Sydney Uni + Collingwood U/18 Team

[mountainsofpain]

The AFL send out to all clubs the contact details of all kids within a region in the 15-16 age bracket that will be moving to 18's in the next two years. So basically senior clubs like East Coast, Nor-West, Penrith, Holroyd etc all get details of players within that region. I don't have a problem with that, with the exception that guys from Blue Mountains etc get calls from ECE (If they are any good, of course)

Contacts are easy to get. You might get one player moving camps and the parents of that kid decide to get brownie points with the new club and "suggest" other players from their old club are targetted. They have no problem getting the players contact details and passing it on. That has certainly been prevalent this year where I know of two different parents have been actively recruiting their childs mates to "jump ship".

If that is the case, why on earth should senior clubs get contact details of juniors outside their immediate area? Doesn't a club like the East Coast Eagles for instance have enough juniors coming through the ranks without being given access to players miles away from their own area?

The general gist of the above indicates to me that the access to players' details is far too easy and should be tightened up considerably. It makes it far too easy for players to be contacted by various clubs, which is even more of an issue once they progress to Under 18s and then become tied to a senior club.

The big issue is that of officials approaching kids at carnivals (happened at Coffs this year) telling them if they switch clubs, they will get "bigger opportunities" to make AFL a career ! Word around was that at Coffs, it was pretty well a closed camp. Parents couldn't get near their kids during the day, but certain coaches and AFL talent scouts not involved with the team, were allowed inside the inner sanctum.

If that is true, it is a disgrace. AFL events should not be a vehicle for certain clubs to have access to players with a view to recruiting them. The AFL staff conducting the events should be told it is not on, either by themselves personally or by giving individuals access to the players as implied above.

[RPM]

[QUOTE=GoEagles;429035]I would have thought it was common place to recruit kids? Back in the day of being a youngster we had clubs come around home trying to convince us to play for their club and cant see why that would change???????

GoEagles back when i was a kid growing up in Adelaide we had no choice at where we went there where zones and if you where in that zone you went to that club, maybe the NSWAFL should look at something to that maner so as to try and even out the comp and stop all this rigmaroll

[RPM]

[QUOTE=ShortHalfHead;428950]The AFL send out to all clubs the contact details of all kids within a region in the 15-16 age bracket that will be moving to 18's in the next two years.

SHH do they really well i can tell you that the club that i have been on the committee of for the last 10 years has never received such a "contact listing" and i would like to know who the clubs are that do get this (or is it just a select group and now you have let the cat out of the bag) generaly clubs have to do the hard yards and help there local junior teams around them as much as possible so as to entice a junior to come and play for them.

[mountainsofpain]

Look at the geographical area you are talking about. If a kid is a tallented footballer hailing from Penrith or up in the mountains and he wants to play the highest level of football he can, really his only two options are ECE or Campbelltown, or perhaps Pennant Hills. He could play for Camden or Penrith, but do we want our tallented kids playing in a competition where they will dominate or do we want them challenged?

I just don't understand the issue of kids in these areas looking to play for their nearest premier div club... just like any other kid moving into senior football.

If any kid wants to play at the highest level, they can make that choice themselves - I mean, they will have ambition anyway, so those sort of things would already be going through their heads. However I see no reason how on earth it justifies players being targeted by clubs external to the area - especially when said targeting apparently (and I emphasize apparently) goes on at AFL conducted and endorsed events.

The East Coast Eagles last year had enough Under 18s to field two sides. They simply don't need to be enticing players from outside their area with the amount of junior talent already at their disposal. Targeting the juniors from the outer west is greed, nothing else.

Stronger clubs viewing the juniors of the outer west as nothing more than an additional recruiting zone will have serious ramifications for the senior game out there. It will ensure the senior clubs stay weak and give them little chance to get stronger and be more competitive. In turn, that then of course ensures that the western juniors stay vulnerable to recruitment from clubs outside the area because the local clubs are weak - which simply means that the cycle continues.

The fact that this sort of thing is allowed to go on with the AFL doing nothing about it stinks. The outer west is apparently part of the game's great new development area and yet the senior game out there is being seriously stifled by the drain of talent out of the area. The fact that this whole process is seemingly unwittingly assisted by the Junior Development process makes it worse.

[Junior]

Neither of you have answered my question. Can you name all the under 18 players that you suggest have come to East Coast this year? Also, to my original question, you seem to know who will receive the scholarships, can you please name them? Since it isn't to be announced until March 29, I would love to hear your opinions.