FFSA Shame -WNPL Competition Relegation

[sportsbird]

The FFSA Women's Administration Department should be ashamed of themselves and should be either removed to another dept. or their services terminated. The competition is a joke and a shamble. The relegation process is a total disaster. Not working.
There are only 6 teams that are competitive and look great for the the future.
When is the FFSA going to realise that SA do not have the population to improve the WNPL by this process.
For example, approx. 9 players from Para Hills Knight crossed over to Salisbury Inter. Those players were part of PHK club that was relegated in 2016.
Hate to see where those same players go next year if Inter is relegated. The only thing that happened here is, Peter was robbed to pay Paul.
I feel for Campbelltown as they look extremely helpless and should be removed from the competition ASAP to avoid further embarrassment.
This is not a good look for the competition and for the club. Campbelltown should also be accountable for poor recruiting if any and accepting a licence to enter the WNPL when they weren't ready. They knew they were losing Alex Chidiak and failed to recruit heavily to cover Alex and to improve the team.
The biggest decision that was poorly made at Campbelltown was to recruit MJ who has been in poor form and is only available when she is not playing for Norwood Football Club. Love to know who the recruiting officer is and who accepted it.
Unfortunately, Campbelltown will definitely be relegated back to the State League next year.
Finally, the FFSA admin have neglected in their duties and ignored their responsibility to ensure the two clubs promoted were able to meet the standards required to be competitive in the WNPL.
When will the FFSA be serious about the women's Football. No wonder our young future elite players are heading east and overseas.
My first recommendation to improve the WNPL is to remove the personnel who are in charge of the FFSA women's competition. They have been involved in the game too long and have achieved absolutely nothing to improve the quality of the competition and clubs.
They have been a disgrace and have made very poor decisions for the future of the WNPL.
I do agree with a comment made in the forum, that it should be a six team competition. This would ensure all clubs have 16 quality players on the field. This would also assist in ensuring that there is less skill full players just making up the numbers.
The FFSA should then remove the relegation process until the State League is healthy and competitive and also meets the same criteria as the WNPL.
The successful clubs should have more say in the running of the competition including the rules and policies.
But I won't hold my breath.
By the way the AFL Women's Football has been a success so far while we are losing our players to that sport. Shame.
All WNPL Clubs need to make a collective decision and force players to decide which sport they would prefer to play.
Other codes do not allow that to happen at their senior level. It is affecting our competition.

[billy the kid]

Sportsbird
In particular, relegation and promotion. The league cannot sustain such a thing and should be scrapped or at the very least allow the promoted team 2 years to develop…Is prems the place for this to occur? That’s the issue.

To avoid situation like Campbelltown where the season will only getting harder as the players lose heart and fail to sustain the energy and stamina against hardened outfits. The score line flattered Hellas. Most of the goals were conceded in the 2nd half ) from the FFSA website) and by that time Campbelltown were stuffed an could not mount a defence. 5-0 was probably about right. The Salisbury really concerned me because I thought they handled the promotion to prems well and although they robbed Paul to Pay Peter, their game looked solid.

Again the 7-0 result has raised questions about the defence and ability (3 games in!!!) if they are able to keep up the physical side of the game against seasoned prems teams. It will only get tougher. For me, I would have left PHK and Sturt in the prems. As far as the admin goes there are two issues, one is the relegation promotion issue and the other is about the admin of the game over the years.

If Salisbury and Campbelltown came in and really took it up to the comp then it would be a stroke of genius. Hadn’t happened an no one could predict one way or the other. I’m lost for ideas about what needs to be done. Salisbury and Campbelltown earned the right under the rules to be promoted. Let’s hope the results start to get a tad more friendly for those two teams otherwise it may be a year remembered for the wrong reasons.

[sportsbird]

Did anyone happen to notice the results in the State League. Adelaide Comets vs Croydon Kings.
Comets 14 Kings 0
This is a very disappointing result, not only for the Croydon Kings Club, but for the competition as a whole.
Is Adelaide Comets that good or is it the Croydon Kings that bad.
How is it that Croydon Kings entered the State League? Why weren't they placed in the division comp.
What criteria did Kings have that were better than the Division 1 or 2 sides etc.
Well it looks like another FFSA blunder. Surely this is incompetent from the FFSA Women's Dept.
How much longer can the women's competition endure bad decisions.
Again, I re-iterate that the FFSA needs to change the management in the women's dept.

[billy the kid]

Sportsbird a lot of the criticism must be levelled at Campbelltown. They’ve been in prems once before (??) and a part of a bigger unit out there so to go in as they have is inexcusable. What were they thinking?

Even if Alex was available she WOULD NEVER be able to single handed make up for 10 others on the pitch. Alex WILL never suit up (sadly) for any WNPL team in SA.

Hopefully Salisbury under Santrac can regroup and make a fist of it. It’s been a down ward spiral for them since game 1 where I saw a decent Inter account for Campbelltown

[nathanburns15]

MJ just making friends all over the place

[themagnet]

Sportsbird a lot of the criticism must be levelled at Campbelltown. They’ve been in prems once before (??) and a part of a bigger unit out there so to go in as they have is inexcusable. What were they thinking?

