From the Sunday Age
Reported by Brent Diamond
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AFL Victoria chief executive Peter Schwab says a rise in AFL list numbers could turn the Victorian Football League into a reserves competition for the elite league.
Schwab is unhappy that the VFL, which is increasingly tagged as "AFL reserves", is battling a credibility problem, and that it could lose several of its traditional emblems if teams continue to introduce stand-alone clubs and cease alignments.
It is understood some AFL teams — including the two who have already gone stand-alone in the VFL, Geelong and Collingwood — are pushing for an increase in the size of lists and that with the imminent entry of Gold Coast and west Sydney, the AFL is prepared to listen.
Schwab said he expected more AFL teams to enter a stand-alone club if the current list size of 46 was to expand.
"The AFL is aware on our position on that," Schwab said.
"We said we know we can't control the size of AFL lists but if they do increase they do have the potential to cause some problems for us.Even on the current list size, we find it's difficult sometimes to satisfy the needs of the AFL club and their aligned partner.
I guess they're (AFL clubs) always pushing for spots on the senior side. We try to make sure that we see development of VFL players coming through the system. Any increase of an AFL list is always going to put pressure on an aligned club."
The Magpies followed Geelong's lead at the end of the 2007 to enter a stand-alone team.
Magpies football manager Geoff Walsh said the club wanted to ensure it had full control over the development of its players.
"With an alignment, you can only get a certain amount of players into a senior team," Walsh said.
Most AFL clubs have employed their aligned VFL coach as an assistant coach, which enables teams to have more power of placing players in favoured positions and fast-tracking development.
"Additional AFL stand-alone teams in the VFL would mean the competition is more likely to be seen as the AFL reserves and this creates a credibility issue for the VFL — a problem we are already battling," Schwab said.
