The Academies - 2016

[Garlic muncher]

I would be very interested to know how many players were being drafted from the Riverina before the GWS Academy was setup because as far as I can tell the GWS Academy has increased the amount of players being drafted from there by a lot.

They have, the players coming out of the Riverina dried up and it is now returning to the old days, same as the ACT or perhaps you included ACT in Riverina, its pretty close

 

[Garlic muncher]

Dont forget that GWS also has places like Broken Hill which are obviously not part of the Riverina but have been producing A grade SANFL and VFL players for 100 years.

The map shows that GWS has the bulk of the state in mass and the AFL strongholds but probably only half or perhaps even less than half the population, sorry i don't know how to get the map to expand.

 

[Garlic muncher]

281,377

That may be the population of the Riverina give or take .. but the whole of the Riverina is not a complete AFL area, many towns north of Wagga have both RL and AF teams and some even Rugby teams, take Cootamundra for EX, in the Northern Riverina, they have AF, RL and RU team, soccer as well and they are quite a tiny town, they only have a senior AF team and no juniors, any juniors who want to play head South to play at Wagga etc, however they have RL juniors.

There is only a certain amount of available bodies in these small towns that lose labouring farm jobs all the time etc to play football, jobs are falling away not growing, farms are bigger, does not take much for these teams to fold.

 

[Garlic muncher]

Very true. I'm just thinking of the implications Hoppers pathway has on player. This year 3 of the NSW players in my top 30 are boarding at schools in Victoria. Not a great look if player have to move so they can presue football. You don't see Queensland, Tasmania and Divison 1 players do it. If the AFL can invest in some way to help keep NSW talent in NSW that would be good.

That has always happened though, my cousins grew up near Deni and all went to boarding school in Victoria.

The Riverina was always firmly tied to Melbourne through railways and Victorian pastorlists owning plenty of land, plenty of wool went to Port Phillip Bay via steamers on the Murrambidgee and Darling then rail to Melbourne, and when silver was discovered at Broken Hill, the station owners and pastoralists had links with Melbourne rather than Sydney or even Adelaide which was by far closer.

 

[Garlic muncher]

How do you figure?

The academy is presenting them with the opportunity to get these highly rated young guns, e.g. Heeney and Mills who were both considered top 2 picks, for a discounted price...which really is quite unfair. And now we're discussing them getting 3 more highly rated forwards in the next few years.

Parker and Hannebery have nothing to do with this.

You do understand if the Swans academy did not exist Heeney and Mills and Davis and i reckon a handful of GWS selections would not be playing AFL footy, therefore the players to fill those spots on the list would probably have come from Victoria.

The recent Hanneberrys etc have come from NSW and not Victoria

 

[Cleric]

Was hearing on FC that GWS have got rid of their SA and WA recruiters as they believe their zone will give them a lot of the talent they need.
This is crazy and really needs to be looked at by the AFL.
In good times get first preference on the top talent in that area and when it is a lean year feel free to have at the talent from everywhere else.
This should even anger other Zoners such as Sydney, Brisbane and GC.

 

[Colonial]

Was hearing on FC that GWS have got rid of their SA and WA recruiters as they believe their zone will give them a lot of the talent they need.
This is crazy and really needs to be looked at by the AFL.
In good times get first preference on the top talent in that area and when it is a lean year feel free to have at the talent from everywhere else.
This should even anger other Zoners such as Sydney, Brisbane and GC.

Its basically, why try to sign players from the other side of the country with the "Cam risk", smart move not to waste money..

So this is like the 4th thread going about academies mods. Don't suppose we can join them up or something....

 

[philthy05]

The bidding system gives other clubs access to them so the system now works.

Gives other clubs access? What other club had access to hopper? The bidding system only makes them pay fair value. At most you can say it gives teams access to players who they are not as interested in or have room for ie Dougal Howard. The bidding system is a big improvement but I would not say it gives other clubs access to them when the players you have access to are the small percentage they really don't want that badly. They can match and take the players, so it is truly only what they pass on you can access.

