Australian Football League reserves affiliations

The Australian Football League stages the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in the country. However, since the late 1980s, when the former Victorian Football League expanded interstate to become the modern Australian Football League, there has not been a league-wide reserves competition; and, since 2000, there has been no dedicated reserves competition of any kind. As a result, AFL-listed players who are not selected in their senior teams are made eligible to play in one of the second-tier state leagues: the Victorian Football League, South Australian National Football League and West Australian Football League. The system used to accommodate AFL-listed players within these leagues varies considerably from state to state.

Current affiliations

For the 2021 season, the eighteen Australian Football League clubs will have the following reserves arrangements.

AFL clubReserves arrangementAffiliated clubAffiliated league
Adelaide CrowsStand-alone reserves teamAdelaide CrowsSANFL
Brisbane LionsStand-alone reserves teamBrisbane LionsVFL
Carlton BluesStand-alone reserves teamCarlton BluesVFL
Collingwood MagpiesStand-alone reserves teamCollingwood MagpiesVFL
Essendon BombersStand-alone reserves teamEssendon BombersVFL
Fremantle DockersClub affiliationPeel ThunderWAFL
Geelong CatsStand-alone reserves teamGeelong CatsVFL
Gold Coast SunsStand-alone reserves teamGold Coast SunsVFL
Greater Western Sydney GiantsStand-alone reserves teamGreater Western Sydney GiantsVFL
Hawthorn HawksClub affiliationBox Hill HawksVFL
Melbourne DemonsClub affiliationCasey DemonsVFL
North Melbourne KangaroosStand-alone reserves teamNorth Melbourne KangaroosVFL
Port Adelaide PowerStand-alone reserves teamPort Adelaide MagpiesSANFL
Richmond TigersStand-alone reserves teamRichmond TigersVFL
St Kilda SaintsClub affiliationSandringham ZebrasVFL
Sydney SwansStand-alone reserves teamSydney SwansVFL
West Coast EaglesStand-alone reserves teamWest Coast EaglesWAFL
Western BulldogsStand-alone reserves teamFootscray BulldogsVFL

Victorian clubs

Dedicated Reserves Competition (1919–1999)

During the 20th century, up to the 1980s, the Victorian Football League was based solely in the state of Victoria, and operated three grades of competition: seniors, reserves (established in 1919), and under-19s (established in 1946).[1] Local players were primarily recruited via the league's metropolitan and country zoning rules, and the clubs had full ability to develop its players through its junior and reserves teams. This same basic structure was used consistently across all of Australia's major state leagues (VFL, SANFL, WAFL and TANFL).

Two factors in the late 1980s and early 1990s led to the end of this traditional arrangement in Victoria:

  • Firstly, the Victorian Football League expanded interstate to become the Australian Football League, and some of the clubs from interstate were unwilling to participate in the minor grades.
  • Secondly, the AFL Draft (first held in 1986) was gradually replacing zoning as the primary means of recruitment to the national league, so the developmental continuity between the under-19, reserves and senior grades had lost its purpose.

As a result, the AFL relinquished direct control of the Victorian reserves and junior grades at the end of 1991. The under-19s grade and the twelve participating AFL clubs' under-19s teams were shut down and replaced by the TAC Cup, with six new, independent and zone-based under-18s clubs.

The change to the reserves league was mostly administrative: it became known as (and was governed by) the Victorian State Football League, but it was otherwise identical to the former VFL/AFL reserves and is considered a direct continuation.

The VFL/AFL reserves and the VSFL were contested by all twelve Victorian clubs. The Sydney Swans continued to participate after South Melbourne relocated in 1982,[2] and the Brisbane Bears participated for five years,[3] but none of the South Australian or Western Australian clubs were ever involved.

Combination with the VFL (since 2000)

Following the 1999 season, the VSFL merged into Victoria's second-tier senior football league, the Victorian Football League (known until 1995 as the Victorian Football Association, and with a history dating back to 1877). Such a merger had first been proposed as early as 1980,[4] and a formal attempt to enact the merger for the 1995 season was defeated after strong opposition from the clubs.[5] Since the merger, the VFL has served as both a distinct second-tier senior competition and a reserves competition for AFL clubs.

