My personal belief, and I suspect it might be backed by something that emanated from the club a few years back but can't be sure, is it's because they're tight-arses (i.e. budgets are tight). They think, unfairly in my view given that every single ND and RD ever conducted throws up examples of players who have been grossly underrated (and grossly overrated) by the marketplace, that there are precious few NSW pre-selections who have even the tiny chance of making it required to justify spending a mere $30,000 or so on their salary, plus investing coaching resources into 'em.
As liz has said in the past, to be fair to the club I think the apologists' view is that by the time a NSW boy is 18, it's already too late. 12 months or 2 years of elite training won't get him to AFL standard if he's starting from too low a base. You have to get 'em at 13 or 14 through the Swans Academy and/or the scholarship program.
All of that said, I think as a simple matter of PR, they would be mad not to take a few this year, now that GWS will be more or less monopolising local talent into the foreseeable future after this year.
Bookmarks