SANFL ready to start 2019 season in shadow of new AFL draft rules

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Returning faces and a few missing stars will mark the SANFL opening round this weekend, as North Adelaide begins its title defence and clubs reel from the AFL's unpopular new draft rules.

The fast-finishing Roosters lost five of its grand finalists to the AFL draft, but have recruited delisted Port Adelaide Power small forward Jack Kneade and also Ben Jarman, son of former coach and AFL/SANFL great Darren Jarman.

But like other SANFL clubs, the Roosters will be wary of the new mid-season rookie draft after round 10, at which point AFL clubs can raid state leagues to replace injured players.

It follows the new and unpopular pre-season supplementary selection period that resulted in a newly recruited South Adelaide player being poached by the AFL just two weeks from the opening round without compensation.

"The mid-season draft is going to happen to someone in the competition ... you sort of hope you're going to be OK," North Adelaide coach Josh Carr said.

"We're just focused on playing our brand of football well."

Carr said the loss of five players from his premiership side to the regular AFL draft provided an opportunity for "young players to step up".

"We'll come in 2019 to play a pressure brand of football and the scores will hopefully come off the back of that," he said.

"If teams put more homework into you after winning a premiership, that's OK.

"You've got to be able to deal with those sorts of expectations."

The Roosters will have their work cut out, however, after being penalised four premiership points after its 19th-man controversy in last year's preliminary final.

Rueing grand final loss

Norwood coach Jarrod Cotton and his team, meanwhile, have been licking their wounds over summer after losing the grand final by 19 points despite being flag favourites.

They'll have to wait until the traditional grand final rematch on Anzac Day to make amends, although Cotton said notions of revenge were best left to spectators.

"It's not about revenge. It's just about making sure we win that game," he said.

Cotton said three senior players retired over the break, but another delisted Port Adelaide Power player, Dom Barry, was recruited into the midfield.

The club also received a surprising bonus when two-time Magarey medallist and Jack Oatey medallist Mitch Grigg was not redrafted into the AFL as widely expected, leaving the "true Norwood boy" to play again for his home side.

"He's really excited about having another good year and just wants to win the premiership as well," Cotton said.

New draft casualty

Not so lucky, however, was South Adelaide, the SANFL's only casualty of the pre-season selection period.

It lost ruckman Keegan Brooksby and key Victorian recruit Hayden McLean, who was recruited by the Sydney Swans just two weeks from round one.

"South Adelaide was hit twice, which is really hard from a SANFL point of view," Cotton said.

"You put a lot of work into recruiting and making sure you get good players for your club, then they get pulled at the last second.

"Any one of your players can get pulled at any point, but you've just got to deal with it, I suppose."

Unpopular 'snowball effect'

South Adelaide coach Jarrad Wright said it was not possible to replace key recruits at such short notice, although it would give opportunity for someone playing at a lower grade to fill the void.

"But then we might have to go into our local zone and pull a player out, which hurts grassroots footy," he said.

"It just creates a bit of a snowball effect."

The club has called for $20,000 in compensation from the AFL because, unlike soccer, there are no transfer fees included among the new rules.

The AFL has repeatedly ignored the ABC's questions about a lack of compensation for clubs affected by its new drafts.

The Panthers have also recruited delisted West Coast Eagles player Malcolm Karpany and will benefit from the return of midfielder Nic Schwarz after a knee injury.

Glenelg on the rise

One team with high expectations this year is Glenelg, which won its last six games in 2018, including tight wins against the eventual premiers and premiership defenders Sturt.

Glenelg has not won a grand final since 1986 and coach Mark Stone said he was mindful not to let expectations after last season's late winning streak to upset the team's focus.

"Some would say expectation brings pressure, but as a team you've got to live up to that," he said.

"We just want to build on last year, look at what we did really well and take stock of that.

"Certainly there's room for improvement on top of that."

Big shoes to fill

Sturt has a new leader in Nathan Grima, who replaced back-to-back premiership coach Marty Mattner after he was recruited by the Adelaide Crows as an assistant coach.

The Central Districts premiership and former North Melbourne player came across from coaching Strathmore in the Essendon Football League.

"I'm mindful of not changing too much, especially early in the year, with something that has worked in the past," Grima said.

"Hopefully we can progress through the early rounds and add layers to our game as we go."

Sturt will miss retired ruckman Jack Osborn, forward Shane McAdam (drafted by the Crows) and Rory Taggert, but has welcomed the return of Danyle Pearce from Fremantle.

Another new coach with big shoes to fill is Woodville-West Torrens' Sam Lonergan, a former Essendon and Richmond player, who replaces another Crows recruit, Michael Godden.

"Each coach has their way of coaching, so for me, regardless of what's happened in the past, I've got to come in really strong about the way I coach and what I want to achieve and how I want them to play football," Lonergan said.

The transition from playing to coaching had been "relatively seamless", the 32-year-old said.

"I was at a stage where my playing days were limited.

"My body was pulling up a bit sore, so the timing was right and the opportunity was there."

Past players return

West Adelaide has welcomed the return of Will Snelling after he was delisted by Port Adelaide, as well as its 2015 premiership captain and Jack Oatey medallist Chris Schmidt.

Former Hawthorn and Box Hill player Dallas Willsmore has joined the club as well as former Norwood defender Patrick Levicki.

Central District will enjoy the return of Troy Menzel, who played 40 AFL games with Carlton, four with the Crows, and another 30 for the Crows' reserve side in the SANFL.

Matthew and Jaxon Neagle from Wodonga will also help bring a different look to the team, along with Jonathan Marsh from Sydney and Tim Auckland from the Crows' reserve side.

Central District released a statement on Tuesday wishing, "along with other foundation SANFL clubs", that any players recruited by the Crows or Power in the mid-season rookie draft be allowed to continue playing for their SANFL side if they are not selected for senior AFL duty.

It said the introduction of the mid-season draft and the pre-season supplementary list had been introduced "much to the disappointment of SANFL clubs".

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