Crows reserves a chance for youth

A Crows reserves side could be an opportunity for SA's best youngsters, such as 2013 AFL draft hopefuls, from left, Trent Dumont, Luke Dunstan, Matthew Scharenberg, James Aish, Luke Reynolds, Dwayne Wilson and Alex Spina. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: The Advertiser

ADELAIDE believes tapping into the state's best under-18 talent is the key to setting up its reserves team next year.

The AFL club is determined to have its own seconds regardless of whether it is admitted into the SANFL league competition.

The Crows face a hostile vote from the SANFL clubs as they consider a second-string Crows' side poses a threat to the credibility of their premiership race.

This leaves the Crows to consider a compromise, such as having their reserves in the SANFL reserves, or joining the Victorian Football League or the South Australian Amateur Football League.

The Crows maintain they want a direct link to the SANFL rather than a move to another league.

"It would be a shame, because we came from the SANFL," Adelaide football operations manager Phil Harper said.

"And that's where we'd like to play. Hopefully, it's not a closed book."

Adelaide needs to convince the eight independent clubs - the Port Adelaide Magpies no longer vote at the SANFL table - that playing in the SANFL would benefit all SA football.

Talks are in an embryonic state because the SA Football Commission has declared discussions about AFL-run reserves teams will come after negotiations to sell back the AFL licences of Port and the Crows to the AFL Commission.

But Crows chairman Rob Chapman says his club is becoming increasingly advanced in its talks about a reserves set-up.

He adds a range of ideas have been floated, many of them beneficial to the SANFL clubs.

The crux of the problem is that the Crows, when injuries inevitably sideline a few players, will not have enough AFL-listed players to field a second side.

This means they will have to use top-up players.

But the Crows are working through ideas that will help, rather than hurt, SANFL clubs in fast-tracking their juniors and enhancing their prospects for AFL drafting.

The ideas include:

PICKING the top-up players from the initial State under-18 squad, which can run 50-deep, but only selecting those who do not get a senior game with their SANFL club.

INVITING players from each SANFL country zone, young players who are otherwise not exposed to SANFL football.

LIAISING with SANFL clubs and inviting young players who are on the brink of selection for league action, but have narrowly missed out because there were too many players in their position.

Further complicating the scenario is Port Adelaide, which would ideally like to have the SANFL-based Magpies as its reserves.

If the Crows are allowed to play only in the SANFL reserves, it makes it problematic for Port: would they still have the Magpies in the SANFL league series and have their AFL players scattered across the competition? Or would the Power consider dropping the Magpies out of league ranks and have a Power reserves side in the SANFL reserves?

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