Since the merger, there have been three types of club participating in the VFL:

  • VFL/AFL club affiliations—in these cases, an AFL club enters into an agreement with a single VFL club (or, in some former cases, two VFL clubs). Any players listed at the AFL club are permitted to play with the VFL club on weekends when not selected for an AFL game. The VFL club maintains its own, separate playing list, and its weekly team is composed of a mixture of VFL-listed and AFL-listed players. The exact nature of the organisational relationship between the VFL and AFL club varies on a case-by-case basis, with some VFL sides enjoying reasonable autonomy, and others being heavily influenced by their AFL-affiliates. These clubs generally field teams in both the VFL seniors and the VFL reserves, and AFL-listed players may be selected for either, although most will play seniors.
  • Stand-alone AFL reserves teams—in these cases, the AFL club fields its own team in the VFL. Naturally, the AFL club has complete autonomy over the operation of its VFL team. Because the AFL list is not large enough to field two complete teams, the club must also maintain a separate list of "top-up players", who are eligible only for VFL games. The licence fee for an AFL club fielding a stand-alone reserves team is much higher than the cost of entering into an affiliation. None of the AFL clubs with a stand-alone team in the VFL seniors is involved in the VFL reserves.
  • Stand-alone VFL senior teams—in these cases, the VFL club has no affiliation with any AFL club. It takes complete responsibility for maintaining its own list of players from outside the AFL. As for affiliated VFL clubs, these clubs generally compete in both the VFL seniors and VFL reserves, although there is no requirement for them to field a reserves team.

A fourth option, under which a team's reserves players are spread across all of the league's VFL clubs, will be established from 2021 as an option for AFL clubs seeking cost savings in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.[6]

Currently, there are no limitations on how many AFL-listed players may play in a VFL team on any given weekend—except during finals, when only players who have played a certain number of VFL games during the season are eligible. There was previously a rule known as the 12–10 Rule, which stated that in a match between an affiliated VFL team and a stand-alone VFL senior team, the affiliated team could play of at most twelve AFL-listed players, with the other ten to be VFL-listed players; and, where the AFL club had more than twelve reserve players available, the extras would play in the VFL reserves. The rule was abolished in 2011.

Historical VFL/AFL affiliations by AFL club

For all clubs in this list, the club fielded a reserves team in the VFL/AFL reserves up to 1991, and then in the VSFL from 1992 until 1999; additionally, the Fitzroy Football Club fielded a reserves team in these competitions until the club merged with the Brisbane Bears at the end of 1996. This listing shows all reserves affiliations and arrangements since 2000.

Carlton
  • 2000–2002 – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL
  • 2003–2019 – affiliated with the Northern Bullants/Blues
The Northern Bullants changed its nickname to Blues in the 2012 season[7]
  • From 2021 – the club intends to field a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL[8]
Collingwood
  • 2000 – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL
  • 2001–2007 – affiliated with the Williamstown Football Club
  • 2008–present – again fielded a stand-alone reserves team
Essendon
  • 2000–2002 – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL
  • 2003–2012 – affiliated with the Bendigo Football Club
The team changed its name from Bendigo Diggers to Bendigo Bombers when the affiliation was established in 2003. The team then changed its name the Bendigo Gold from 2012 onwards.[9]
  • 2013–present – again fielded a stand-alone reserves team[10]
Geelong
  • 2000–present – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL
Hawthorn
Box Hill changed its nickname from Mustangs to Hawks when the affiliation was established
Melbourne
North Melbourne
Richmond
  • 2000 – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL
  • 2001–2013 – affiliated with the Coburg Football Club
Coburg changed its nickname from Lions to Tigers when the affiliation was established
  • 2014–present – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL[13]
St Kilda
The Springvale Scorpions became the Casey Scorpions in 2006
Western Bulldogs

South Australian clubs

Historical arrangement

After Adelaide and Port Adelaide had entered the AFL in 1991 and 1997 respectively, South Australia had two AFL teams and a strong nine-team state league (the SANFL). Until 2013, the AFL clubs were affiliated with the entire SANFL, rather than with an individual club as is seen in Victoria; this meant that the reserves players from each AFL club would be dispersed throughout the SANFL, playing for different teams. This arrangement was governed by the annual "AFL–SANFL Interchange Agreement".[16]

