Geelong have NBL 1 therefore can not have a Big V team

Camberwell Men will get stomped in D1M, need to be careful who goes up from D2 - Sth Penn obviously and Mildura belong there, outside of that its a raffle.

Why would Shep & Keys go to CM, never made it to the play offs and not only don't they have CW they don't have women, don't deserve the right. lets make promotion one you earn the honour and right to go up.

Keysborough finished 5th

Shepparaton finished 2nd

Rather simple if ask anyone that can read

Camberwell beat Mildura in the semiFinals this year and then lost to Southern Pen in the grand final (although beat them by 30 earlier in the season) and suddenly they aren't up to standard? If you bring back that group with the import they will be more than fine.

Not much difference except earning the right of passage, this is why it is important to stick to the top two earning promotion as you had to play for the right to go up not just compete.

Whittlesea should consider themselves lucky this re-alignment is happening, otherwise it would be another relegation for them.

Lets look at the YL Structure for Men - surely we can bring the two YL1 & 2 together and form a conference set-up.

YL2 is essentially every team from the deep east (mornington, pakenham, WP, Keys)

Making YL 1 & 2 into a conference set-up reduces travel time in a comp where not every kid drives or has a committed parent. You could potentially have a shorter season and longer play-off run instead.

YL Champ works great with the two conference system.


Southern Conf
Mornington
Franktson
WPS
Casey
Chelsea

Metro Conf
Camberwell
Coburg
Warrandyte
Collingwood
Maccabi
Hume City

Western Conf
Werribee
Geelong
Corio
Altona
Melton

Northern
Sunbury
Bendigo
Ballarat
Cragiburn
Whittlesea
Wallan

Less Travel - Better Local Rival Games

Love this structure - would like to see a similar structure put into D1/2 Men.

Thanks - ANON

I think we need to spice up the lower Divisions and YL is a good testing ground for these types of things. My concern with YL1 & 2 is it starts to go the way of the VJBL too many teams/divisions and just becomes glorified domestic comp.

YL in some clubs is made of really local kids (compared to senior teams) who could attract great followings especially when coupled with YLW games as double headers each week.

Div 1 & 2 men would be a good place to see this sort of conference extend the play-off race for a spot in SC

You could go the way of NBL1 with SCM/W and make them have both mens and womens teams that way these clubs are better prepared if they want to make the leap into NBL1 in the future.

I just noticed I left Pakenham out - I would put them in the southern conf

@PersonalFoul, just to be clear the area around Greater Geelong no longer has a Corio Bay Association, not after this season, it will likely be Geelong and Bellarine that compete in the BigV.

But the structure laid out is perfect - you should give Big V a call @PersonalFoul!

Geelong don't have BigV divisional teams. They only have YL. Same as all the NBL1 clubs.

How would allowing more people to play basketball and allowing bigger clubs to bridge the gap between YL and NBL1 level kill of smaller clubs, curious to see the logic here?

Placing limits on Associations and not allowing them to cater for their population growth is surely far worse than giving more players opportunity at a higher level.

The real problem is money and the import payment disparity, which is the likely issue that holds back our game. Get that right and your Association prospers, get that wrong and you go into the red and develop the wrong culture, which takes a long time to fix!

I don't get the view that NBL1 is this elite league with a huge gap from BigV etc.
The difference between the top NBL1 teams and the top SCM teams is probably a couple of players. ie Add a higher quality aussie big to McKinnon and they are super competitive in NBL1.
The roster of gets deep into NBL1 playoffs:
Tomada
Laycock
Williams
Stith
Aussie Big

None of the bigger NBL1 clubs (Nuna, Dandy, Kilsyth etc) could enter a 'reserve' team into BigV and be competitive.

Anon^, maybe you don't get the big picture and how things developed, it's not that Geelong want to do it their way, it's that all the powers in Vic basketball, council, government and everyone involved pushed that one voice for basketball in Geelong (similar to say Bendigo & Ballarat) would benefit growth and opportunity to build a stadium like they have and improve every aspect of development in the biggest regional city in the state.

Many working parts, but the upshot is huge and so the merger begins, but not at the cost of players opportunity, so in such a big area with an established NBL1 and BigV programs there is and of course should be concessions.

Of course it's not all about Geelong, don't patronise me, of course in Melbourne you have Associations close by that compete for the best players, you can't eliminate choice all you can do is offer the best of what your club has to attract talent. The big question there is, what is your club doing to retain its talent?

So, to be clear anon^, I would advocate for all Melbourne Associations that can to enter NBL1 and provide BigV senior and YL if they are able to, because as you have pointed out there are talented players who can choose to play where they want.

The upshot for the smaller clubs is that they can offer more local talent to chance to stay at their club and play BigV if that's where they are at and those of a higher standard can choose to move and play NBL1 if they wish!

We should be offering more opportunity, not less, I will direct you to my other post above about imports and that where this area of financial constraints gets out of hand is the real cause of many problems, not that of local players who should be better treated IMHO...

very interesting!!

