Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
AFLNT has done a major restructure of their junior age grades.
It's in an effort to prioritize youth development. It's going
to see a real shake up when it comes to
the age categories that your children might play footy in.
Now joining me on the line is Football Competition's manager
for the Northern Territory, Leanne Bug. Good morning to you, Leanne.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Lovely to have you on the show. Now, Leanne, tell
me what are all the changes that we are expecting
under the restructure for the juniors.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Okay, so what we're looking at basically, Katie, is we're
going from an even numbered age grouping structure to an
odd numbers, which means we're going to actually bring forward
our competition age groups. So we're actually going to have
our like our juniors, starting their competition pathway a year
(00:58):
earlier yeap, which we'll be starting now at under nines
and moving into that more structured competition phase.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So I guess that may be a good thing for
those younger kids because quite often you've got the kids
starting you know, a bit younger, and they might be
you know, starting when they're eight years old for example,
and playing with kids that are a couple of years
older than them. So is it hope that that's going
to be a good thing for them in terms of
easing into the game.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I'm really hoping that. I mean, that's part of the
attraction around changing the age groupings. Obviously starting them earlier,
building that respect for the game, respect for each other,
but it's also building that pathway and we're starting that
pathway earlier into our senior level competition, which is really
(01:50):
important to us at the moment.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
And it's I mean, anybody who's got a daughter then
that plays footy in some of those older age groups
though may sort of know that it's a bit difficult
at this point in time with numbers for some of
the teams in some of those particular age categories. So
I guess flipping from the undernines, let's go up to
sort of the under sixteen and the under eighteen girls,
(02:15):
which is now going to be the under fifteen and
under seventeen girls or women's competition. Why was that neededly at?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Oh? Look, So what happened was so last season we
started picking up these little anomalies, these patterns that were
coming forward, particularly around the under sixteen and under eighteen
age group, and we found that it was starting to
(02:44):
be a struggle for clubs to retain those girls to
keep them in that pathway. So we wanted to find
a way of starting earlier to build that pathway so
that we can now transition them across senior football. So
they've got a bit more time to actually not just
(03:04):
develop physically, but also develop emotionally as well. So now
they've got that, they'll start earlier around the seventeen and
a half age group, and then they'll start that transition
from there, So we're actually bridging them into senior competition,
but at a more like a pace that actually is
(03:24):
going to work for them, and they actually get a
choice here to where they can transition, you know, straight
away if they want to, or they can transition, or
they can wait and then transition a lot slower. So
that was our focus for the girls to keep them
in the competition. We were losing a lot of girls
around that age group.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, well look I've you know, I've got a daughter
that is just below that age group, and it's it
is something that I know the clubs, some of the
clubs are struggling with. Some of them have really strong
numbers in that age group, but some of the others
struggle in the under sixteens to under eighteens. Yet then
we've got such strong numbers in the senior women's grades,
So it's a difficult juggle. I mean, are you confident
(04:09):
that just that age change will will make a difference.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Look, I think it's not a matter of just changing
or restructuring age groups. I think there's a lot of conversation,
there's a lot of work with us along with the
clubs that will happen. So it's a mindset and it's
a philosophy, you know, an approach that we have to
take together. So there is that structural change, but there's
(04:37):
also the mindset change that we're all going to have
to go through on this journey. I mean it's not new.
When my daughter first started playing youth girls, it was
under fifteen. Yeah, So where we have to move with
the times, we have to move with what's happening in
that youth space, and this just seemed to be the
(04:58):
time to do it.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
The kids engaged, right like, we want to keep them playing,
whether you're talking about the young women or the young men.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
LEA.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
And when you talk about then the young men. What's
the as I understand it, some of the clubs have
maybe been a little bit worried about the older age
group changes for the young men or for the young blokes.
What's been the reaction from some of the clubs, I
guess across the board. But firstly, when you talk about,
(05:27):
you know, the under sixteen under eighteen men's age groups.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
So look, initially our focus was the youth girls and
the boys. We thought, you know, okay, they had a
good season. Now the reaction from the clubs this has changed,
and I know that they've got a lot of questions,
and of course it won't be until we get into
(05:53):
the season that we'll start working out sort of where
we're sitting with these things. But looking forward, I think
the clubs have been really good. This actually started with
the clubs, not so much around the boys' space, but
the conversation actually started from the clubs around what we
(06:15):
were going to do with the age group. And then
it started progressing and we had several consultation meetings, and
I know there's a lot of clubs there that have
been around for a very long time that have a
lot of questions about what we're doing. Here, But I
do really respect a lot of the presidents and the
(06:36):
feedback that they've given. Yeah, and you know, they are
going to work with us. And we've never had anyone
that said, well, we're just not doing it, we just
don't want to do it. They're actually they're being open,
but they're being cautious and that's understandable.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, totally. And I think whenever these change, you know,
you sort of think, oh, how hang on a said,
how's this going to impact these team or how's it
going to impact that team? And we all hope, you
know that the change is a positive and you know
that it has a positive impact and keeps the young
people engaged, you know, when they're playing that sport and
they're engaged in sport, it is a wonderful, wonderful thing, Leanne.
