News Adelaide Academy?

[adelaidecrows]

I think this is a great idea on the surface but essentially its designed to again give benefit to growth areas like NSW where they have a huge population Sydney and GWS will just reap the rewards. SA and WA wont benefit out of it nearly as much and VIC clubs will also get burned more often than not. But still the minor advantage of getting access to talent when it appears is always good.

 

[BrissyCrow]

I still like my suggestion from two years ago.
We should keep the draft but with a small change.

In the first round the two SA teams can nominate their selection from the SA talent. So if the Crows finish 10th and the Power finish 5th the crow will nominate a SA selection first and the Power can then nominate their SA selection. Once nominated no one can pick those two player in the first round. So if the ladder at the end of the season was

Hawthorn....would be able to select the 10th best Victorian player
Carlton.....would be able to select the 9th best Vic player
Sydney.....would be able to select the 2nd best NSW player
Richmond....select the 8th best Vic
Pt Adelaide....could select the 2nd best SA player
Collingwood....7th best Vic player
Western Dogs....6th best Vic player
Adelaide....select the 1st best player from SA
Eagles....select the 2nd best WA player
Brisbane....2nd best QLD player
Freo...select the 1st WA Player
Gold Coast ...1st selection of a QLD
Geelong....5th best Vic player
GWS....1st NSW pick
North Melb.....4th Vic pick
Melbourne...3rd Vic pick
Essendon...2nd Vic Pick
StKilda...1st Vic pick

This way every team gets to select a local player. If a team doesn't want to pick a player from within their state they can select any player who hasn't been nominate or taken when there pick comes. So Hawthorn could pick a SA player instead of a Vic player in the first round. Essendon you would think would take the 2nd best Vic but if the 3rd best WA player was better than the 2nd best VIC player then Essendon could take that WA player. I believe this would also help with the Go Home issue. After the first round the draft reverts to what it is today. The issue night be in NSW and QLD. I would suggest that these states have one academy in each state as well as their local leagues so rather tha Sydney having their own academy both the GWS and Swans would need to support a NSW academy.

 

[Miss Vanessa]

I don't believe you can't 'over think' something like this. We got screwed over with the father and son rules and although the theory of an academy is fine I'm hoping our teams don't rely on it coming out in the wash.
I'm fine with the present set up, if they got the father son rule more equitable then we can draft players from anywhere.
If your worried about home grown and players from your region go watch the SANFL that's is far more aligned to regions and a good standard.

Agreed. We got screwed with the father son rule but I would argue that here again, things are getting over complicated. It should be as simple as possible for a club to pick up the son of a former player. I don't much care if a particular club gets an advantage in one specific year. And even if one club does manage to get more out of the rule than others I don't much care. Good on them for fostering a culture that produces more father son picks... But ultimately it should all even out in the long run.

And again, a simple system of allocating certain U/18 teams or academies to certain clubs really does seem as if could offer a simple system of linking local players with clubs. Again, I love the idea of each team having a core of local players that would be less likely to move home come free agency time and provide a connection with the community. At present I think it is the one thing which is lacking from the AFL and I think the game would be better for it.

 

[Miss Vanessa]

I think this is a great idea on the surface but essentially its designed to again give benefit to growth areas like NSW where they have a huge population Sydney and GWS will just reap the rewards. SA and WA wont benefit out of it nearly as much and VIC clubs will also get burned more often than not. But still the minor advantage of getting access to talent when it appears is always good.

As I tried to point out though in previous posts, allowing clubs a priority pick from clubs aligned with them wouldn't actually be that inequitable and over time would be pretty even. And I think the positives of having that connection with a region would be great for clubs.

Also note the talent that would slip through to the draft proper would still be top drawer, so struggling clubs would still get access to the best youngsters if their draft teams are up to the task.