The method used to allocate players to the state league teams varied depending upon whether the player was from South Australia, or had come from interstate:

  • Players from South Australia remained allocated to the SANFL clubs from which they were recruited. These players would originally have been allocated to their state league clubs as juniors under zoning rules.
  • Players from interstate were allocated to the SANFL clubs based on a "mini-draft". Each year, the pool of players available in the mini-draft consists solely of AFL-listed players in their first pre-season with a South Australian club; the SANFL teams then draft players in reverse-finishing order from the previous season. SANFL clubs may choose players from either of the two AFL clubs.[17]

Regardless of which method is used to allocate the player, he typically remained allocated to the same SANFL for his entire career, although there were provisions in the rules for players to be re-allocated to a different club on a case-by-case basis, to ensure that the AFL-listed players were given the appropriate opportunities to develop; e.g. an AFL club could seek a re-allocation for a developing key forward on its list, if the player's opportunities were limited by the presence of an established key forward in his allocated team.[18]

This arrangement, or a variation of it, was the sole mechanism for distribution of reserves players in South Australia until 2013.

Current arrangement

In August 2013, the SANFL clubs agreed to allow Adelaide to enter a stand-alone reserves team into the SANFL senior competition as a tenth team.

Among the arrangements, Adelaide's reserves team were required to pay an annual $400,000 licence fee (which adjusts for inflation) and is dispersed amongst the remaining clubs, play most of its games as the away team, and does not wear the Adelaide Crows AFL guernsey. The team consists of Adelaide Crows players who are not selected for the AFL team, one permanently contracted former Crows player to serve in a leadership position, and young top-up players from other SANFL clubs or suburban competitions. The arrangement is in place for fifteen years.[19]

The SANFL also agreed to permit Port Adelaide to use the Port Adelaide Magpies as a stand-alone reserves team.[19] After Port Adelaide entered the AFL in 1997, the SANFL established the Port Adelaide Magpies as a separate legal entity from the Port Adelaide club which participated in the AFL. The clubs were reunified via an official merger in 2010,[20] ending 13 years of separation, and since 2014 it has been Port Adelaide's reserves team.[21][22] It is subject to the same playing conditions as Adelaide's reserves team, except for the fact it wears the traditional Port Adelaide Magpies guernsey and plays home games at Alberton Oval.[19]

From 2015, Port Adelaide operated an academy team of father-son selections and international and interstate scholarship holders in the SANFL Reserves competition, and shut down its traditional junior grade teams and surrendered its SANFL recruiting zones.[23][24][22] In 2018 the club dissolved the academy team and ended its participation in the SANFL Reserves league.[25]

Historical arrangements by club
Adelaide
  • 1991–2013 – affiliated with the entire SANFL under the interchange agreement
  • 2014–present – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the SANFL
Port Adelaide
  • 1997–2013 – affiliated with the entire SANFL under the interchange agreement
  • 2014–present – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the SANFL

Western Australian clubs

Like South Australia, Western Australia has two AFL clubs (Fremantle and West Coast) and a strong nine-team state league (the West Australian Football League). Initially, the Western Australian AFL clubs were involved in a league affiliation with the WAFL, which functioned in the same way as the SANFL's league affiliation. From 1999 until 2001, both clubs established affiliations with a single WAFL club, similar to (and, in fact, pre-dating by one year) those seen in Victoria, and known locally as "host-club arrangements". After three years, the WAFL clubs voted to end these arrangements, and returned to a league affiliation for the next twelve years.

Starting in 2011, the two AFL clubs started to push hard to end the league affiliation model; their preference was to field stand-alone reserves teams in the WAFL, but this was rejected by the WAFL clubs.[26] In October 2012, after two years of negotiations, the clubs agreed to return to host-club arrangements – West Coast with East Perth and Fremantle with Peel Thunder – to commence from the 2014 season, with some transitional arrangements beginning in 2013. The original deal lasted for a minimum of five seasons.[27]

After the initial five-year period of its agreement, West Coast ended its agreement with East Perth and were approved to field a stand-alone reserves team, which commenced playing the 2019 season.[28]

