Interesting topic, especially where we are looking at Big V and SEABL models, one already having a conference format and the other possibly going this way.
I for one don't mind the conferences, but find that they are not always properly structured in their competition. If we go conferences in the Big V we need to look at these issues people have presented to see how a conference structure will be best for the competition.
I know there is a bit of a gap between those SEABL teams at the bottom and looking at a 16 team competition as a whole it could be suggested the talent pool is too thin, but it doesn't necessarily have to be that bad.
We have to accept that not everyone will win and teams will lose,k some badly and some in lots of close games. So, what is the answer, well that will take some effort to properly format the league and also some time to make things work.
I can see how a two tiered (8 team per conference) competition can work for SCM, if we adopt a few policy guidelines to help it work itself out over time.
The number of imports needs looking at.
The amount spent on imports could be looked at.
The number of juniors from that program in the team needs some quantification.
A reasonable limit on court time for imports if a team has two or more could be applied.
These are just some suggestions we could consider and the conferences could easily be divided equally or split by areas to minimise travel, but cross conference games need to be included and a combined SCM title for the two conference winners kind of like SEABL would be awesome IMHO...
In the end, if the Big V and BA really want to make the State league something special, I believe we have the teams to do it, we just need to sit down and be serious about how we do it and of course have the ability to control the things we implement, that could be the hardest thing of all.