You do understand if the Swans academy did not exist Heeney and Mills and Davis and i reckon a handful of GWS selections would not be playing AFL footy, therefore the players to fill those spots on the list would probably have come from Victoria.

The recent Hanneberrys etc have come from NSW and not Victoria

No one is complaining about those players. I for one am extremely happy for the teams with academies to build football players out of traditional rugby heartlands where they would not have access to coaches and training.

What we do not like and agree with is these clubs like gws getting access to players from towns that are not solely rugby heartlands and further more as discussed with hopper he had access to good coaching. If he is going to a boarding school in vic because it is closer then Syd and he can have access to good coaching and a talent pathway then that goes against what these academies are meant to be about which is providing a talent pathway to nsw kids who would not have that opportunity.

 

[Colonial]

Gives other clubs access? What other club had access to hopper? The bidding system only makes them pay fair value. At most you can say it gives teams access to players who they are not as interested in or have room for ie Dougal Howard. The bidding system is a big improvement but I would not say it gives other clubs access to them when the players you have access to are the small percentage they really don't want that badly. They can match and take the players, so it is truly only what they pass on you can access.



No one is complaining about those players. I for one am extremely happy for the teams with academies to build football players out of traditional rugby heartlands where they would not have access to coaches and training.

What we do not like and agree with is these clubs like gws getting access to players from towns that are not solely rugby heartlands and further more as discussed with hopper he had access to good coaching. If he is going to a boarding school in vic because it is closer then Syd and he can have access to good coaching and a talent pathway then that goes against what these academies are meant to be about which is providing a talent pathway to nsw kids who would not have that opportunity.

He was in the academy since he was 12. Moved in the last 2 years before drafting to get some game time in tac.
It was us who trained him all along.

How many riverina draftees in the last 10 years?

 

[dlanod]

How many riverina draftees in the last 10 years?

Rhetorical question, I know, but Breust was the only player taken in the National Draft from the Riverina in the last 10 years. Several players from there were only drafted after they moved elsewhere to pursue AFL.

 

[Colonial]

Rhetorical question, I know, but Breust was the only player taken in the National Draft from the Riverina in the last 10 years. Several players from there were only drafted after they moved elsewhere to pursue AFL.

I was actually interested but a bit busy to try and do the search myself.

Cheers

 

[dlanod]

I was actually interested but a bit busy to try and do the search myself.

Cheers

Oops, I misremembered my last search.

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/thre...allest-on-record.1116363/page-2#post-41800217

Duryea was the only player taken in the ND from the Riverina.

Breust was a rookie pick. Smith got taken from the VFL after moving away from the Riverina.

 

[Garlic muncher]

No one is complaining about those players. I for one am extremely happy for the teams with academies to build football players out of traditional rugby heartlands where they would not have access to coaches and training.

What we do not like and agree with is these clubs like gws getting access to players from towns that are not solely rugby heartlands and further more as discussed with hopper he had access to good coaching. If he is going to a boarding school in vic because it is closer then Syd and he can have access to good coaching and a talent pathway then that goes against what these academies are meant to be about which is providing a talent pathway to nsw kids who would not have that opportunity.

The problem is, where do you draw the line, the border is pretty easy to see and understand, using actual towns is not, perhaps you could use the Murrumbidgee River, but that then presents a whole new group of problems.

Towns that are more affiliated with AF rather than rugby go right up into the central west of NSW to places like lake Cargelligo, that town is pretty close to the geographical center of NSW.

Whilst GWS have got their hands on a great zone i think ultimately the league will be the winner, that zone had not been worked like Victoria has worked the TAC under 18's and it has also forced the Swans to look north and north is where the population is.

**** by stating the league will be the winner, i mean the clubs specifically.

 

[philthy05]

How many riverina draftees in the last 10 years?

Per a capita you think it would be significantly worse then somewhere like Playford in south Australia ?