Fremantle
  • 1995–1998 – established and affiliated with the entire WAFL
  • 1999 – affiliated in a host-club arrangement with the South Fremantle Football Club[29]
  • 2000–2013 – after the WAFL clubs voted to end host-club arrangements, returned to an affiliation with the entire WAFL.[30]
  • 2014–2019 – affiliated in a host-club arrangement with the Peel Thunder Football Club, with an agreement in place until at least 2021.[31]
West Coast
  • 1987–1998: established and affiliated with the entire WAFL
  • 1999: affiliated in a host-club arrangement with the Claremont Football Club[32]
  • 2000–2001: affiliated in a host-club arrangement with the East Perth Football Club[33]
  • 2002–2013: after the WAFL clubs voted to end host-club arrangements, returned to an affiliation with the entire WAFL.[30]
  • 2014–2018: affiliated in a host-club arrangement with the East Perth Football Club.
  • 2019: fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the WAFL[28]

New South Wales and Queensland clubs

In New South Wales and Queensland, all four AFL clubs field stand-alone reserves teams in the Victorian Football League.

Historical New South Wales and Queensland affiliations
Brisbane Bears
  • 1987–1988 – affiliated with the entire QAFL
  • 1989–1992 – fielded a reserves team in the VFL reserves/AFL reserves/VSFL competition[3]
  • 1993–1996 – returned to an affiliation with the entire QAFL[34]
Brisbane Lions
  • 1997 – affiliated with the entire QAFL[35]
  • 1998–2010 – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the QAFL. The reserves team was initially known as the Lion Cubs,[36] became known as the Suncoast Lions from 2004.
  • 2011–2019 – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the NEAFL (in the Northern Conference while it existed). The team was known as simply Brisbane Lions.
  • From 2021 – will field a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL.
Gold Coast
  • 2011–2019 – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the NEAFL (in the Northern Conference while it existed).[37]
  • From 2021 – will field a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL.
Greater Western Sydney
  • 2012–2019 – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the NEAFL (in the Eastern Conference while it existed). The team was originally known as the University of Western Sydney (UWS) Giants, then the Western Sydney University Giants, in acknowledgment a broad partnership between the football club and the university (which changed its name in 2016), and then finally as simply Greater Western Sydney Giants; from a football perspective the UWS Giants team is entirely managed by GWS as a stand-alone team.[38]
  • From 2021 – will field a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL.
Sydney
  • Until 1981 – based in Melbourne and known as the South Melbourne Football Club, fielded a reserves team in the VFL reserves.
  • 1982–1999 – the senior team relocated to Sydney, and continued to field a reserves team in the VFL reserves/AFL reserves/VSFL.
  • 2000–2002 – partially affiliated with the Port Melbourne Football Club in the VFL, and also fielded a stand-alone reserves team known as the Redbacks in the Sydney AFL. In practice, Port Melbourne served as a reserves affiliation for up to six experienced players, and the Redbacks served as a development team for inexperienced players.[2][39]
  • 2003–2010 – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in AFL Canberra.
  • 2011–2019 – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the NEAFL (in the Eastern Conference while it existed).[37]
  • From 2021 – will field a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL.

Push towards stand-alone reserves teams in the 2000s

Starting in around 2011, there was considerable interest by many AFL clubs in abandoning league affiliations or host-club arrangements and forming stand-alone reserves teams. A large contributing factor to this interest was the perception that the developmental autonomy Geelong and Collingwood enjoyed as the only two clubs fielding stand-alone reserves teams in the VFL was responsible for the very strong senior AFL performances of those two clubs between 2007 and 2011, during which time they shared four of the five AFL premierships.

In Victoria, some VFL clubs with a strong existing identity were also interested in ending their AFL affiliations after the strong performance of stand-alone VFL side Port Melbourne in its unbeaten 2011 season.[14]

This represented a shift from the prevailing thinking of the 1990s, when the affiliations were arranged. At that time, particularly during the early 1990s recession, many clubs' finances were tight, so operating costs drove many decisions. At that time, some Victorian AFL clubs favoured the establishment of a WAFL/SANFL style of affiliation, with reserves players scattered throughout the VFL, because it would result in minimum management costs for the AFL club.[40] The desire for teams to re-establish stand-alone reserves teams came at a time when most clubs were in a much stronger financial position. The total licence and running costs for a stand-alone team were estimated to be $500,000 per year in 2011. Through the 2000s, the AFL preferred that its Victorian clubs retained VFL-affiliations, and offered a disincentive in the form of an inflated licence fee for fielding a stand-alone team; however, the AFL did not otherwise prevent teams from fielding stand-alone reserves teams if they are willing and able to pay the fee.[41]

