'Sweeping changes' to Academy and Father/Son bidding system

[liz]

Clarko certainly knew how he and the Hawks benefitted from NSW scholarship players.

Along with Collingwood, they were the one club outside the Swans who did take the scheme semi-seriously. But I think only Langford remains on their list from those they did offer a scholarship to, and he would have been available to them as a FS pick had the scholarship scheme not been in place. Their other existing NSW players did not qualify for the scholarship scheme because it excluded the areas of southern NSW that were already in the development system - mostly the Riverina and other regions close to the border, though Canberra was also excluded for some reason. Bruest and Duryea are both from the Riverina, I think. Bruest certainly is. I am not sure where Matt Suckling was originally from but he boarded school in Melbourne. And Smith, who some BF posters bizarrely offer up as evidence of how the NSW development system has been working just fine over recent years, was recruited as a 22 year old playing in the VFL!

[Meg]

Tasmania, Central and Northern Australia, maybe even NZ are all places where there might be some potential. Of course, clubs wanting to set up an academy will need to understand that they don't just come in and cherry pick 17 year olds. They need to cater for kids from age 11 or so upwards and understand that most will never get close to playing elite football.

I don't disagree to the principle but I suspect when any club calculated the cost/benefit ratio of establishing an academy with the scope of the current ones, to include boys from age 11 to age 17, in areas where the clubs have no existing administrative presence, then the appeal would be largely diminished.

Just for a start, where would a club recruit AFL standard coaches in NZ?

[Auntie.Gerald]

An Academy true story

A kid plays soccer till 14yrs of age........he lives in Sydneys Western Suburbs..........he would like to play AFL........he has one friend who plays AFL and that mate saids come and join the local team................the local team struggles to get 15 players to a game every other week ........the games are terrible, aweful standard and they are loosing by 100points most weeks.

the kid is thinking about not returning to AFL next year........ but near the end of the season he and his mate see the GWS Academy trials and think lets go try out...........the kid makes it

The team does some pre season testing
The kid who is now 16yrs of age runs 10mins 30 seconds for 3km, does a 14.3 beep test, and runs a 2.93 (20m) sprint
He is 194cm tall and weighs 90kg and is only 16 yrs of age

.............

The Kid now plays in the under19s in the AFL premier division due to intensive and supportive Academy training .......and he may well play TAC and or represent NSW ACT Rams next season

So Eddie tell me how this type of kid would stay at that local level comp where they 15 players turn up every other week?

So Eddie tell me, if you dont have an Academy in states like NSW, QLD then you dont have a pathway for athletic kids to become AFL players in these states

The reality is that kids in Vic, Tas, SA and WA do have a footy in their hands from 5yrs of age
They do have high quality junior, colts and snr football to play
They do have camps in holidays fror skill development
They do play every day at school

[Auntie.Gerald]

if we want to capture the hearts and minds of kids in NSW and QLD to pay AFL they need to hear great stories via the Academies !

[ShockOfHair]

The big tell is that none of the critics has any specific ideas about how to build the code in NSW and Qld. The entire focus is on stopping the Swans, and inflicting collateral damage on the other clubs.

THe Swans threat to shutter the academy is a natural response and the AFL would have expected it. THe league knows it's either going to have to go with the existing club-based academies or set up an AFL one. If the AFL clubs are willing to fund an AFL academy, well, good on them, but it's not going to be anywhere near as effective as the club ones. Who are the players going to play for? NEAFL?

The elephant in the room is the league's geographical imbalance: nine teams in an alleged national competition in one city is ridiculous. Too many are struggling and they're desperately trying to hold back other clubs and the league. Of the seven bottom teams right now, five are from Melbourne. I know, it's filed under 'do not touch' but it's the heart of the problem.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Suckling is from Wagga
played football with my youngest brother

[Steve]

The Academy isn't there to encourage greater junior participation - as it says in the opening sentence on it's page on the Swans website, it is "a ground-breaking coaching and training program which recruits and develops the best young athletes in New South Wales, shaping them into potential AFL players".

The best young athletes have choices and other codes as suitors - in all of this the AFL also have to be careful about changing the goal posts too often and too significantly. As a parent, you'd become hesitant to endorse AFL as the chosen sport for your child if you couldn't trust that the same rules would still apply in 1/2/3/4/5 years time when they're signing up for the Academy.

[dimelb]

The big tell is that none of the critics has any specific ideas about how to build the code in NSW and Qld. The entire focus is on stopping the Swans, and inflicting collateral damage on the other clubs.

THe Swans threat to shutter the academy is a natural response and the AFL would have expected it. THe league knows it's either going to have to go with the existing club-based academies or set up an AFL one. If the AFL clubs are willing to fund an AFL academy, well, good on them, but it's not going to be anywhere near as effective as the club ones. Who are the players going to play for? NEAFL?

The elephant in the room is the league's geographical imbalance: nine teams in an alleged national competition in one city is ridiculous. Too many are struggling and they're desperately trying to hold back other clubs and the league. Of the seven bottom teams right now, five are from Melbourne. I know, it's filed under 'do not touch' but it's the heart of the problem.

Good post.
And I agree wholeheartedly with every word in the final paragraph. The AFL lost a huge opportunity when they founded development clubs without using Melbourne teams as the basis.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Check out the latest article by Caroline Wilson. Swans are threatening to withdraw funding of the academy.

This article by Caroline Wilson indicates that we will be scaling back our academy investment should there be any changes to the drafting rule:

swans-threaten-to-scale-down-their-nsw-development

I'm glad to see our management team are in tune with the RWO consensus. I'm surprised that the AFL would let Eddie's attack on the Swans bring down the push to expand AFL into NSW and Queensland, but it seems more and more that they will.

History will show Eddie McGuire to be the single most destructive force to every be associated with the game.

Interesting the Swans invest $1 million in their academy, the Giants $500,000 - makes me wonder if the AFL has EVER taken football development north of the Barassi line seriously.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Good post.
And I agree wholeheartedly with every word in the final paragraph. The AFL lost a huge opportunity when they founded development clubs without using Melbourne teams as the basis.

Not sure that's entirely fair, no club has ever left Melbourne voluntarily. The bribes offered North to move to the Gold Coast were truly amazing - but they wouldn't do it. It's the same sort of fanatical parochialism that gives birth to demagogues like Eddie the Excremental.

[liz]

It will be incredibly sad if funding is cut back to one of the best initiatives to be implemented in NSW/Queensland for years. It is incredibly sad that this has become a political issue being fought over in the media. As Steve mentions, even the suggestion that the AFL can, and might, move the goal posts so early in the scheme's existence must be sending out mixed messages to kids - and their parents - who are interested in taking up the sport.

[Reggi]

It is tough but the right call by the club. If the AFL keep shifting the goalposts close it down. Invest the funds elsewhere.

I think it is sad for junior development

AFL have abandoned the panel of experts idea