We've got one of those NSW scholarship kids now

[Porthos]

Dave Linsen, 17 years of age, from Western Suburbs in the SFL, will be at the Port game tonight.

[blackdiamond]

Porthos, do you have any further details on him?

[Porthos]

Nope, this is second hand.

[Ford Fairlane]

Thanks for the update Porthos.

Has everyone seen the thread on the Adelaide Board where Port were warned by the AFL for having some SANFL players come out to train with us? Apparently they were Bryce Campbell, Gavin Hughes and Adam Cockshell (Nwd) and Alwyn Davey and another from South.

[Porthos]

Hmm, I would've thought any warning would've resulted in a fine. Unless of course its something that the Victorian clubs do regularly.

[Pinepower]

This sometimes makes me mad. Surely the club knew it was against the rules so why risk the wrath of the AFL.

Then I think that Port have always played within a whisker of the rules so why stop now.

Well seeing as Port were supposed to dob in the Crows for the father/son rule with Bryce Gibbs any bets on the Crows dobbing Port in with this one.

Somebody had to tell the AFL.

Actually I am so sick of the AFL and all its rules and regulations. It has become petty

[Porthos]

Well, this rule is fair enough if its evenly enforced. Can you imagine how pointless draft day would be if every prospect was already best mates with the guys at an AFL club? Might as well go back to zoning.

[Porthos]

OK, googling tells us that he's a full-forward

This bit from the Sydney AFL site (http://sydneyafl.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&aid=105762) is very tidy.
Round 3 – David Linsen (Western Suburbs)

At 16 years of age, Linsen is already physically and mentally mature, enabling him to already be amongst the hardest working and strongest players at his club despite his parents promise that he still has another couple of inches of growing left. His strong chasing and tackling as a defensive minded forward have already made him an important cog in the Magpies structure but his appetite for a contest, strong leading, ability to take a contested mark and proficiency in kicking long goals have been seen as an incredible bonus in just his second senior game.

On the weekend he not only kicked 3 crucial goals, but held down full-forward one-on-one at an integral part of the match and provided countless contests.

Linsen is originally from the Liverpool Junior AFC before switching to the Bankstown Junior Football Club in 2004. He was awarded Best on Ground in Bankstown's successful under 16 Grand Final last season. Originally having decided to not play football this year, Linsen was encouraged to the club early in the preseason and has not looked back since.

With obviously quite a bit of development to go, Linsen and his coach Kevin Eynaud are simply looking for ongoing improvement which will hopefully build up to seeing David make the State RAMS side next year.

[Ford Fairlane]

Some pretty tough sporting competitors come out of Bankstown, the Waughs, Jeff Thomson and Lenny Pascoe spring to mind from international cricket.

So what does this mean as far as Port's involvement goes? Does he come here to train with us, or do we provide him with some specialist coaching while he plays in the Sydney AFL? Is this like a rookie list placing?

[Porthos]

I think he just comes down and trains with the club a bit in preseason or something, maybe during school holidays. His family pocket some cash out of it too I believe.

And for this, we get the option of adding him to our list for free.

[Ford Fairlane]

Sounds like a good deal to me :thumbsu: Let's hope our recruiters had their Danyle Pearce goggles on. :cool:

[Toots Hibbert]

Dave Linsen, 17 years of age, from Western Suburbs in the SFL, will be at the Port game tonight.
Hope we can put on a show for him.

[Porthos]

Its on the website

http://portadelaidefc.com.au/cp2/c2/webi/article/290507bt.jpg (http://portadelaidefc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=290512)

[Ford Fairlane]

I see the website refers to him as a midfielder, but the summary from the Sydney AFL site made him sound like a KPP prospect. Pity Port didn't supply some stats.

[RussellEbertHandball]

I'm not a big fan of the scholarship system, especially as it compulsory and I have my doubts about it doing much for footy in NSW and Sydney in particular.

I like what the Crows did a couple of months ago. They signed up a kid from Broken Hill. Broken Hill in all reality an SA town, there are plenty of people with links to SA footy in the town and Port probably has some contacts and members in the town. It would save a lot of rescources to scource a player in a micky mouse scheme out of Broken Hill rather than run around NSW trying to find a kid we reckon might want to play for Port and after a year or two, wants to leave home at 17 for a long shot.

I reckon a lot of clubs will sign up players from just over the Victorian border which will do bugger all for devlopment of kids and Aussie Rules in Sydney. The culture of Aussie Rules doesn't exist in Sydney and there are plenty of footy clubs within a couple of hours drive north of the Murray who have produced VFL and AFL footballers.

That said, good luck to the kid and if we pull a rabbit or two out of the hat I will change my mind.

[RussellEbertHandball]

Mind you the signing will give me an incentive to watch the 1 hour highlight of a AFL Sydney game of the week when a Western Suburbs game is televised on Fox Footy before it gets the chop. If I see him play I give you my thoughts. The AFL Sydney comp would be a lower standard than A1 amateur league. They however do hit harder and probably throw more punches than the SANFL, the League and Union background of a lot of the boys accounts for that.

[RussellEbertHandball]

I see the website refers to him as a midfielder, but the summary from the Sydney AFL site made him sound like a KPP prospect. Pity Port didn't supply some stats.

Probably like Cooney. Played KPP with kids and midfield against men.

[Porthos]

I like what the Crows did a couple of months ago. They signed up a kid from Broken Hill. Broken Hill in all reality an SA town, there are plenty of people with links to SA footy in the town and Port probably has some contacts and members in the town. It would save a lot of rescources to scource a player in a micky mouse scheme out of Broken Hill rather than run around NSW trying to find a kid we reckon might want to play for Port and after a year or two, wants to leave home at 17 for a long shot.While I agree that there would be a lot of SA people in Broken Hill, and picking a player from there would be good, I don't think grabbing a Sydneysider is a terrible move.

