Thread by @NickGalatas

With all these summaries, time for a summary.
1. No, we've never had a NSD, as such, but pre AL we also never had a closed, private, exclusive top-tier, running itself, for itself and for private profit.
2. The new NST might be the dream of many but..

theguardian.com/football/2023/…

it's been made possible by clubs below the AL. By their successful advocacy through AAFC and now by the simple fact they propose to stump up the cash to pay for it. The FA isn't paying for it and said it will do it if & because the clubs are paying. Ambition for unity is good...

doing unity and making it possible is indispensable.
3. This follows the debilitating effect of the NPL on the viability, survival and growth of the clubs we are now depending on to grow our game & for the unprecedented excitement in our domestic game for at least 15 years.

4. The NPL was conceived as a supplement to and in service of the AL. In Vic, clubs took Football Victoria to court over it. It was a shocking model over which they weren't consulted. Ironically, they succeeded because they weren't, and still aren't, members of FV so the court..

intervened, allowing them a say. After that, with FFA, we cobbled together a workable model as a compromise which at least saved the clubs. AAFC followed as a product of NPL club frustration. And here we are...enabling and shaping a viable and true national NST.

5. Which brings me to the hoary old chestnut which gets another run in Joey's piece - high juniors fees. Nothing made them rise more than the NPL - not the idea of the clubs. Let's move on.
6. The new NST won't solve all the game's problems. We never said it would...

but coming, as change usually does, at a low ebb when all else appears to have failed (like the appt of a new coach at a struggling club) all hope and expectation is heaped on it. With it all problems won't go away but without it all problems will stay and be exacerbated.

7. The hope and solution the new NST offers is, initially, more strong clubs and subsequently, unification of our game through linking all our tiers. Quietly...pro/rel...which ISN'T possible while there aren't teams for more than one division; the brainiac idea of yore.

8. All now accept we need more strong clubs - even the AL. It proposes to build some in a box and then find someplace, a "territory" in franchise parlance, to plonk them in & hope. We reckon promoting and enhancing those grown within and by their community have better prospects.

9. Either way, we need more of them. Even if the ones the AL builds in a box work, they won't be enough. The new NST offers an avenue for many clubs to develop over time, tested on and hardened by merit-based competition. Beyond the initial tranche making up the new NST...

10. ...we'll have many more growing in their state comps looking for promotion into the national NST. More fans passionately engaged, more sponsors, more refs, coaches, administrators. More jeopardy, tension, risk, competition, opportunity. More facilities. More footprint.

11. Without more clubs at a higher level, over time, (because they won't just magically elevate now we need them after deliberately and expressly limiting them for 20 years), our game will stagnate and therefore recede. If we can't see that, we can't see. It's why I've argued..

ad nauseam, this represents the best avenue for the AL to grow. It will need to recognise and understand the opportunity though, and not expect it will simply conform to it. Unity and compromise.
12. So while this isn't the "answer to Australian Football's problems" it is

a necessary part of the answer. So I'll excuse the reference in the article to "sceptics say it's a hubristic bridge too far...game has far greater priorities...distraction from the very real problems..." and that this contention has some validity, as a rhetorical device

in a piece of this type with no substance or validity at all. As the piece goes on to demonstrate.

Let's forget silver bullets and quick fixes. We are about allowing our game to find its level here and loving it for what it is. Stop praying for panaceas, craving clean air...

...arbitrary wish lists and levels. The only way we'll have these things, ever, is if we earn them over time. FFA adopted a White Paper in 2019 recommending there be a NSD and it be financially viable. AAFC delivered a report demonstrating the capability we have to get that done.

13. The new FA included reform of the NST in its XI Principles and has developed options for a national NST largely consistent with that described in the AAFC Report delivered over 2 years ago. It is our clubs who have stood steadfast on a national model, offering to accept...

...the risk, pay for it, ensure it can be as good as it can and grow it from there. To professionalise it responsibly and sustainably (the only way). To sensibly eschew unviable models such as the mooted Champions League model floated and not yet sunk...

14. So, with all these summary articles doing the rounds, it is important to remember AAFC and our member clubs, which will underpin this comp, have thought these things through for years. And pined for the opportunity. Because it's what they're made for. Luckily for all of us.