Why don't the Dudley clubs join forcesOriginally Posted by anfield
Why don't the Dudley clubs join forces
And a pub a stones throw away I believe. This ground could potentially be the greatest in Zone League football
700 metres to the pub with a bottle shop in between, can’t ask for much more
It would be one strong club, probably both have different interests. The senior club is well placed to go back to new fm league if they applied.
If I have missed anyone please correct me but with the mention of new clubs could we get a potential list of clubs across ZL2 & ZL3.
2019 could look like
ZL2
Morisset
Simba
Kahibah
Mereweather
Nelson Bay
Charlestown
Olympic
Bolwarra
Matiland Snrs
Westy
ZL3
Matiland Jnrs
Medowie
Redhead
Minmi
Lochinvar
Greta
Shorthand
Tilligerry
Southy
Edit: Maybe even a return of Muswellbrook
Edit: Lets see how much this might change from now until April.
ZPL:
Suns
Kotora
Mayfield
Dudley
Swansea
Cardiff
Warnersbay
Barnsley
Bero
Raymond Terrace
ZL1
Jesmond
Cooks Hill
Stockton
Azzurri
Garden Suburb
Westlakes
Uni
Wallsend
Maryland
New Lambton
Last edited by Premy; 11-09-2018 at 06:50 PM.
Well that’s it I’m sold
How good would this be if all teams listed played, and stayed consistent. 39/40 teams over 4 comps. And make ZPL the pinnacle which it is for majority of the teams competing in this comp.
Totally agree, the zone league competition needs some stability. It would be great if all clubs that joined had a plan to compete in the competition for at least 3 years. Over the last few years too many clubs have come and gone. It would be great if the zone league had 40 teams each year.
In this case its important that we encourage more player's to play zone league football rather then all age. The zone league needs more committed clubs where players keeping coming back each year despite season's results.
There needs to be more time incentives from the powers that be, to encourage clubs with high number of all age teams to make the jump. Then that will help the clubs encourage the players to do so.
Being a coach of a team at a club with no Zone League team is frustrating. Kids with talent who want to stay at the club because that’s the only club they have played at are forced to settle for all age. And it’s hard to leave a club you have grown up playing at.
I think there is some incentives to play zone league. For starters, we played 20 regular season games this year, all age play far less.
Every zone league game was covered with at least 2 officials this year, all age football is struggling with officials. Zone League football is alot more organised then all age football as well.
Nominations open today for clubs to enter Zone League.
Interesting to see who actually nominates from all the rumoured teams.
The goal has got to be to retain all existing zone league clubs plus add 3 new clubs to make both zl2 and zl3 8 team competitions. Anymore then that is a bonus.
Either Charlestown stays in zl2 or push up Maitland.
Obviously it looks like Minmi is a certainty, that would mean a minimum of two other new clubs being found. Look very positive.
Would be great if a lot of the clubs that are thinking about entering the ZL competition have some kind of plan.
For example, I know that Greta-Branxton have been working on a 3 year plan with their AA and Junior teams working towards nominating for ZL in 2019.
They focused on what development they needed to achieve as a club, what numbers they would need, and how to maintain it going forward. The results of which are clearly evident in their Junior numbers and results over the last few years.
More clubs need to think along these lines and embrace the ZL competition for what it should be. An amazing pathway for Juniors into competitive Senior football.
N.B. The return of Muswellbrook for 2019 seems unlikely. We're working on numbers and strength before we even consider it. We simply can't afford to have it go down the same way it did at the start of this season.
Very good points made here. I think every reasonably sized club should have a zone league element. That gives the juniors a pathway apart from all age football.
I think you raised some good points which should bring greta some success next year. I know our club Dudley did it a little different, we did our homework and watched a couple of games the year before to see the playing standard and how it all works. The first year was all about getting a squad of 30 players on the park to get us established.
We went into the competition with the mindset the no matter the results we wanted to be around for the long term. This is a mistake other clubs have made.
The first year our results were poor, but the morale was very good. The second year we learned from our mistakes and recruited some good players and our results were good.
After 5 years now in zl3 it's time to really push next year. We have had decent turnover of players each year which has made it extremely difficult to set up a strong squad. We are hoping next year will be different with our under 18's pushing into our zone league squad. We are extremely excited with what that will bring next year.
Hear hear!
As you would know though, good players get poached to higher levels, across both All Age players to higher ZPL, or Juniors to NewFM/NPL.
There are Junior clubs around promoting the pathway for their junior players to have a taste of senior football, but when they're then leaving the club for 'greener pastures'... it's hard to keep momentum.
There is great chat about new clubs nominating, and hopefully they'll be here to stay. 2019 will be a great season for rebuilding the competitions. Let's just not be stuck in the same situation where we have 12 clubs nominated for ZFL3, and end up with a lot of them pulling out.
How does the assoc. help get the clubs knowing how to pick/retain players in the off-season? and not get poached by other clubs before season starts?
On the other side jumping into AA with mates, win most games, no nagging arrogant coaches or politics in selection, pissup all weekend including at halftime, half train, pinch some plasticware for bigger pissups. Can probably do this in 3rds I guess.
Have seen both Branxton and Tilligerry post about coaches for their Zone league team for next season in recent weeks. So there’s two clubs who seem committed in joining and are acting now.
Good luck getting refs to either of those locations.
Mayfield Jnrs looking to come back in next season as well.
That's great news for the competition, It appears there will be 4 new clubs they being Minmi, Mayfield juniors, Greta Branxton and Tilligerry. One more club would be ideal to make 18 clubs for the bottom two leagues. Probably 10 and 8 for zl2 and zl3 respectively.
Greta and Minmi were both 2 of the top teams out of all age A. So both will bring quality straight up and be contenders in what appears a very open division with no bolwarra.
Hopefully more referees also make the step up into zone league football. Every zone league match was covered with referees last season, a great result for all.
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