MWBL Winter News

[MWBL PRES]

Hi everyone, just thought I would update you on a few important MWBL issues.
Firstly, the MWBL winter season for both seniors and juniors will commence on Saturday April 21st. The season opener will again be Greensborough BC vs GMBC on April 14th, this year at the the A grade reigning champs home ground - the 'BurraDome'
We have in place a number of new initiatives that will be announced in the coming weeks, such as a junior level O coaches course, run for the MWBL by BV for junior coaches who would like to know more about coaching techniques and game day management. We will hold these (3) sessions early May and will be encouraging junior coaches to attend - there will be limited spaces but free of charge to attendees
One other great introduction will be a senior winter championship coordinator. James Daan from Melb Uni BC will help the MWBL get 3 senior teams to the champs this year in Geelong. Clubs will receive some posters this season to hang in their clubrooms promoting the senior and junior champs and dates, we hope all clubs encourage players to take part.
We will have dedicated junior league websites launched shortly, and will unveil new junior league logo's as part of this launch.
Those trying to get their heads around match condition changes will be pleased to know that we have only updated a few match condition rules this season, which will be presented on February 28th for approval at the upcoming delegates meeting.
There have been a few rumours circulating regarding some new clubs entering our league - at this point we have had one new club confirmation, with a few inquiries. Until club applications are received, nothing is confirmed.
Other than that, all I can announce is that our board has worked hard again over the off season (for winter) and we hope to be able update with some exciting new announcements within the next few weeks.
Congrats and commiserations to the Aces, and for those looking forward to winter, it isn't too far away.
:fishing:

[farnt]

Great communication again Mark.

Without starting a rumor file necessarily, would anyone care to entertain us as to who the new club is and other enquiries?

[soap]

Anyone heard if Cheltenham have made it over from the DBA?

[Deleted]

Mark may be able to confirm this, but I believe a prominent summer club will be entering the MWBL to ensure that its ground is being used for baseball all-year round.

[lonewolf75]

An Eastern Suburbs club perhaps

[The Jack]

Feb 21, 2012 14:42:10 GMT 10 kc said:

Mark may be able to confirm this, but I believe a prominent summer club will be entering the MWBL to ensure that its ground is being used for baseball all-year round.

I also heard that one Summer club may be 'flying under the radar' into the B Grade comp (?). Will be interesting to see if players stay with their current Winter teams or stay in their own 'airfield'.
I believe that B Grade may look very different with addition/s, could really strengthen the comp and make promotion (and relegation) to A Grade very interesting for 2013.

[signs]

Lonewolf - My sources tell me it is close to an airport (old one) and that a road runner maybe the head coach??

[farnt]

Wow! That would affect a couple of clubs in a big way.

[max]

Can you expand TJ?

Does that mean that the last placed side from 2011 are forced down to C Grade or are the A Grade club who's 3/4 teams play in B Grade then pushed down the Grades to accomodate this?

Did you say addition or additions?

[The Jack]

Feb 22, 2012 8:57:25 GMT 10 max said:

Can you expand TJ?

Does that mean that the last placed side from 2011 are forced down to C Grade or are the A Grade club who's 3/4 teams play in B Grade then pushed down the Grades to accomodate this?

Did you say addition or additions?

Addition/s leaves it up to you to interpret, here are a few questions for you;
If one new club enters in B Grade does one drop out? (my opinion the answer to this is yes)
If two new clubs enter in B Grade do two drop out? (the league will have to look at this, but probably, again IMO yes)
What if a club wins C grade? Do they deserve the right for promotion? (If it were Panton Hills people would prob say yes, GMBC?? Why not? Ringwood has performed well most weeks)
What happens if teams lose players?

Lots more questions could be asked.

I think the league is looking at making/keeping the competitions strong (and so they should IMO) hence why we relegate a team from A Grade (virtually) every year. Looking at results from last year, Knox aside, the next 6 teams were competitive each week. The next side I worry about if a couple of players decide to 'fly' to their Summer 'Hanger', so in keeping the comp strong perhaps teams could be relegated from B Grade (question, not a statement)?

[Deleted]

I don't think we should assume that any new team necessarily aspires to play at B or A Grade level.

