sturt ?

LOL !

maybe refer to associations - not individual clubs in teh country

most relate to population - bigger associations = better teams

lincoln - is improving - but not much of a scene

whyalla - can be really good or bad

augusta - usually very good

pirie - like ausgusta - pretty good - few kids play in adel

yorke valley - very good for populus

southern yorke - really good or non existant - on a quiet patch at present

adelaide plains - all is quiet - have provided good players previously

mid north / clare - not much of a scene

barossa - usually supply very good players - close enough to adel

bridge - most go to mavericks

bordertown - nnot much of a scene

naracoorte - depends

millicent - usually very good for populus

mt gambier - always have good teams

riverland - since all the associations combined - they are right up there

mildura - always very good

broken hill - sometimes quite good - other times mickey mouse

been around - IMO only

im nt sturt bashn i just wanna no if any country teams compare to any city teams.gees get over it

i dnt play club anymore m8 ive only heard stuf

the average country association representative player senior / junior will be div 3-4-5 metro standard

better players are div 2 standard

probably the top 5-10% max would be div 1 standard

one key point is depth - in a country team you may get 2-3 really good players with not much after that

Thing is though most if not all of these Div 1 level country players also play district. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't all the U18 Murray Bridge team play Mavs Div 1 & 2?

Hey oracle,
Whats IMO.
Are you presently involved with Country, I mean you sound like you have been around the Country Champs to see what is going on.

IMO
in my opinion

seen a few senior and junior country champs

there is no way any single country association could feild a competitive (ie top 4) Div 1 side

combined regional / associations - yes - ie lime stoned coasters

anon - I am glad you know the reason why ever country player "plays for fun - not for their parents"

that is why they feverishly hit the court ready to take it out against rival associations and parents drive their kids 100s of KMs - fun or ambitious vision ?

yes there are stand outs - dodman, bishop, langfords, seebum, sporn etc

one point for discussion worth raising here is - how much longer are we going to consider mt barker and willunga country association teams / areas

back in 1960 fair enough - but nowdays they are metropolitan areas

oracle,

im head coach for whyalla and i think you obviously have a fair idea on the topic, as i agree with most of what you have posted. We entered our under 14 girls into state champs and got a touch up by city teams. we have a very talented group in that age group but were probably a bit naive to think we would do rally well. The main reason for this is that the country teams do not play together week in week out and do not get the exposure to playing high intensity, highly skilled gamed week in week out. But you just need to look at the starting line ups and star players in 14s, 16s and 18s in the district sides (girls anyway, im not up with the boys comp) and most of them come from the country. Besides the fact that the 16s and 18s (girls) country sides are probably better than metro and IMO if there was a !$s side they would be too. There is some good work being done in all associations in the country and producing quality players. By the way good luck to ALL SA teams in ballarat and adelaide this year. Go SA Country 18 girls!!!

thanks whyalla

sorry i left marino off the stand out list

very fair assessment

Q at what stage does country stop claiming a junior boarding in adelaide?

whyalla does a good job - considering the distance and commitment - to compete with fringe country associations (mt barker, barossa, victor, bridge) that get the opportunity for that competitive game more often - you guys do well

I would also like to mention roxby and streaky bay - who been getting involved in the less competitive grades


Q - why don't we get an iron triangle team in the state champs - they would rock and could easily play Div 1 - lime stone coasters did it and it is working for them?

Oracle,

I believe country kids remain country as long as their residential address is still in the country. Since many parents of boarders may still live country, they are country as they have not moved to metro. (I may be wrong, but believe this is the case).

who in the abl currently is from any of these areas oracle?

Just in the guys -

North
Shannon Hoffman - not sure, perhaps Barossa?
Michael Zorich - Murray Bridge (i think
Bronson Kies - Barossa
Jordie Kies - Barossa

Centrals
Jarod Palmer - Barossa

Eastern
Jacob Holmes - Eastern Hills
Ben Madgen - Barossa
Brad Hill - Eastern Hills
Brad Bungey - Barossa
Steve Williams - Broken Hill
Brad Davis - Eastern Hills

Southern
Joel Goodenough - Strath/Eastern Hills
Shane Boal - Willunga
Luke Schensher (not aba, NBA) - Willunga

Sturt
Jordan Dodman - Pt Augusta

Woodville
Lyall Gillet - Pt Augusta (i think)

that's off the top of my head, there may be more!

that bald guy at sturt was in the riverland - palmer

its becoming more and more difficut for country teams to compete in the main stearm comp. Example beeing here in Victoria 'VC' the best leauge has 1 country team playing in it and 19 metro teams and that country team is Cario Bay Stingrays and thats about 110 Km south west of melbounre so for then every second week there in the card for a couple of hours.

so much good country teams going around but too far to travel.

Interesting fact i was at Latrobe and there was a bendingo team there and they flew there which is about 650 km distance so they opted to fly.

Take Aaron Bruce for exapmple for horsham(good luck in div 2 Boys) played for Eltham and from what i understand he would travel to Melboune every friday night play the game and sleep in melb until sunday morning training and after that he would go back home

Very intersting topic

Yeah Barossa!!!!