* Flying from Sydney to Adelaide wouldn't take much longer than Broken Hill to Adelaide.
* The SFL is easier to scout than Broken Hill, as our scouts and coaches can check in whenever they're in town. We never play in Broken Hill.
* There's plenty of South Aussies in Sydney too.
* Broken Hill and Sydney still play for the same junior state sides, so any info gained from that would be gained regardless.

I reckon a lot of clubs will sign up players from just over the Victorian border which will do bugger all for devlopment of kids and Aussie Rules in Sydney.Of the players that clubs have signed up, I don't think any have done that yet, so maybe they've ruled the Murray region as developed and not applicable.

[Ford Fairlane]

There was a column article on Linsen in today's tiser (no link). Not surprisingly from a rugby/soccer background and took up footy 9 years ago with some prompting from his cousins. Played in the SFL senior rep side v ACT this year. And they mention his strong overhed marking, second efforts, strong tackling and hitting targets on the lead. There's a waist up pic of him and he looks a decent size - a bit like Bentley. I think the the description of an on baller who goes forward would be about right.

We've also been given a 'please explain' from the AFL about having up to 6 SANFL based players at the club for skills analysis. They've told us there'll be no more of that before October 30.

[RussellEbertHandball]

Hey Porthos you've modified your tune a bit the last few months
http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5150638&postcount=35
I can't help but think that an SA club signing someone from Broken Hill is kind of cheating. I hope we do it.

9 years playing Aussie Rules is impressive. One of my doubts about picking a kid from Sydney was that he was 15 or 16 had played a year or two of AR was a big lad who was athletic, as opposed to a Broken Hill kiddie who may have been playing from 7 or 8 years of age and was a footballer first with good athleticism. The AFL pay his scholarship fee of between $10k and $20k. It will be interesting to see how much each club spends on trying to find 1 or 2 kids per year and how successful the kids are.

[Porthos]

Hey Porthos you've modified your tune a bit the last few months

While I agree that there would be a lot of SA people in Broken Hill, and picking a player from there would be good, I don't think grabbing a Sydneysider is a terrible move.

Nah, don't reckon I have.

9 years playing Aussie Rules is impressive. One of my doubts about picking a kid from Sydney was that he was 15 or 16 had played a year or two of AR was a big lad who was athletic, as opposed to a Broken Hill kiddie who may have been playing from 7 or 8 years of age and was a footballer first with good athleticism. The AFL pay his scholarship fee of between $10k and $20k. It will be interesting to see how much each club spends on trying to find 1 or 2 kids per year and how successful the kids are.IIRC when Collingwood announced their scholarship kid they made a deal about how he was probably the top junior in the state.

[RussellEbertHandball]

Collingwood have signed up a 15 y.o. Expect them to hype him up.
Stk a 15 y.o 180cm player
Carlton 16 y.o 180cm
Crows 16y.o 186cm
Kangas 16 y.o. 194cm playing senior footy for St George
Sydney 15y.o 190cm+

We've gone for a 17 year old who made the senior representative side. Interesting. I wonder if he will finish school this year and maybe spend more time in SA rather than NSW. Maybe list him with the Magpies in the SANFL??

[Porthos]

A couple problems with that. First, the scholarship doesn't even kick in until January, so if he was in SA before that, I would put money on him being ineligible. Second, the whole point of the scholarship is for him to be boosting NSW football, so even if we convinced him to move after that the AFL would probably crack the ****s.

Anyway, next year he should be in line to play with the NSW u18s side in their encounters with the TAC Cup sides, and the u18 championships. Our guys will have plenty of opportunities to see him play.

[RussellEbertHandball]

If the scholarship doesn't start until January what is stopping him training with Port after 31 October? Who knows for sure what the AFL rules are. Why would they stop him training with Port Magpies pre season, if we arranged it? He hasn't changed his permanent place of abode, it would be during his school holidays etc etc. Just reckon the clubs should be able to do as much as possible if the AFL are really serious about fast tracking these kids.


With respect to the whole scholarship scheme, the AFL talk about developing local heros. So if the AFL clubs get it right they pick the good kids, spend money on them, take them out of Sydney/NSW, if they look after them, then the kids stay with the club and Sydney/NSW footy gets no great benefit from these kids. It just forces the Swans to maybe draft one Sydney/NSW kid a year.

The worst case scenario is that the other 15 clubs spend the money initially, draft the kids, spend time and money to develop them and then they get home sick and the Swans get the benefit of an AFL ready player for no effort.

I'd rather see the AFL strategically spend money on developing a schools competition or junior leagues so all these kids who have a go at Auskick clinics actually have somewhere to go and play a game for a club or school rather than just stop their involvement in Aussie Rules after going to a few clinics.

The biggest problem in Sydney is the lack of Aussie Rules culture. The second biggest as I perceive it, (and is actually the biggest in Brisbane) is that kids are attracted to AusKick but have no were to go in many cases as there are no junior leagues or school footy.

The Auskick numbers in Brisbane/Qld are higher than Adelaide/SA. Prima facie that is a concern for SA, but the relevant numbers are the particaption rates at school footy and junior clubs where they are high in SA, they are small in Brisbane and almost non existent in Sydney.

[Eago77]

Thanks for the update Porthos.

Has everyone seen the thread on the Adelaide Board where Port were warned by the AFL for having some SANFL players come out to train with us? Apparently they were Bryce Campbell, Gavin Hughes and Adam Cockshell (Nwd) and Alwyn Davey and another from South.

It's about time we told the AFl to go f*** themselves. I'm glad we wore our home jumper last night, i wish we'd worn the prison bar's in "convenient heritage" round and good on us for having a look at some young SANFL players "too early".