Loss of Power will ‘hurt’ AFL
THE imminent withdrawal of Pyramid Power’s reserves team from the AFL Cairns competition will limit the sports growth in the region, their club president believes.
While the Gordonvalebased club are yet to formally step away from the reserves competition in 2020, it is all but certain to be confirmed when they hold their annual general meeting next Sunday.
The Power won the 2018 reserves flag and since, their playing group has also been decimated, with many players leaving for Cairns City Lions at the start of 2019 while several are looking to cross to North Cairns this coming campaign.
The club have prided themselves on bringing new athletes to the sport in recent years, becoming a viable option for footballers in Yarrabah, Innisfail and even the Tablelands to take up the game.
Power club president Jimmy Floyd believes many current and potential footballers will be lost to the code when they do not enter a team in the reserves competition for next season.
“It certainly hurts the growth of the game in our region,” Floyd said. “We found actually talking to players about this, a lot of guys will give up AFL all together.
“They are not going to play for other clubs, our boys have a family orientated mentality with lots of indigenous footballers.
“It is important for those guys to connect with us.
“Some will play for other clubs, but there will be many that just give up.”
In early 2016, AFL Cairns boss Gary Young said the inclusion of the Pyramid Power would help the game continue to flourish in Cairns.
“Pyramid’s inclusion is another exciting development and just shows that AFL in general is certainly on a strong growth path in Cairns,” Young said at the time.
“Yes, it’s only reserve grade at this stage but we’re hoping in around two years’ time they’ll possibly be able to field a seniors side.”
With the impending withdrawal, Floyd is hopeful the Power can return in 2021 or 2022 while putting their focus on growing their junior ranks next year.
It has been a tough year for the Power, who had to rebuild their club after vandals burnt and vandalised their change rooms and canteen, with the damage so severe they were left without any functioning facilities early in 2019.
The club are also speaking to AFL Queensland about dual-registering their players in the future, potentially allowing them to play reserves for Power and seniors for another club.
The Floyd family have been the driving force behind the Power club since their inception in the AFL Cairns competition but they have battled to find consistent numbers of volunteers to keep the club viable.
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