There's some sort of academy game currently taking place against a Canberra U22 side. The academy was up 32-8 at quarter time. This is a link to the stream.
Matchday 2: Under 22's Summer Series - Swans Academy v AFL Canberra - Male - YouTube
There's some sort of academy game currently taking place against a Canberra U22 side. The academy was up 32-8 at quarter time. This is a link to the stream.
Matchday 2: Under 22's Summer Series - Swans Academy v AFL Canberra - Male - YouTube
And a team list (with a nod to the poster over on BF who provided a link).
https://www.playhq.com/afl/org/afl-n...entre/51a0a4d8
Ta.Originally Posted by liz
We're in front 60-16 at half time and looking pretty good. Although I only tuned in just after the first break. The goals I saw were to Max King, Tom Ryan and Noah Chamberlain. All seem to be around key forward size and look pretty sharp. King has a bit of pace, Ryan took a strong pack mark and Chamberlain was in last year's senior academy team as a sixteen year old.
Now in front 80-25 at three quarter time. The first goal that quarter was to the lanky ruck Clifton, who Chamberlain found out the back with a long pass from the half forward flank. Then it was Rider, who perfectly roved a spilt attempt a pack mark. Then Chamberlain took a slick mark and just got the set shot through from around 50.
It’s weird watching an academy team that not only has genuine height in the forward line but also some semblance of forward craft. Chamberlain was the standout in this regard, at least in the bits of the game I saw. His kicking needs a bit more power but as a lanky U17 (I think) there’s plenty of time for that.
I was impressed with King's speed for a tall.
We have them where we want them, everything is going according to plan!
Ended up winning 102-43 in quite an impressive performance. Not sure about the quality of the opposition, but there we displayed plenty of useful ball movement.
While I missed the first quarter, my choice for BOG was key forward, Noah Chamberlain. I thought he led with pace and purpose, took some strong marks, looked clean at ground level, had a couple of goal assists after hitting team mates with raking kicks and put through a few set shots himself. He's also seems to have put on a bit of size since last season and now looks like a genuine KPF. I'm fairly sure that his draft year is not until 2025, so, I'm certainly keen to see how he develops over the next couple of seasons.
This year's academy team seems to have plenty of height. Perhaps our most highly rated tall of this year's draft cohort is Joel Cochran. Last season he played inside mid, ruck, KPF and KPD. Today he seemed to play mainly as a defender, and while he didn't have a lot to do, he looked pretty good when the ball was in his area. There were a few other talls that caught my eye. Max King swapped between midfield and the forward line. I'm not sure if he's quite KPF bulk, but he showed plenty of pace to escape congestion in midfield and to lead, mark and goal up forward. Tom Ryan took a couple of strong grabs and spent a bit of time rucking. Our chief ruck on the day was Jeromos Mills-Vasas. I'm fairly sure he played last season as a slightly undersized KPD. If I'm right, that's quite an off-season growth spurt.
Of the smaller players, Joe Harrison, who did pretty well as an underager last season, had a good in and under game. Now that he's shaved off his beach blond locks, he looks quite similar to Caiden Cleary. Let's hope he can have a good a season as Cleary did. Also looking pretty good in the middle was Lachlan Carmichael, who I think was rated as our best player at last year's U16 carnival, when playing as a half back flanker. Kaiden McNamara, who also impressed me at that carnival, had some nice outside touches today.
It also looks like Cabor and Rider will be playing some overage academy games this season. Both were probably in contention for a rookie spot last season, and both did some good things today.
Thanks deja. Great to get your insights. From what I saw I pretty much agree with you. I was particularly surprised by the speed of King.
It will be interesting to see how the season shapes up.
Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk
We have them where we want them, everything is going according to plan!
Ta, but I think you're overrating my impressions by calling them insights. And it's always a bit of a relief to me when someone agrees with those impressions.
Actually, perhaps the only real insight that I've had, from watching academy games year after year, is that except for obviously elite players, sorting out who's draftable and who isn't, is an incredibly difficult task. I mean, I find it hard enough to rank our own juniors amongst themselves, but our recruiters have to rank them against every likely junior in the nation.
There was also a game last week against an AFL Sydney U22 side. This is a link to the replay for anyone interested.
Under 22's Summer Series - AFL Sydney v Swans Academy Male - YouTube
Rookie Me Central had a recent article on their top ten prospects for next year's draft. They included King in their list and gave this brief assessment.
Max King (Swans Academy)
Midfielder/Forward | 191cm | 09/01/2007
A player with serious upside, King missed out on Under 16 All Australian honours last year but has plenty to like. He dominated the Swans Academy’s recent preseason testing event with top five finishes across the board, pointing towards considerable athletic upside. He can play, too, utilising his mobility at 191cm to carve through stoppages and impact aerially when rotating forward.
Looks like there's a couple of academy games today against the Giants. There's an U16 game that starts at 11am Sydney time and an U19 that starts at 1pm. Streaming is via Sportscast Australia on YouTube.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks