious_fan

the Uni boys in ZPL who have to fully empty the dressing sheds after changing because the dressing sheds double as the public toilets if things are all about the playing surface.

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That is the second time you've has said we don't have toilets at the uni........Next time you are at the ground mate have a look. we have male, female and disabled toilets. These toilets are separate to the change sheds....

Just for those people interested in Maitlands slipups here&there..

Just saw on facebook a few Maitland boys (inc one of the "high profile" names mentioned on this forum) say they were going to Splendour in the Grass festival in July - the same weekend as their game vs Valentine.

Thought that would interest a few of you.

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Originally Posted by curious_fan

For those of us old enough to remember thats what we used to have in the days when Northern looked after 1st Div to 5th Div and competitions like All Age and 035 didn't exist.

And I don't think many would argue things have improved since those days, on and off the field. If there is not criteria to progress then clubs won't work for improved facilities, better administration etc.

On of the better examples I remember happened to West Wallsend..... regulated because their amenities at the time were not good enough for what we call NBN. That was the reason.

Now that got the club motivated, they improved via grants and LMCC etc and have a decent club house nowdays and won promotion again. But they had had decades to do that work prior but never did until the criteria forced it upon them. Ask the poor guys in ZL3 who have to travel to play RAAF with no dressing sheds, no amenities, no canteen, or the Uni boys in ZPL who have to fully empty the dressing sheds after changing because the dressing sheds double as the public toilets if things are all about the playing surface.

The criteria should never be (and isn't) the be all and end all but it is important in improving our clubs and our competitions. What gets forgotten is that participating clubs agreed to the age brackets in the competitions.

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Agree.

I agree with the suggestions of a "reserves" style team included in the comp. But essentially thats what the U/22s is now (with their overage player allowances).
The problem now is that clubs are restricted in the Clubmen they are able to retain. The players I speak of are those that are physically not really capable of competing well in First Grade, but have more football brains than half of them. There's a lot to be said for youth players, playing with those more experienced heads. As far as NBN goes, maybe a reshuffling of fixtures. (imo, there are already too many "comps" and club committees and volunteers are being made work very hard now, usually having to commit to 2 full days of football).

Wouldn't mind seeing 16s, 20s and First grade one day, and 14s, 19s and Reserves another day. 19s can play their game and if needed get some "senior" experience playing in reserves if needed. Sure, the point of "if you're good enough, you'll make it regardless" still stands, but we are looking to develop the players.

I think the ages are needed in NBN/NPL, to be on par with other National competitions/International tournaments. As a result a general direction of these ages, should be passed down the line, obviously getting more flexible the lower the division. This is needed for promotion/relegation purposes.

As an additional point, I think that quite a few players playing first team in lower divisions could make it in the NPL, but other commitments like work or family get in the way. Not everyone can afford the time to train 2-3 times a week and dedicate half your weekend to football.

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Originally Posted by pv4

Just for those people interested in Maitlands slipups here&there..

Just saw on facebook a few Maitland boys (inc one of the "high profile" names mentioned on this forum) say they were going to Splendour in the Grass festival in July - the same weekend as their game vs Valentine.

Thought that would interest a few of you.

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Heavy rain predicted that week. Probably an early washout.

Maitland boys love their festivals.

Who gives a f**** about a festival thats on every year when you could play in, and win, a football match that could put your team, your club, and particularly Maitland who have been working hard for years, particularly the committee etc, to get promoted in the box seat to clinch it. It's memories like those type of football matches that you remember the rest of your life, not a music festival where you hardly like the bands and are just looking for an excuse to get hammered. We've all talked about what it is about maitland that has seen them fall short countless times, maybe we've found it?

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Originally Posted by Imyourhero

Who gives a f**** about a festival thats on every year when you could play in, and win, a football match that could put your team, your club, and particularly Maitland who have been working hard for years, particularly the committee etc, to get promoted in the box seat to clinch it. It's memories like those type of football matches that you remember the rest of your life, not a music festival where you hardly like the bands and are just looking for an excuse to get hammered. We've all talked about what it is about maitland that has seen them fall short countless times, maybe we've found it?

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It's 19's and the occasional 23 that attend the festival not the 1st graders so you have discovered that this is not the cause of 1st grad dropping points mid season. The ones that do attend don't sit on 1st grade bench so you can't blame a festival. Every team has a flat moment in a season and Maitland just seem to drop points at the worst time possible.

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Originally Posted by fresh

some wouldn't want to. Just to have stupid age restrictions and to play in a sub standard comp?

Some of these clubs have the same players year in and year out because there is no age restrictions crap therefore good loyal players aren't getting cut because of age .Therefore there is a nice club atmosphere with good 'club men ' present.

Zpl is a closely fought out comp with all teams in with a chance. They would the leave all the bottom Newfm teams for dead. Nbn is a clear first division. But people won't be calling Newfm 2nd division football for much longer. It's a joke.

Scrap The criteria crap seriously. All that needs to be up to standard is the football pitch. Who gives a shit about anything else! fences? who cares. seating? take a blanket sit on the ground ffs! dressing shed standards? who cares! Not a bunch of princesses.

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My thoughts as well. I think there should be decent dressing sheds at senior grounds but not at the expense of club being prevented from promotion

I never watch newfm cause the cost to enter is stupid. zpl offers a similar standard.

Hats off to the volunteers who do spend a lot of time helping their clubs. Do Newfm clubs get players to volunteer their time as well?

I have seen many a player for Maitland volunteer their time at working bees and before the start of play on either a Saturday or Sunday getting the sheds prepared and ground setup.
I assume this would be similar at all other clubs.
And i agree hats off to the volunteers, football wouldnt run without their many hrs.