Eddie will try and have him gelded.Originally Posted by Nico
Eddie will try and have him gelded.
Those who have the greatest power to hurt us are those we love.
And while we're being distracted by names: tonight's Queensland news, had the story of a senior firefighter who had been convicted of corruption; his name...Steve Sparks.
Swans Academy 16s had a huge 55 point win over the weekend (114-59). Scores were close until half time but Swans kicked clear in the third and then absolutely dominated the final quarter. 13 different goalkickers shows how even the effort was from the boys .
They win the series 3-0 which is the first time since the inception of the the Giants/Swans series that the Swans have managed to win all three.
Rams team gets announced this week so will be interesting to see how many players are picked from the squad.
Swans 17s also played Giants and went down by 39 points. Swans had a fair few non academy boys so was a good effort considering.
To follow up , u16 RAMS team announced this morning with 13 boys from the academy in the 23 man team. Boys named are Alker, Ball, Edwards, Endemann, Giacometti, McKenzie, Middleton, Miller, Ogilvy, Puncher, Rogers, Wilson , Woodford.
First game at Blacktown on 23 June against Queensland.
That sounds like the academy is doing something right.
It does show that the game is definitely growing in strength in Sydney and the north of the state where the academy catchment is. Swans won the three game series 3-0 against Giants who essentially source most of their players from the Riverina and Canberra.
Of the 13 swans boys , 12 are out of the Sydney competition and 1 from Woollongong. 4 boys are from one club - St Ives. 1 of the Giants boys , Grace, is also out of the same Sydney competition, so it shows just how strong the Sydney competition is getting.
Last years team was very similar in the number of boys coming from the Sydney comp (led by Gulden and Campbell of course but also including another group of players who are now playing NEAFL and TAC Cup the following year). The 18s boys showed this year that they can match it with the TAC teams.
The seeds are sprouting. Was in sydney today with a client and she showed me a photos of her young son and daughter. The pics showed them playing local footy. She is not from vic. Blew my mind.
He had observed that people who did lie were, on the whole, more resourceful and ambitious and successful than people who did not lie.
Yes, it's an achievement to beat the Giants, as it does seem that they got the better of the zone carve up, where they got all the traditionally strong Aussie Rules areas. Though that could have meant, that the Swans management realised early on, that they had to do a lot of work, if they were to turn the academy into a consistent production line. And alternatively, the Giants may have been lulled into just harvesting existing talent.
Also, it would be handy, if the latest batch produced a couple of players, with the talent of Gulden and Campbell; both of whom seem real prospects.
Under 18s allies team announced - 7 Swans players - Gulden , Campbell, Barling, Ellem , Parks, Rayner, Thorne.
That's a surprisingly (and pleasantly) large contingent from the Swans squad - almost a third of the team. I am especially glad to see Thorne get his chance to shine on the big stage. His MVP performances throughout the NAB League series warrant his inclusion in the side (and he kept getting better, the longer the series went on), but I feared he might fall into the "unsexy" category that has prevented previous tough, relentless and hard-working Swans midfielders from getting an opportunity.
Agree re Thorne. Must admit I didnt really know of him until this years series. Had heard more about Rayner but he is more key position backman so is more likely to take time and unlikley to be that high up any draft order.
Ellem is an interesting one as he is very raw and I remember seeing him at the start of last year and he was a big lump who quite clearly knew how to play forward but was a bit behind the other boys from a fitness perspective. He looked quite impressive in the NAB series this year and the swans academy training program has clearly made him fitter. But even Parks and Barling have been mentioned in different despatches and the likes of Gnaden (reserve for allies) plus a few others really arent that far behind the guys who were picked for allies.
The 18s are actually a pretty even bunch and it would be hard in my view to separate them . I guess it may just come down to specific needs.
Even the 17s have about half a dozen boys who arent that far behind Gulden and Campbell.
I would really love to see some boys being finally recognised from non sydney clubs and taking a chance on someone rather than whinging about the heeney / mills player that comes through every so often. You start to see it becomes a fine line sometimes between the chosen ones and the "just missed" players. I remember watching the 16 series last year and while Gulden and Campbell were clearly in the best group of players at that level in the academy , they really werent that dominant from an outsider looking in view. Obviously the state series last year bought them to the forefront and they have clearly thrived this year while playing essentially an age group above.
Interstate clubs still seem more attracted to the GWS academy boys (and Lions academy etc) in this respect which is odd considering the Swans over the past number of years have generally had the better of most academy teams at 18s levels (and 16s in respect of Giants) .
12.30pm Sunday against Vic Country who beat Vic Metro last week. If the game is televised, other than watching our guys, look out for the two HBF for Country, very impressive last week, Lachlan Ash & Hayden Young, both look high draft picks to my untrained eye.
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