Councillor Don Palmer Providing Local Leadership & Working for You

I made mention in my last post on this blog site about the future of Sturt FC and indeed the future of the SANFL that they need to recognise they are a feeder league now.

For too long the SANFL and their clubs have been beating their chests about being the second best competition in Australia. They must recognise they ARE a feeder league and this does not fit with second best in land mentality.

They need to have a paradigm shift away from 2nd best to feeder and, as I said in my last post, cut their cloth accordingly.

Sturt Club stalwart John Halbert is sure every SANFL club must change its business model to survive.

“Look at the balance sheets – they are living beyond their means,” he said. “There is this fixation to be the second-best competition in the land. The salary cap in the SANFL is too high at $360,000 when compared to the WAFL and VFL.

“The result is we pump money into a scheme the clubs cannot afford, particularly when pokie revenue has declined.

“The argument that we risk losing players to country leagues if we cut the salary cap is ridiculous. If those players want to play in an inferior league, we are not going to be worse off as an SANFL.

“SANFL clubs need to cut their cloth to the level they can afford. Another area is coaches’ salaries – do we need full-time coaches in the SANFL?”

He also calls for an amalgamation with the Crows. Not sure about that but CUTTING YOUR CLOTH IS A MUST.