Why no Indigenous recruits??

[AnnieH]

Maybe the swans scouts should go up north and pick up some untapped talent from Darwin. The AFL is stoopid for picking the Blacktown Bogans over a team from Darwin. They don't even have to physically go ... they can watch games on NITV.

With Goodesy and MickyO doing some mentoring (while they still can) ... who knows what sort of star will emerge in the future.

If they're putting their hands up ... the club should do something.

[ernie koala]

The reasoning being that Mick and Adam wish to play a mentoring role to a young Aboriginal player. That would come at least fourth in the priorities I listed.

I understand the reasoning just fine, I'm just not sure it is worth spending a valuable pick simply to fulfil that wish. Maybe a rookie pick, but certainly not a national draft pick.

The other reasons I wrote were to do with the swans need for players with speed, skill and awareness, which an extremely high percentage of indigenous players possess as their skill set. And the fact that our drafting history over the last 5 years has produced very few players with this skill set. So assuming the draft is a punt, why not have a punt on some indigenous kids who may help balance our disiplined, hardnosed, conservative style with some more pace, skill and unpredictability. Having said that, having Mick and Goodsey to mentor is a very important resource in making such punts more likely to succeed.

[Triple B]

Gwilt is not Aboriginal. I don't think Nahas is either.

Neither is Josh Gibson

[Primmy]

I love this, I was wondering why we have had so few indig boys added to our list recently. At that post it was all a matter of "oh, yeah, hadn't thought of that". Good. This is useful discussion.

So many play league, so......well you blokes, go get us a Preston Campbell, or a Peachy, or a Blacklock please.

[ernie koala]

Neither is Josh Gibson

Noted....I'm with you on the Hannebery train, he's one recent recruit who looks really promising.

[CureTheSane]

It was interesting to read Goodesy's thoughts, bemoaning the fact we have no young indigenous players coming through, and his and Micks desire to play a mentoring role.

Let them mentor a white player.
Or an Asian player, or whatever.
Kind of implies a sense of racism in only wishing to mentor a player with the same skin colour.

Our recruiters have missed countless opportunities over the past 5 years (the Roos era), and time is fast running out to take advantage of having 2 fine veteran players wanting to take on this role. (Both in the Indigenous team of the century.) I for one, hope our recruiters see this as an opportunity and get out there and find some indigenous boys, with pace and skill, to put onto our rookie list at least.

I've read the whole thread, and all the reasoning's behind your point.
The point of fact is that the club will select what they consider to be the best possible player left to be selected when the club's pick is up.
That is exactly what the supporter of the club expect.
Your implication is that a less skilled Aboriginal player should be selected over another player simply because he is Aboriginal and therefore has some sort of skill advantage over white players.

[Bloody Hell]

Let them mentor a white player.
Or an Asian player, or whatever.
Kind of implies a sense of racism in only wishing to mentor a player with the same skin colour.

It's for the same reason Inuit Eskimos don't raise their children to be Bushmen of the Kalahari.

Nowhere is it stated that they want to mentor Aboriginal boys only.

[annew]

I believe that the players selected have to go through intense interviewing to identify whether they would be able to adapt to Sydney (the city not the club), so it does not just come down to their skill level. I am sure our recruiters are able to identify from this which players they would be better drafting. I believe that Sydney is a daunting prospect for any young players and let's face it Sydney itself do not have many great AFL draftees let alone indigenous draftees and therefore we are not able to entice the draftees we may want. It is a myth in my opinion that all the young hopefuls would be happy to just be given a chance - as is obvious when you read the book The Draft. When I read this book I felt that Cyril Rioli wanted to stay within Melbourne as that was where he was based at the time - only my opinion but I am sure it has some merit.

[ernie koala]

Let them mentor a white player.
Or an Asian player, or whatever.
Kind of implies a sense of racism in only wishing to mentor a player with the same skin colour.



I've read the whole thread, and all the reasoning's behind your point.
The point of fact is that the club will select what they consider to be the best possible player left to be selected when the club's pick is up.
That is exactly what the supporter of the club expect.
Your implication is that a less skilled Aboriginal player should be selected over another player simply because he is Aboriginal and therefore has some sort of skill advantage over white players.

Racism...give it a break. If you can't see the benefit for a young Indigenous player to be guided and mentored by one of his own, then you don't understand the obvious deep connection that Indigenous people of this country feel for eachother. In fact I've just been listening to Leon Davis on SEN talking about the importance of having support from other indigenous players.
Secondly, I never implied that a less skilled Aboriginee be selected over others . If your going to make these ridiculous statements, read what was said in the earlier posts, and at least be accurate.

[Jewels]

Secondly, I never implied that a less skilled Aboriginee be selected over others . If your going to make these ridiculous statements, read what was said in the earlier posts, and at least be accurate.

Sorry, as I read it, that is exactly what you implied.

It is a myth in my opinion that all the young hopefuls would be happy to just be given a chance - as is obvious when you read the book The Draft. When I read this book I felt that Cyril Rioli wanted to stay within Melbourne as that was where he was based at the time - only my opinion but I am sure it has some merit.

I was going to post the exact same thing. I also got that feeling about Rioli after reading "The Draft".

[ernie koala]

Sorry, as I read it, that is exactly what you implied.

I don't get this...Please, quote me where I have implied that a less skillful Aboriginee be selected over others... I simply haven't. What I have said, is that our recruiters should take a punt on some Indigenous kids, just like they do with others. If I am impling anything, it is that our recruiters appear to take a conservative approach towards recruiting Indigenous players, and therefore recruit less skilled white kids over Indigenous kids. (The opposite to what you say I'm impling )There are many possible reasons for this approach. One may well be because of the challenges of relocating and settling Indigenous players are greater than for others. Which is what this debate was originally about. ie Using the fantastic resource of two Indigenous team of the century players, who wish to mentor and guide some young Indigenous players. Surely if you read my earlier posts, it is clear this is what I'm talking about.

[ROK Lobster]

Gwilt is not Aboriginal. I don't think Nahas is either.

But they are both indigenous to somewhere.