Has been done in the past and was a great bball junkie fix on weekends as well as showcasing and developing the talent we have here.

Jump between SEABL and ABL did not seem as great back then either.

Early NBL and later SEABL put some clubs in deep financial doo doo.
I'd exercise caution before launching in to this.
Perhaps it needs to be not club based but BSA (or whoever) based. It should be regarded as a development program and not designed to win titles. The likes of Burden, Ng, Dodman etc would have opportunities to play at a higher level.
36ers should have a stake also as it will be a development path for talented locals who would more naturally aspire to play for the 6ers and so not be lost to interstate (Newley Ingles et al)

Wouldn't you be better attracting Mt Gambier and Mildura into the current competition and building the current competition that way? Mt Gambier because they are an SA team and Mildura because geographically it makes sense?

Also, don't over rate the SEABL. There was a time when it was clearly the second best competition in the land, but that has been heavily diluted now. While it is probably overally still marginally better the Waratah and BigV are vastly improved and the top level of QABL is more than competitive with the SEABL top level.

Surely the better future for everyone financially is to get away from expensive travel leagues in the winter, build strong state leagues and then have a meaningful ABA play-0ff system.

The argument about players stepping up is off the mark. More and more players are stepping up from the other ABA leagues all the time - the only reason it looks like SEABL players are getting more of a run is because the AIS play in the SEABL and the top AIS players are almost always sure things for a run at NBL level. Look at Ingles - Adelaide to AIS (SEABL) and then significant NBL court time in an injury and mishap depleted NBL side. If the AIS wasn't there his logical pathway would have been ABL to NBL....

Not sure if true or not, but I heard Phil Smyth doesn't even go over to national finals to scout for talent for the sixers.

HO, i agree about Mildura. But it would make more sense if the Riverland came back in too and then it would make it worth while for the city teams to play a double header road trip..?

neptuneboy - phil doesn't (well rarely) even go to local comp to scout why would he want to leave the state to scout players

#117141

The national finals are a lottery.

Up until a couple of years ago you expected a SA women's side to battle it out with a SEABL women's side in the final.

Last year the BigV sides were very close to the SEABL sides in the women.

In the men, Cairns won three years ago, Bendigo two years ago (after beating Sandringham on the ultimate flukey buzzer beater in the semi) and then Geelong last year over an awful Dandenong.

You roll the dice at nationals, playing against teams you can't scout, in tournament rather than league conditions and with an amazingly varied standard of officiating as referees are dragged together from all over the country for one weekend.

Yep, the SEABL overall is still the best competition and generally its held that the Central ABL has slipped, but your are better off working to rebuild that than simply try and build three separate budgets of over $180k each to play in the SEABL. You have to throw over 50k at the SEABL before you can even play each season - thats a lot of cash to raise, and then they only cover travel for 10 players.

"It should be regarded as a development program and not designed to win titles."

Surley you jest?

Yes that was bullshit.

I definitely think that we should pull out of the ABL altogether, have a local weekly competition with a "development"/all-star team playing in the ABL SEABL competition, like the Buffaloes of the old days. The SEABL is and always has been a better competiton. Our state league WAS very good in the past when just about every team had 2 imports as well as Sixer players. That's just not the case anymore and our money could be much better spent than what it is now.
Sponsorship of the team will cover a lot of costs.Why not try and push joint sponsorship of the Sixers/Adelaide ABL team??? If teams like Mildura and Mount Gambier can support them i'm sure SA can support an Adelaide team, especially with the push on basketball that will happen with Mal on board.
You could try and link a couple of sixer players, especially younger players in the sixers squad who will gain the benefit with a season in the SEABL.

Of course, all this is premised on the SEABL still being around.

From memory they have lost Mildura, Bankstown, Dandenong, Broadmeadows, Illawarra and Penrith in the last six or so years while picking up a Qld team.

HO you sure do sound like to know a fair bit about the SEABL. Its a shame you are not correct on the financial side, as is alot of basketball fans out there. Yes it does cost all clubs 50k to play in the SEABL , but that cost sends the teams to Brisbane, Canberra, Mt Gambier, and Tasmania. So if you take out the flight costs the SEABL is probably alot cheaper than it is to play in a city based competition like the Central Bank SA State League ABL(hang on what is it called this year, you seem to change it every year). It is entirely up to the clubs themselves as to how much they spend on their teams that play in the SEABL and im not sure where you get the $180K mark, as most of the SEABL teams have two imports and the rest are locally developed juniors that dont get paid.
As for your judgement that the SEABL is over rated, ask the Souther Districts why they moved to the SEABL ?? Southern Districts have been winning the QABL consistenly for the past ten years and needed a BIGGER CHALLENGE, and it seems to me they are getting it, with the womens team currently second bottom on the ladder. The Lady Spartans have won the QABL 10 of the past 11 seasons so it clearly shows the difference between the SEABL and QABL in the women. As for the men, yes the Spartans are the second best team in the SEABL at the moment, but im sure they have enjoyed the challenge of a competitive game each week.
As for the Central teams where have they finished at the ABA Nationals the past five years, i think it may have been seventh or eigthth (out of eight teams) every year.
As for why so many AIS players get a gig in NBL have you ever thought that it could have something to do with the competition that they play in and the fact that they compete against highly talented players each and every week which helps with the development, and so when they make the move to NBL they are not scared and intimadated.
You also say that the Big V and waratah are closing in on the SEABL, and yes you might be correct with that, but i think if the tenth placed team in the SEABL played the tenth placed team in either of those competitions i think it is pretty easy to work out who would win that game. The SEABL depth is by far greater than any other league in the ABA. Each week every SEABL team has to play hard, where as Big V and Waratah and probably Central the top teams are only challenged every second or third week. As for the Big V entrants in the past couple of ABA Finals, Dandenong are a past SEABL team and Hume City are a past SEABL team, so clearly not much depth in the Big V !!

max,

You make some good points about standard.

But you clearly have no idea about cost.

The Central competition would cost clubs no more than $50K (including player and coach payments) for a club to run both teams. So before you even pay any salaries, or court hire, etc, our clubs are saving money by not being in the SEABL.

That is the same reason why a number of Victorian based teams have left the SEABL for the Big V.

HO isnt too far off the mark about the SEABL not being around much longer, while i believe measures are being put into place to ensure a long lasting comp, many teams are not willing to spend the same amount as they once did. Ballarat for instance going with out an import for the first time in many years.