I cannot believe the criticism. 12 out of 2400 kids that have gone on to play AFL Football. Ask them(VICTORIAN CLUBS) if they would start an academy that costs millions of dollars and only get only .005% of them good enough to play AFL.
Apparently that is what he said. I think he is just trying to make a point that it's a lot cheaper than Sydney, and I'm sure it is.
You couldn't pay me any amount of money to live in Geelong. Except there are some pretty good golf courses down that way.
I don't mind Pridham. He comes out swinging and you won't die wondering about what he thinks.
Last edited by KTigers; 7th April 2021 at 06:20 PM.
Good of Pridham to remind the Victorian clubs that they have their own academies, with the NGAs. I wonder why they seem to forget about those? Could it be, that the NGAs don't really take up much time and effort during the season, and that they only their minds, in the run up to the draft?
- - - Updated - - -
They only enter their minds.
(I can't blame the auto correct for that).
I would hope that the other Clubs from the Northern States will also come into bat for their Academies as they have as much to lose as us.
A couple of observations. Didn't the AFL just do a Report into the future of the Academies last season? Surely they cannot change their policy emanating from that on the basis of a couple of recruits less than a season later?
I think most thinking people see the value of the Academies in developing talent in non-AFL States. The dispute seems to be over the price paid. At present its a 20% discount. Will this drop to 10% on the back of Victorian pressure?
Great post. I also like how the club has ramped up its messaging on the father son rule, saying that right now, a level playing field is to get rid of it. It keeps the focus on the most awkward topic for the major Victorian clubs.
It's a reasonable argument to make on equality grounds, arguably supports 10-15 years of few, or ideally no changes to the academy system.
Captain, I am detecting large quantities of win in this sector
The media have driven this latest flare-up, as others have already noted.
It is clickbait and a content-filler for the media in Melbourne to be talking about our Academy products if they, and we as a team are doing well.
I’d be moderately confident the AFL has been holding firm against any other clubs who may raise any concerns, and making it clear the Academies are staying, it’s not up for debate etc.
I guess it’s a bit of a double-edged sword - the only time anyone talks about it is after a top talent is drafted from the Academy. So it’s more of an issue for us if no-one is talking about it.
If we have a Heeney/Mills and Campbell/Gulden scenario every year or two I can see the pressure really mounting on the AFL, but history has so far shown that to be the exception.
Bookmarks