Last week’s opinion piece by Dion Hayman about the possibilty of AFL reserves teams in the SANFL continues to evoke a strong response from readers.

MARK WILDMAN: Great article Dion. For me football is gone if this crazy proposal to have two reserves team in our great traditional competition is ratified.

The SANFL is such a precious institution, and still has that tangible feeling of something that belongs to our state. We have lost almost everything to larger states, but the good old SANFL still hangs in there.

It justifies us travelling to suburbs you normally wouldn’t – not only the café, bistro or seaside zones, but the grunty hard-edged places which still have some real good old fashioned passion, happiness and anger.

We have to keep this alive.

GORDON SMITH: When Port Adelaide opted for an AFL licence originally where were the cries about their SANFL heritage then? Now with the reserves debate on in earnest it seems they want their cake and to eat it too.

If there are to be AFL reserves sides in the SANFL,  the Port Adelaide Magpies must make way for the Power to have a “stand-alone” reserves side similar to a Crows reserves side.

The Magpies league listed players could choose to go to another SANFL club or be used as top-up players for the Crows and Power reserves. The Magpies should lose their reserves and under 18 teams and their recruiting zone should be re-distributed among the remaining SANFL clubs (remember, Port is now part of the AFL).

Ideally the AFL reserves sides should be the responsibility of the AFL not the SANFL but this will never happen while Andrew Demetriou is at the helm of the AFL.