Aegon Jr is new to SAP 9's this year, having read through some of the previous pages I can agree with some of the sentiment expressed but I think a lot of it is out of touch with reality. In the younger age groups there are far too many players for anyone to adequately train everyone at the same level. There isn't enough volunteer coaches or the finances to support it from the top down.

I coached for the last 3 seasons at Jr's previous club in miniroos and at the community club level the biggest challenge is trying to train kids at such varied levels of ability and enthusiasm. Unfortunately the majority of your time has to be spent with kids who need extra help rather than trying to nurture the kids with the most talent. i would love for there to be more resources and more volunteers but there just isn't. So for Jr I decided to try SAP for a year and see where we go from there.
The most noticeable differences so far is that at Jr's SAP club the coaches are well informed, accredited and being mentored directly by a TD. The kids there are all keen and there is already a good grasp of the fundamentals. With several training sessions a week with other good kids and great coaching and 2 games each weekend I can't fault my choice to put Jr into SAP. Agree or Disagree with the concept it is currently the best available option for kids 8yo and above.

With regards to teams, they have only played 1 round so far but it looks like there are 4 clubs with only a single team, plus the Hunter Valley and Lake Macquarie girls also only fielding a single team. I can't confirm what age group the girls teams are but judging by the size difference they are at least Under 10's in the Under 9's. Some of the boys weren't even as tall as the girls shoulders.

I don't know about the other clubs yet but Jr's team have picked two evenly skilled teams not an A & B squad.

I'm hearing rumours that they have only released half the draw as they may split the comp after round 11 into 2 groups to try and balance team abilities and avoid lopsided results.

With regards to finances, after the active kids voucher the fees were $600+, however I was very happy that the club gave a breakdown of the fees to show exactly how much was being allocated from the fees into different areas such as NNSW contribution, grounds, lighting, coaches, TD, insurance, etc, etc. The club gives everyone the option to pay up front or via a payment plan. While it is still expensive it is definitely achievable and not out of reach for everyone as some have previously said here. In 12 Months I'll spend way more than $600 on alcohol, coffee, lunch, etc, so it just takes a bit of tightening of the purse strings in some areas to get the most for your kids.