If a club decides to enter a team (or two teams) for the purpose of keeping its field in use for baseball during the winter months, then it may be looking at something far less ambitious.

Let's remember that the MWBL senior competition is graded down to E2.

[MWBL PRES]

Hi guys,
I can let you know the Upwey Baseball Club has entered 2 team, more than likely in D1 & D2, Essendon BC as of last night officially (verbally) entered the MWBL, and has asked to be graded in B Grade. Mitchell Majors has asked to be graded lower due to a number of personell changes and this will be accomodated.

Other than that, we have spoken to a few clubs that have inquired about the MWBL season, but as I said previously, until it is an official approach, there is nothing more to it.

As I mentioned, we have some more news to share over the next few weeks - but excitingly, listen out for our adverts on SEN radio in the last few weeks of MARCH promoting the upcoming season and our clubs Come & Try days.

We are again trying to offer clubs the resources to assist in junior and senior recruitment as tabled at the recent junior delegates meetings. One new initiative are our new junior league websites. These are about to be launched in the coming weeks and will assist with junior news and interest pieces, playing and coaching tips, winter champs information and other stuff that will keep out juniors up to date with their leagues and teams.

[outsider]

Pres, has any thought been given to grading the lower grades (D & E) geographically, most players at this level ate either juniors relying on parents for transport or just in it to enjoy the game and I am sure for most the thought of traveling half way across Melbourne every other week may be a little of a pain.

[MWBL PRES]

Hi Outsider, definitely E grade, not as much D grade. D grade is traditionally our 3rds and 4ths of B grade teams, and some stand alone sides. We do have some 5ths or 6th or A grade clubs in this grade, but this year we are looking, where as much as possible, to have clubs that compete in D grade have a D 2 team also. We are trying to avoid the large gaps in cllub teams being entered. E Grade to be more geographically based is our preference. The problem becomes game start time. Clubs that nominate early or late game will have more bearing on which grade (section) they are placed in. Where possible we will have geographic grading for E grade, but there will be some exceptions to this.

[farnt]

People have different reasons to change clubs which is fair enough in the vast majority of situations. In Essendon's case, it will be interesting who plays for them in Winter. There are a heap of quality mature and younger guys at Essendon in summer that are understandably very loyal to their summer club. It's great to see soccer being kept off the reserve too!

I appreciate that Winter is often the 'off season' after a long and tiring summer. If however you are a young gun and playing or striving to play Aces/State/pro or perhaps are already signed, are you better off staying in A Grade over winter or playing B Grade for the winter with the possibility you may be there the following winter? I can understand some of the 30 year olds that are second or third generation being pretty loyal and coming back to lend a hand.

Waverley is an example of a club in Winter that has existed without much A Grade success granted they appear to have been blooding a young crew (appreciating I don't know their intent in winter).

Would you stay in A Grade or play in B Grade or doesn't it really matter?

[lonewolf75]

Heard a rumour that the new club looking to enter B grade may be entering with only one team. While rumours again say that this side will be very competitive I don't agree with the move. B Grade is our second their comp, we have first and reserves for a reason and rules allow teams to use re-entry. I understand that most clubs will only face the new team a max two times an the impact will be minimal but I just don't like compromising the great work the league has done in creating stepping stones for teams to build their winter involvement.

Am I looking at this the wrong way??

[Deleted]

Mar 8, 2012 9:18:08 GMT 10 lonewolf75 said:

Heard a rumour that the new club looking to enter B grade may be entering with only one team. While rumours again say that this side will be very competitive I don't agree with the move. B Grade is our second their comp, we have first and reserves for a reason and rules allow teams to use re-entry. I understand that most clubs will only face the new team a max two times an the impact will be minimal but I just don't like compromising the great work the league has done in creating stepping stones for teams to build their winter involvement.

Am I looking at this the wrong way??

No you are not (looking at it the wrong way) LW in my view - if true (and happy to hear from the THEPRES in this regard) there had better not be a 'Bye' in B-Res as that would be really poor if the desired outcome is to keep/set up B Grade (inc BRes) as a stepping stone into A Grade.

[signs]

Knox Falcons have posted on their "facebook" that Sam Boone has been cleared and is now a part of the nest.