In South Australia and Western Australia, the debate became more heated than in Victoria. The league affiliation system primarily benefitted the state leagues, by helping to ensure that none of their clubs gained an undue advantage through preferential access to professional AFL-listed players, and by helping to minimise the drain of talent from the league, but this was to the detriment of player development at the AFL clubs, since reserves players end up playing for a variety of different teams, under a variety of different game-plans, and not necessarily in the positions that the AFL clubs would prefer.

As early as 1988, the West Coast Eagles' second season in the then-VFL competition, senior coach John Todd proposed that the Eagles to entered a reserves team in the VFL reserves, but the West Australian Football Commission point-blank rejected the proposal.[42]

From 2011, Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Fremantle and West Coast actively sought to establish stand-alone reserves teams. There was considerable opposition from the SANFL and WAFL teams about including those reserves teams in the state leagues, with the clubs concerned about the impact this would have on depth of talent, league competitiveness, and gate takings, with the WAFL and SANFL both on several occasions outright rejecting any proposal which would see an AFL club's reserves team participate in those leagues.[26][43][44]

In Western Australia, a wide range of compromise solutions was proposed, including: stand-alone reserves teams playing against WAFL clubs in a separate competition during their WAFL bye weeks,[45] a new secondary league including reserves teams from the Western Australian and South Australian AFL clubs,[46] and a return to host-club arrangements.[47] In October 2012, the Western Australian clubs reached a compromise, with two WAFL clubs, Peel and East Perth, forming host club arrangements with Fremantle and West Coast.

In South Australia, Adelaide made it clear that it intended to establish a stand-alone reserves team from 2014, and threatened to field the team in the South Australian Amateur Football League or another state league if the SANFL continued to refuse to admit them. The SANFL immediately backed down and Adelaide was granted entry to the SANFL was granted in August 2013.[19]

Port Adelaide's situation remained unresolved for longer, as it wanted to operate the Port Adelaide Magpies SANFL team as its host club in the SANFL seniors, but the South Australian football commission informed the club it would be required to shut down its junior grades and forfeit all recruiting zones, thereby severing its connection with the community, if it were to progress with this option.[23][24] Port Adelaide was highly reluctant to make that sacrifice,[19] but made a compromise deal with the SANFL, with the club being granted permission to run an academy team in the SANFL reserves.[22]

Other notes

In the 2020 AFL season, AFL-listed players were not permitted to compete in state-level football in any capacity, in order to protect the quarantine bubbles required to play the 2020 AFL season amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. None of the affiliations in this page were observed during the season.

