Too much or too little? AFL to review Academy, father-son draft discount - AFL.com.au
Not surprising this is on the agenda, given the amount of whingeing the academy system generates right across the competition and in the media.
I doubt it will happen (because it will disadvantage the powerful southern clubs),
but I'd love to see the size of the discount somehow linked to the amount of time and effort a club has invested in developing a player. After all, the northern academies were created because the AFL had thrown its arms up in the air regarding providing effective elite development pathways in NSW and Queensland, and decided to effectively outsource this to the four local clubs. As we all know, the academy system in the northern states isn't one of cherry-picking developed talent once it reaches age 18, but rather involves hundreds of boys (and now girls) from U11 onwards. Those who make it to the AFL system are a tiny minority of those who benefit from participating in the academies throughout their teenage years.
Shortly before the NGA academy concept was introduced (but while it must have been in the pipeline), the AFL even went so far as to deem Todd Marshall ineligible for priority academy access (by the Giants) because they hadn't contributed sufficiently to his development (largely because he'd been overseas for a large part of his teenage years, IIRC). While it was probably somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction to the Victorian complaining, that move seemed to reinforce the purpose of the academies in actively developing the talent to which they had access, and didn't seem unreasonable (even if backdated to "disadvantage" the Giants).
Yet when the NGAs were born, that whole principle seemed to fly out of the window. Clubs now had priority access, at discounted draft cost, to players they had invested very little time into, and with questionable eligibility criteria. I do hold misgivings about those eligibility criteria, but otherwise don't have an issue with the concept of the NGAs. But only if they serve to develop talent and expand the overall talent pool, the core purpose of the northern academies. There's not much visibility on what clubs do - how much they invest in time and money, and how many youngsters are involved - from the clubs with NGAs. I imagine there's much variation. But I'd be amazed if any of them have set up a system remotely akin to those operating in NSW and Queensland.
If the AFL is serious about developing additional talent from non-traditional sources and thinks that the AFL clubs can be instrumental in that, they should motivate them to actually do some development work by linking the size of the discount available to the amount of work done. This could be via a link on a club-by-club level to the total amount spent each year, but that disadvantages those with smaller zones or fewer resources.
An alternative way would be to apply the discount at the player level, but linked to how much work the club has invested in them and over what period of time. A club could set up an U11 and onwards academy with just a handful of boys, and strike it lucky if several of them develop to elite standard. But a sheer numbers game suggests that the more they invest in from age 11, the more chance they have of developing a couple to the elite level by age 18. And by properly motivating clubs to do this, the total number of boys (and girls) from non-traditional backgrounds that benefit from the pathway will be much greater, thus contributing to the future 2nd, 3rd and 4th tier talent pools, and to the overall AFL supporter base too.
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