Pros

- A single Carlton focus on development without external influences
- Fulltime base at Visy Park creating fulltime Carlton culture for youngsters
- Marketing opportunity to create revenues through use of Visy Park


Cons

- Initial start up costs



I'm a supporter of entering a reserves side in the VFL and hope it happens soon.

Thoughts...

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There's so much I could say...

What are the initial start up costs as this would be the only barrier to doing I would think?

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“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

Wasn't the figure of $200,000 bandied around a couple of years ago?

would love to see it happen, but one con would be getting enough quality players to fill a team. Always used to be difficult towards the end of the old Reserves comp.

Plus, would it see the end of Preston in the VFL?

Didnt we also just sign a 5 year deal with Preston

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

..there definately needs to be a stand alone team, and with all their cashola if the AFL were truely serious there should be a proper reserve comp for the whole league in my opinion.. ..but for us, we really need it, that way our reserve team can solely focus on the development of the youngsters vs win/loss record..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

Would there be 100 Bunnings in Melbourne? Maybe in Victoria there might be.

My footy club did a Bunnings sausage sizzle on the weekend and made $2,000.

Con: getting quality top up players, especially towards the end of the season. The Swans are getting dicked every week in the Canberra comp because they have no decent top ups and too many injured players in their senior group. It means that they can't really focus on development of said senior players because they are too busy trying to not get done by 20 goals.

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The only way for some people to understand is for them to be on the receiving end

Left wing moralists
In self serving denial
They shit me no end

Why can't Preston be Preston in one of the northern leagues.

We can align ouselves and create an association with the northern leagues by drawing top up players from them.

We'd need a primary sponsor (NAB..??) to back us.

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There's so much I could say...

Why would a player in a finals bound metro side want to risk losing his place to go and sit on the bench for the Carlton Reserves for half a game. Start of the year blokes will be keen as beans. After round 12 it will be like a ghost town. It will be the spas blokes who can't get a game in the senior squads for metro league sides.

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The only way for some people to understand is for them to be on the receiving end

Left wing moralists
In self serving denial
They shit me no end

Anyone know what Collingwood's experience has been like? If it works for them there's your model.

I'm sure there'd be good players from teams out of finals contention who'd love the opportunity.

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There's so much I could say...

Swings and roundabouts. They've been pumping that league since they came in.

Essendon* are going to walk away from Bendigo. They effectively have their own reserves team, but prefer to sully the Bendigo regions football record by calling the team Bendigo Bombers. They have to be the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.... as for the Bendigo Bombers reserves, HOLY MOLY. They haven't got within 10 goals of an opposition team yet. They suck worse than St Kilda in the 70s/80s.

Next year, I would expect to see them playing all but 3-4 home games at Windy Hill. The others will probably come back to the QEO here in Bendigo. They will lose a few players as a result, but they'll be stronger in the long run as the main squad's 23rd - 38th players (plus rookies) won't have to travel every week. Gives them the option of playing blokes for a couple of quarters to freshen up.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

I 'd love to see the 2s return to Carlton. At least all the players could play in a Carlton guernsey each week.

Mrs Caz, you raised the valid point about Preston's viability if the alignment finished.

I got the impression that could have been a contributing factor when this was last considered.

BUT, what is best for CARLTON should be the overiding consideration.

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The problem with Socialism is, you eventually run out of other people's money.

it would be nice to see the ressies play just before the seniors! Hopefully when there are more stand alone vfl sides that the AFL/VFL can schedule the 2nds to play Essendon*/pies 2nds as a warm up to the real game.

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All at Carlton are Equal, Except some are More Equal than others

Why should we care about Preston?



Go Sandy

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

I thought the figure was closer to $300,000. Only it wasn't a one-off "start-up" cost, it was an annual operating cost. Really you'd need to know the marginal cost over our existing participation in a JV for the number to be meaningful.

..i think a proper blues reserves team would definately have to help instill pride in the jumper.. ..every week all carlton players play for carlton.. ..hell, the reserves could play out of PP and really soak up the heritage..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

This would be the big issue.

Would we need to field a VFL reserves team also? If not, the supp list might only need 12 - 15 regular names. Free agency would really help this sort of thing.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

Great point Jimmae.

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There's so much I could say...

Apart from the crappy red jumper, the Ants are the Carlton reserves right now - except in the couple of 12/10 games.

The team is selected and the players are positioned for the benefit of the Carlton players' development - it is certainly not selected on performance otherwise there would be more Carlton listed players in the ressies. As far as coaching for team success is concerned, Teague is coaching with his hands tied behind his back just like Mitchell was.

Most home games are at Visy-Park and the team trains there as well.

The only real difference is that there is a ready made group of top-up players from Preston rather than having to draw them from various other teams in the area.

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Hey Rocky; there are too many rabbits ... in China.