Even if Alex was available she WOULD NEVER be able to single handed make up for 10 others on the pitch. Alex WILL never suit up (sadly) for any WNPL team in SA.

Hopefully Salisbury under Santrac can regroup and make a fist of it. It’s been a down ward spiral for them since game 1 where I saw a decent Inter account for Campbelltown

I think we need to remember that Campbelltown found out about their promotion quite late. Most other clubs had completed their trials and started pre season training before the decision had been made to give Campbelltown the final Prems spot. Attracting prems quality players at that stage would have been near impossible.

[Princess Fiona]

I dont understand the critcism of Salisbury.
They have earned the right to go up after winning the state league.
Salisbury have recruited arguable the best coach in the whole league, plus top quality goalkeeper and had 2 wins from 3 rounds.
Cumberland last year by this round had 2 wins, this year no wins, at this stage Salisbury performing better than Cumberland
Who ever agreed to going up at Campbelltown was crazy, maybe with Chidiac they might have been competitive but once she was gone they should have have considered withdrawing. -19 goal difference after 3 rounds with City, Metro & Uni still to come.
Good for cumby they might get a win :wink:

As far as Croydon goes I hope their 'experienced' players whoever they are come in and make a huge difference, they'll need to.

[Dandylion]

I must say, the overall quality of the games have been really really disappointing this year so far, we've reverted back to kick and run football

[billy the kid]

I possibly don't agree. Why? I've seen Salisbury and Campbelltown and Hellas and Fulham and Metro and Cumby (not seen City or Uni) and I've seen good passages of possession football. Not the long kick and run of the EPL. There has been good skill in moving the ball through defence, midfield and forward.

Earning the right to move up is a significant part (need to finish in the promotion zone) of the equation however, researching, recruiting (players and coaches) and setting up premier league structure is the biggest hurdle. The results this far indicate that Campbelltown have probably done plenty of the structure set up however, the cattle on the park will take time to develop into prems level players. Fitness and endurance will be their biggest hurdle because they get smashed in the second halves. Do they have time to get to the level before season's end? Not this season. Para Hills had good skills however, not enough to win the games required to stay in premier league.

I must say, the overall quality of the games have been really really disappointing this year so far, we've reverted back to kick and run football

[Lucas Leiva]

I must say, the overall quality of the games have been really really disappointing this year so far, we've reverted back to kick and run football

Who are you referring to by "we've", because I have seen Metro, Cumby, West Adelaide, City, Inter and Uni and can't say that I've seen kick and rush football from any of those sides.

The standard of football, as shown last season, grows in the WNPL. I wouldn't judge on anything seen in the first seven rounds.

[BeNatural]

When you say "Women's Administration Department" isnt that just one person?

I think you should be addressing this to the FFSA Board rather than an employee who wouldnt make the major decisions of senior competitions.

[billy the kid]

Struggle? Are you kidding me. The reason for promotion is that they are up to prems standard (almost) and ready to compete. The relegated ones are the ones that HAVE struggled and hence should go down and gain some form. If the teams like Salisbury ad Campbelltown think that all they need to do is come in and hit the ground running then they are in a fools paradise and disrespectful to the existing prems teams. By mid season you know that your team is in the ruining for a promotion...start planning and building towards potential promotion. Not in February or March.

Would you like the promoted teams to win the league then be accused of poaching / paying players?
In reality they should struggle.
No different to any sport when there is promotion and relegation. Of course ideally all teams need to be competitive but it can happen that some sides struggle more than others.

[juniorsupporter]

Billy- two thoughts here- first of all, as Magnet pointed out earlier in this thread, Campbelltown were late to the party in that they were promoted after Sturt folded. By that time all experienced prems players had committed to other clubs. Difficult to recruit in that situation. They will struggle this season, but I think the club was aware of that going in.

Secondly, the quality, experienced players needed for a team to really succeed in the prems are not going to play for a State League team in preparation for promotion. As far as I can tell, Salisbury made a fantastic effort to recruit players who had played in the Prems and wanted to continue doing so, and a quality coach. The club is committed to the success of their promotion. They are better, IMO, than Para Hills was last year. One 7-0 drubbing does not mean that they aren't up to the task.

Has anyone considered that City had a really good game last week, and that most teams in the Prems would have been very challenged?

[Hunter]

I completely understand the reason for the NTC girls being placed in the State League. But surely a 17 - 1 defeat of Stirling does not help football development for either team.

[billy the kid]

The WRONG comp to be in (NTC).

[Rightside]

I believe they are after a WNPL spot so State League is there opportunity to earn one.

[BeNatural]

Another 10-0 score line.

23 goals in 4 matches.

NPLW becoming a bit of a joke. Not good for development.

[Bomber]

Development also means learning how to rise from adversity and improve.

[redwin]

Another 10-0 score line.

23 goals in 4 matches.

NPLW becoming a bit of a joke. Not good for development.

Was at the game and I think the Croydon girls are actually talented and just need some guidance and development. Observing from the side, not sure their coach was offering them much.