[lardio]

Geez, they didnt muck around with that one, we cleared him last night and sent the paperwork off this morning.... I wonder who will be able beat those guys this year, looks like a plethora of talent...

[farnt]

I believe you are correct re one team LW.

[lonewolf75]

Well if the rumour is true i cant beleive the league woul allow a bye in the reserve so I assume it means the promotion of a one off team to the reserves. So working of that for one round our reserves wont be able to re enter into the ones as I beleive the league only allows this to happen if they are at the same ground. If think a couple of C grade clubs got caught out on this a season or so ago.
This is not a vendetta against the new side. I am all for more clubs being involved be we have progressed as a league to were I believe that if you want to enter into the A, B, C and even maybe D grade now you need to have two teams partnered together.

[Deleted]

I agree....the criteria to play B-Grade Finals of recent times is that B Grade clubs must have a certain amount of Junior teams....... so surely another B Grade Finals Criteria would/should be that you have to have at least 2 Senior teams !

[stockley]

So, in the interest of developing a new club(s) in our league, we require clubs MUST be able to start with 2 teams? Why couldn't there be a bye scheduled in the B-Reserve competition. Sure, its not ideal, but so what if for 1 year, to allow the new club to gain traction, other clubs have 1 team miss out on a game for 2 weeks total. Then at the end of the season, and for the start of the next, the club would be made to get the second team operational.

I don't see a problem with that. There wouldn't be any affect on re-entry, as for that one week you could select a squad for the 1sts team - the top tier seconds as well as the normal firsts.

[Deleted]

Id imagine that if the B-Res 'Bye' was filled by another club/team then re-entry would be a real problem when your two's are playing an away game some distance from where the one's are.

And a Bye (and 2 maybe 3 games missed plus the long weekend) is way worse than 'less than ideal' in my view, its a horrible way to set up a season for players where with possible washouts could see some players only play a bit over a third of the season.

An example of how a single team in B Grade is not an ideal platform to build on is when we (at Doncaster back then) had a B Grade team that was competitive foir a single season, and a CRes team and the gulf in standard was hardly the basis upon which you build a strong B Grade club (as proved by its eventual demise as a B Grade team).

If the clubs not ready to play B Grade (by having two teams) then start lower like eveyone else and build from there.

[stockley]

But as LW said, A, B, C and D are all working based on two teams partnered together. What would you have them do, run back and start in E grade?

I don't know who the club is, or what personel they're going to be putting up, but it seems to me that if they're looking at entering a club into the B-Grade then we should give them as much support as we can.

[farnt]

Essendon Stockley

[wyatt33]

Wheelers hill started in e with one team. This year they have 3 teams with ones in C. Slow and steady wins the race....unless essendon and waverley put in a winter team.

[farnt]

Waverley is already playing winter and were in A Grade Wyatt... Like Essendon are probably doing, Waverley were a development team keeping other round ball teams off 'their' fields over winter with a development team led by a senior player or two. Chipper led Waverley - Essendon by Perhaps Johne?

[Deleted]

Mar 8, 2012 20:01:27 GMT 10 farnt said:

Waverley is already playing winter and were in A Grade Wyatt... Like Essendon are probably doing, Waverley were a development team keeping other round ball teams off 'their' fields over winter with a development team led by a senior player or two. Chipper led Waverley - Essendon by Perhaps Johne?

Yep and from memory a few years back Wavo started with 2 teams in B BRes (I stand to be corrected) and won B and BRes, then went up, came back down and now back up.

Perhaps a model for Essendon if they are serious about being a contender sooner rather than later, if 'later' then start lower and earn/work into B Grade first I reckon.

[oldburger19]

Mar 8, 2012 20:01:27 GMT 10 farnt said:

Waverley is already playing winter and were in A Grade Wyatt... Like Essendon are probably doing, Waverley were a development team keeping other round ball teams off 'their' fields over winter with a development team led by a senior player or two. Chipper led Waverley - Essendon by Perhaps Johne?

Unless things have changed in the past 3 days, young Herc is looking forward to another season with the Searchers, although he may have an issue with the team veteran over a certain age comment!

As for a Roadrunner coaching the winter Bombers, if its the same name i have been told, i think you will find that to be incorrect aswell!