Not sure where this belongs but nice to see the son of a former Swan doing well at the U16 National Championships
Jackson Barling
NSW/ACT
HT: 181cm
WT: 75kg
DOB: 17/8/01
A medium-sized forward with some of the surest pairs of hands of any player in the Championships. As a focal point in the forward line, Barling presents well at the footy and reads the flight of the ball coming in with smarts. The son of Tim Barling, who played 14 games for Richmond between 1984-85, and 13 for Sydney between 1989 and 1990.
I know he's only young, but I hope Jackson is still growing vertically given his dad was a ruckman
Relevant to this thread, from an article on AFL site today titled 'Who makes the calls on your club's recruits?'.
"One of the most experienced recruiters in the industry, Kinnear Beatson, heads the Swans' small department. Beatson was a lead recruiter for the Brisbane Lions between 1994-2005, building their dynasty, before joining the Swans at the end of 2006 and shaping their 2012 premiership list. Beatson is the Swans' recruiting and list strategy manager, overseeing who comes into the club and liaising with player managers through the year to be on top of the market. The club's football manager, Tom Harley, takes care of the contract negotiations. Michael Agresta and Ross Monaghan are the Swans' other full-time staff, with Agresta focusing on the national draft. He is also the Swans' recruiting operations manager, being responsible for planning, data entry, vision and logistics. Monaghan is completely dedicated to the 'futures', keeping an eye on the prospects coming through in upcoming drafts. They also have part-timers in SA, WA and Queensland. Beatson does some AFL scouting, but the Swans tend to cover their pro scouting through their match committee. "
I just read that article. The thing I found amazing was that we have the smallest recruitment dept in the AFL with the flattest structure, yet we are one of the most successful. Beatson has done very well. I think a lot of the credit in our success also needs to go towards those behind our player development and the club as a whole.
Nice to read not only of these three Academy players but also the words that AFL is a growing sporting choice. We all know it's the best game in the world, great that young kids in some parts of Sydney are discovering that as well.
An article in today's Australian indicates that the Swans remain hopeful (even confident) of securing the signatures of both Reid and Jones. Both their managers have been on leave for the last few weeks, hence the lack of recent activity.
Of course, nothing is certain until it is certain (as the Mitchell situation taught us last year) but sounds like there's no undue reason to be concerned at this stage.
We haven't had any correspondence suggesting talks are deferred to the end of the year, so I'd take the clubs view at face value.
The media usually get hold of these stories pretty quickly if the player wants out so the lack of media attention has been the only thing comforting me, having said that I'd expect as resolution quickly one way or the other assuming their managers are back.
Why as a football manager would you take your holidays during season for more than a week?
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The North Shore has always been the food basket of the AFL in Sydney but in the past many kids have been lost to the game because the private schools locked out AFL. That has changed now and with the growth on the GPS/CAS comp I can see the Academy system really producing some quality players sooner rather than later.
I'm open to trading both Tippett and Reid for a player of their like who can mark, kick, contest, etc etc
The difference between insanity and genius is measured only in success.
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