(07:14):
In terms of when the change comes into effect, it
is at the start of the junior season or the
start of the AFL season, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
It sure is, so it will be happening this season.
There was there were discussions around when we were going
to do it, and then we had a you know,
obviously more discussions about well, if we were to go
another season, how would that look for us, and we
just didn't want to think about losing even more players.
(07:44):
So we're acting straight away. We're going to do it
this season. The majority of the clubs were happy to
do it this season, so we're being proactive and we're
going to do it for this season. And obvious there's
a lot of like we've got our president's meeting tomorrow night. Yep,
(08:05):
we'll have a Junior Coordinate Natives meeting after that. So
we're actually going to be constantly meeting and having these
conversations leading into the season so that we're feeling comfortable
around the time that it starts.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Well, Leanne, it's to any parent listening this morning, because
I know some people might be listening going on. I'm
not sure you know it's this such a big issue, Wolfe,
but it is. If you've got our kids in junior footy,
they'll want to know exactly what's going on with those
age groups. And we have got such a phenomenally large
group of young Territorians that play football in the Northern Territory,
(08:44):
don't we, le Anne, Oh.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Look, we do, and these as we know when we
watch our Premier League games, we've got players that will
start really young and they'll stick with us through that
whole pathway. We want to We've had it happen and
we want to keep that happening. And you know, like
all we need to be talking about is, you know
what we're bringing competitions forward a year. We're going to
(09:09):
have you know, extended playing time. We're going to have
bigger feels. So it's going to mean not huge changes,
but it's going to be nice little changes for those
kids out there that are going to keep playing footing
and give them something to look forward to as they
as they move through. Well.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Leam bug afl NT's football competitions manager. Really good to
speak with you this morning. I appreciate you taking the
time to join us on the show and talking us
through the changes.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Thank you so much, Katie, thank you
AFLNT has done a major restructure of their junior age grades.
It's in an effort to prioritize youth development. It's going
to see a real shake up when it comes to
the age categories that your children might play footy in.
Now joining me on the line is Football Competition's manager
for the Northern Territory, Leanne Bug. Good morning to you, Leanne.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Lovely to have you on the show. Now, Leanne, tell
me what are all the changes that we are expecting
under the restructure for the juniors.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Okay, so what we're looking at basically, Katie, is we're
going from an even numbered age grouping structure to an
odd numbers, which means we're going to actually bring forward
our competition age groups. So we're actually going to have
our like our juniors, starting their competition pathway a year
(00:58):
earlier yeap, which we'll be starting now at under nines
and moving into that more structured competition phase.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So I guess that may be a good thing for
those younger kids because quite often you've got the kids
starting you know, a bit younger, and they might be
you know, starting when they're eight years old for example,
and playing with kids that are a couple of years
older than them. So is it hope that that's going
to be a good thing for them in terms of
easing into the game.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I'm really hoping that. I mean, that's part of the
attraction around changing the age groupings. Obviously starting them earlier,
building that respect for the game, respect for each other,
but it's also building that pathway and we're starting that
pathway earlier into our senior level competition, which is really
(01:50):
important to us at the moment.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
And it's I mean, anybody who's got a daughter then
that plays footy in some of those older age groups
though may sort of know that it's a bit difficult
at this point in time with numbers for some of
the teams in some of those particular age categories. So
I guess flipping from the undernines, let's go up to
sort of the under sixteen and the under eighteen girls,
(02:15):
which is now going to be the under fifteen and
under seventeen girls or women's competition. Why was that neededly at?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Oh? Look, So what happened was so last season we
started picking up these little anomalies, these patterns that were
coming forward, particularly around the under sixteen and under eighteen
age group, and we found that it was starting to
(02:44):
be a struggle for clubs to retain those girls to
keep them in that pathway. So we wanted to find
a way of starting earlier to build that pathway so
that we can now transition them across senior football. So
they've got a bit more time to actually not just
(03:04):
develop physically, but also develop emotionally as well. So now
they've got that, they'll start earlier around the seventeen and
a half age group, and then they'll start that transition
from there, So we're actually bridging them into senior competition,
but at a more like a pace that actually is
(03:24):
going to work for them, and they actually get a
choice here to where they can transition, you know, straight
away if they want to, or they can transition, or
they can wait and then transition a lot slower. So
that was our focus for the girls to keep them
in the competition. We were losing a lot of girls
around that age group.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, well look I've you know, I've got a daughter
that is just below that age group, and it's it
is something that I know the clubs, some of the
clubs are struggling with. Some of them have really strong
numbers in that age group, but some of the others
struggle in the under sixteens to under eighteens. Yet then
we've got such strong numbers in the senior women's grades,
So it's a difficult juggle. I mean, are you confident
(04:09):
that just that age change will will make a difference.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Look, I think it's not a matter of just changing
or restructuring age groups. I think there's a lot of conversation,
there's a lot of work with us along with the
clubs that will happen. So it's a mindset and it's
a philosophy, you know, an approach that we have to
take together. So there is that structural change, but there's
(04:37):
also the mindset change that we're all going to have
to go through on this journey. I mean it's not new.
When my daughter first started playing youth girls, it was
under fifteen. Yeah, So where we have to move with
the times, we have to move with what's happening in
that youth space, and this just seemed to be the
(04:58):
time to do it.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
The kids engaged, right like, we want to keep them playing,
whether you're talking about the young women or the young men.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
LEA.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
And when you talk about then the young men. What's
the as I understand it, some of the clubs have
maybe been a little bit worried about the older age
group changes for the young men or for the young blokes.
What's been the reaction from some of the clubs, I
guess across the board. But firstly, when you talk about,
(05:27):
you know, the under sixteen under eighteen men's age groups.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
So look, initially our focus was the youth girls and
the boys. We thought, you know, okay, they had a
good season. Now the reaction from the clubs this has changed,
and I know that they've got a lot of questions,
and of course it won't be until we get into
(05:53):
the season that we'll start working out sort of where
we're sitting with these things. But looking forward, I think
the clubs have been really good. This actually started with
the clubs, not so much around the boys' space, but
the conversation actually started from the clubs around what we
(06:15):
were going to do with the age group. And then
it started progressing and we had several consultation meetings, and
I know there's a lot of clubs there that have
been around for a very long time that have a
lot of questions about what we're doing. Here, But I
do really respect a lot of the presidents and the
(06:36):
feedback that they've given. Yeah, and you know, they are
going to work with us. And we've never had anyone
that said, well, we're just not doing it, we just
don't want to do it. They're actually they're being open,
but they're being cautious and that's understandable.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, totally. And I think whenever these change, you know,
you sort of think, oh, how hang on a said,
how's this going to impact these team or how's it
going to impact that team? And we all hope, you
know that the change is a positive and you know
that it has a positive impact and keeps the young
people engaged, you know, when they're playing that sport and
they're engaged in sport, it is a wonderful, wonderful thing, Leanne.
(07:14):
In terms of when the change comes into effect, it
is at the start of the junior season or the
start of the AFL season, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
It sure is, so it will be happening this season.
There was there were discussions around when we were going
to do it, and then we had a you know,
obviously more discussions about well, if we were to go
another season, how would that look for us, and we
just didn't want to think about losing even more players.
(07:44):
So we're acting straight away. We're going to do it
this season. The majority of the clubs were happy to
do it this season, so we're being proactive and we're
going to do it for this season. And obvious there's
a lot of like we've got our president's meeting tomorrow night. Yep,
(08:05):
we'll have a Junior Coordinate Natives meeting after that. So
we're actually going to be constantly meeting and having these
conversations leading into the season so that we're feeling comfortable
around the time that it starts.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Well, Leanne, it's to any parent listening this morning, because
I know some people might be listening going on. I'm
not sure you know it's this such a big issue, Wolfe,
but it is. If you've got our kids in junior footy,
they'll want to know exactly what's going on with those
age groups. And we have got such a phenomenally large
group of young Territorians that play football in the Northern Territory,
(08:44):
don't we, le Anne, Oh.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Look, we do, and these as we know when we
watch our Premier League games, we've got players that will
start really young and they'll stick with us through that
whole pathway. We want to We've had it happen and
we want to keep that happening. And you know, like
all we need to be talking about is, you know
what we're bringing competitions forward a year. We're going to
(09:09):
have you know, extended playing time. We're going to have
bigger feels. So it's going to mean not huge changes,
but it's going to be nice little changes for those
kids out there that are going to keep playing footing
and give them something to look forward to as they
as they move through. Well.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Leam bug afl NT's football competitions manager. Really good to
speak with you this morning. I appreciate you taking the
time to join us on the show and talking us
through the changes.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Thank you so much, Katie, thank you
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