See also

References
  1. Rodgers, Stephen, Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results, 1897–1991 (2nd ed.), Ringwood, VIC: Penguin Books Australia
  2. "Unearthing roots of Harbour City talent". The Age. 3 August 2003. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  3. "National Scoreboard", The Sun, Melbourne, VIC, p. 87, 5 June 1989
  4. "League nearer Sunday games". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 12 June 1980. p. 24.
  5. Stephen Rielly; Stephen Linnell (24 May 1994). "Vic clubs threaten AFL on reserves". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 50.
  6. Max Laughton (24 August 2020). "VFL to merge with NEAFL, under-18 comps revamped in massive changes to AFL's second tier". Fox Sports. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  7. "Northern Blues". Carlton Football Club. 10 November 2011. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  8. "Carlton and Northern Blues forced to cease alignment". Carlton Football Club. 26 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  9. Landsberger, Sam (27 March 2012). "Bendigo Gold unveiled for final year with Bombers before Dons go solo in VFL". Herald Sun. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  10. Paton, Al (30 September 2011), "Bombers to dump Bendigo VFL connection", Herald Sun, retrieved 30 September 2011
  11. Glenn McFarline (21 November 2014). "North Melbourne is set to end its partnership with Ballarat as Western Bulldogs move in". Herald Sun. Melbourne, VIC. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  12. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/north-melbourne/north-melbourne-to-field-standalone-vfl-team-in-2018-after-parting-ways-with-werribee/news-story/8cbc653bd3977b87931d68f21496b64f North Melbourne to field standalone VFL team in 2018 after parting ways with Werribee
  13. Landsberger, Sam (21 July 2012). "Richmond set to walk away from Coburg in 2014". Herald Sun. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  14. d'Anello, Luke (21 September 2012). "Seagulls and Bulldogs cut ties". Leader. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  15. Bridie Byrne (16 August 2013). "Western Bulldogs VFL team returns to Footscray moniker". Maribyrnong Leader. Maribyrnong, VIC.
  16. Rucci, Michelangelo (1 July 2011). "SANFL's integrity at stake". AdelaideNow. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  17. Turner, Matt (15 December 2010). "SANFL mini-draft results". AdelaideNow. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  18. Duffield, Mark (16 November 2011). "Eagles turn up heat on WAFL clubs". The West Australian. Perth, WA. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  19. Michelangelo Rucci (15 August 2013). "Adelaide Crows to field reserves side in the SANFL in 2014". The Advertiser. Adelaide, SA. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  20. "UPDATE: Power & Magpies Unite". Port Adelaide Football Club. 16 November 2010. Archived from the original on 19 November 2010.
  21. "Statement: Port Adelaide accepts SANFL invitation". portadelaidefc.com.au. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  22. Michelangelo Rucci (11 September 2013). "Port Adelaide accepts SANFL offer to field Power reserves team in league next year". The Advertiser. Adelaide, SA. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  23. Rucci, Michelangelo (11 October 2012). "Crows may buy Sturt as its reserves side". The Advertiser. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  24. Michelangelo Rucci (5 August 2013). "Adelaide says it will get a reserves side, but not in the SANFL next year". The Advertiser. Adelaide, SA. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  25. "PORT MAGPIES' RESERVES DUMPED". The Advertiser. 30 October 2018.
  26. Butler, Steve; Duffield, Mark; Lewis, Ross (2 June 2011). "Eagles, Dockers woo WAFL clubs with $1m carrot". The West Australian. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  27. Quartermaine, Braden (31 October 2012). "West Coast and Fremantle will enter WAFL alignments from 2013". Perthnow. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  28. James Carmody (11 October 2018). "West Coast Eagles launch new WAFL team as club bids for back-to-back AFL premierships". ABC. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  29. "History - South Fremantle Football Club". www.sffc.com.au. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  30. Hagdorn, Kim (16 December 2001). "Chaos looms in new draft". Archived from the original on 22 July 2001. Alt URL
  31. Dale Miller (19 May 2017). "Peel Thunder to extend Dockers alignment through to 2021". The West Australian. Perth, WA. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  32. Host clubs dead..... or are they? – Perth Football Club. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  33. "The Club - East Perth Football Club". www.eastperthfc.com.au. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  34. Peters, Renard (2 April 1993), "Fabian's second AFL shot", Courier Mail, p. 45
  35. "Scoreboard", Courier Mail, p. 18, 2 June 1997
  36. "Scoreboard", Courier Mail, p. 15, 11 May 1998
  37. "AFL's north east boost". North East Australian Football League. 9 March 2011. Archived from the original on 27 April 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  38. Theodosiou, Peter (14 December 2011). "GWS sign partnership with University of Western Sydney". Blacktown Advocate. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  39. "103rd Annual Report (Part 2)" (PDF). Australian Football League. 1999. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  40. Patrick Smithers (30 July 1992). "Plan for VFA as AFL 'feeder'". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 26.
  41. Wilson, Caroline (28 July 2011). "Deadline looms for VFL team decisions". The Age. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  42. Timms, Daryl (3 June 1988), "No Excuses – Todd", The Sun, Melbourne, VIC, p. 72
  43. WA’S AFL Teams in the WAFL Archived 30 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  44. Rucci, Michelangelo (22 June 2012). "SA clubs so no to reserves teams". AdelaideNow. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  45. Townsend, John (1 September 2011). "WAFL reserves compromise". The West Australian. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  46. Thring, Harry (29 August 2012). "Sando wants reserves side". Australian Football League. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  47. Townsend, Josh (30 June 2012). "'Keep your AFL leftovers'". The West Australian. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
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