Anon^, the rich get richer because they have large stadiums, great programs, offer development and opportunity, so of course they appear to have the money so I am saying use it if you want and be more inclusive. It should be choice, but obviously the BigV and NBL1 have final say.

If the Melbourne market in a specific zone is saturated, fine sort it out, but in Geelong's case like other regional zones there is a need for another BigV program, so be it. Why restrict obvious needs!

Hand shake deals is a stretch, call it what you like, agreements towards common goals are made everywhere, nothing sinister just the ability to grow and consolidate resources I would suggest.

As for the comments about sacking coaches or any other BS you want to go on with, I am not entertaining slanderous remarks today, cheers!

Anon^, you are making my points for me, do you realise I am on your side with most of what you are saying?

Yes, regulate the competition according to what is needed and what is going to create more opportunity but at the same time don't restrict it where it needs expansion and yes budgets are a problem which is why the import situation needs consideration.

Bellarine's example isn't clear, they have a captured market if they want it, why not point at their management and what they have or have not done to foster growth of the game in the area they can control rather than blame kids wanting to play elsewhere...

When I compare what Surfcoast is getting and the way their council is supporting basketball and other sports like soccer compared to that of the Bellarine it is obvious where the issues are!

Anonymous
A few hours ago

The logic is Bear, why would you go play for Casey, Southern Pen etc if you could go play at Frankston, Dandenong etc. with a chance you might get a NBL1 call up. The other side is the NBL1 clubs start dropping players back to win important games in Big V. There is a reason why the league is set up this way. It's not all about Geelong.


each club in NBL1 can only enter 1 team, so that means the likely hood of playing for them is already reduced if you go by available players, you can only have 2 or 3 in each position on a team, so if players are good enough to play at that level they are more likely to be selected, they cant just say thats where I want to go, if they are not up to it, but having other associations even the same association with a BigV team under running their NBL1 program give more opportunities for more players to play at a decent level. The more chances they get to play the better, and if your good enough you can get those spots in the higher level.

I am sure the Northern Football League and others have used a points system regarding players, 10 points for ex-NBL, 8 points for a SEABL/ NBL1 player etc etc like a salary cap in a way.

I think who cares if you can convince ($$$) a player to play a down a level of a great standard to help you get up why not, this has been happening for years in semi-pro sport have a look at non-league soccer in England is famous for clubs getting recently retire league footballers to play of small time clubs.

So, we all agree, the BigV and NBL1 need to cooperate, amend their rules and restrictions to be more flexible while at the same time enhance their operating procedures and be more accountable for the standards and conditions of entry, to ensure not only inclusion and expansion where it is needed but also limit the potential for over saturation where it exists or is likely to!

Great..........

Couple of D1M teams will go to SCM.
Couple of D2M teams will go to D1M.
Possible new team in D2M.

Numbers will then be evened out properly.

Why would Wallan go? Lose first game of finals after being 5th. The only teams that should be going up from d2M are Southern Pen and Camberwell. The clear 1 and 2 from all of last season and the teams that were in the grand final. D1M should be Sunbury and another one or two.

Talk is cheap, anyone can bragged about their roster for a new season but then come season start that roster can be totally different, again unless you make play offs you should not be granted promotion, makes a joke of the system if you can go up without being a team that earnt the right.

Yes, exactly^

Lol, Wallan to D1 is wishful thinking, get in line

To be fair that sentiment probably goes for most D2 teams. You take the import(s) off of the other top teams and they probably don't do much.

Yes! ^^ and applies to Wallan so how they'd move up is confusing

Which Cougar Den?

What's the reasoning behind the elevation to SC ?
From the outside looking in, a couple of good seasons, doesn't mean strong growth and their ability to maintain a SC level team. Do they have local players/Juniors & Money to stay competitive long term ?

If no to money, they'll find it hard to compete. If no on the juniors (the YL2 team seemed to struggle, not sure if there were any stand out players), how are they going to replenish their side year after year ?

This isn't isolated to WP. Same question could be asked most post seasons for teams looking to go up.

Latrobe Energy men and women are GONE!

The committee announced it on fb today - lots of people are shocked and angry.

Any word on which clubs in SCM

Taralgon was always a tough trip in the days, the reality is the CBL needs to continue to get stronger and be a viable comp for these regions in the summer. The cost of entry and requirement is killing country teams along with travel and player availability.

I don't think the Big V is killing country clubs the landscape of basketball just isn't helping them.

Be great to see the CBL get bigger and stronger

Really sad for the Latrobe region, The League won't really give a damn that a Country Association has run into trouble like this though.

When La Trobe Energy first began it was replacing Tbirds with the move to BigV away from VBL
La trove city pacers men's team was their "flagship" and La Trobe City council poured plenty of money into it but it all went on the one import Weaver
It was supposed to incorporate ALL Gippsland areas but it was and remained Traralgon just by another name

All other associations were expected to contribute financially but had little to no say , and players were not given opportunities from other towns to play , so the other associations didn’t want to get involved

Nothing much changed over the years and this is the end result
The theory was good, the practice impractical when one club wanted to retain full control