 

[dlanod]

The problem is, where do you draw the line, the border is pretty easy to see and understand, using actual towns is not, perhaps you could use the Murrumbidgee River, but that then presents a whole new group of problems.

Towns that are more affiliated with AF rather than rugby go right up into the central west of NSW to places like lake Cargelligo, that town is pretty close to the geographical center of NSW.

The old NSW scholarships excluded this area by defining its area as including "all of NSW north of the southern boundary running east to west following Kiama, Nowra, Goulburn, Cootamundra, West Wyalong, Hillston, Broken Hill and north to the Queensland border." Those towns were included in the NSW scholarship scheme so weren't considered part of the AFL homeland areas.

 

[Garlic muncher]

The old NSW scholarships excluded this area by defining its area as including "all of NSW north of the southern boundary running east to west following Kiama, Nowra, Goulburn, Cootamundra, West Wyalong, Hillston, Broken Hill and north to the Queensland border." Those towns were included in the NSW scholarship scheme so weren't considered part of the AFL homeland areas.

The only problem with that as the past has shown is the Riverina gets neglected, I doubt whether one decent player would now get through that zone without being identified, not only that but being inducted into these academies gives hope to players that may be in two minds about which sport to pursue and in quite a few towns north of Wagga there are real options, although there are the 2 distinct camps ( AF and rugby) there is also a decent % that swings between both.

 

[CD__]

grundog49 how far ahead do you generally look for young talent? Nick Blakey and Shaydan Close both sound like really good prospects out the Swans' Academy in coming years.

 

[Yoda_]

Best way to stop academy robbery is capping the amount of Academy AND Father/Son prospects per club

Or

Alternatively

If a player is selected in a representative side (such as AIS or AAu18 honours) they become ineligible for the academy of there selected club.


Damn the AFL for being tight arses and not running state academies themselves

 

[carnthemlions]

Best way to stop academy robbery is capping the amount of Academy AND Father/Son prospects per club

Or

Alternatively

If a player is selected in a representative side (such as AIS or AAu18 honours) they become ineligible for the academy of there selected club.


Damn the AFL for being tight arses and not running state academies themselves

nah

 

[Yoda_]

nah

Constructive discussion points you make.

 

[Bishop]

Best way to stop academy robbery is capping the amount of Academy AND Father/Son prospects per club

Or

Alternatively

If a player is selected in a representative side (such as AIS or AAu18 honours) they become ineligible for the academy of there selected club.


Damn the AFL for being tight arses and not running state academies themselves

Don't agree with this at all- The point of academies is to 'develop' the players. So basically that doesn't encourage them to develop them to be the best players, because they won't be able to draft them.

& considering the U18 AA team gets picked on names a lot of the time, imagine the outrage when 1 Vic Metro kid made the squad instead of a GWS academy kid who performed at the champs... All the other academy clubs wouldn't be happy.

 

[TradeDraft]

SA and WA Zones:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-04-12/sa-and-wa-clubs-get-their-indigenous-and-multicultural-zones

 

[stringertheking]

Ban GWS from the acamdamy it's a joke how much help they have had.

 

[F_therest]

You do understand if the Swans academy did not exist Heeney and Mills and Davis and i reckon a handful of GWS selections would not be playing AFL footy, therefore the players to fill those spots on the list would probably have come from Victoria.

The recent Hanneberrys etc have come from NSW and not Victoria

You do realise the clubs have their respective academies thanks to the AFL right?

Yes they bring kids to the AFL who may otherwise never have made it but thats not my point.
It is still unfair that the academy clubs are constantly getting dibs on highly rated draftees.

Sydney top 4 team yet got Heeney and Mills recently.
GWS with a few top draftees and more in the next few years to come.
Brisbane as well with Hipwood, Keays and a few good prospects in next few years.

 

[F_therest]

He was in the academy since he was 12. Moved in the last 2 years before drafting to get some game time in tac.
It was us who trained him all along.

How many riverina draftees in the last 10 years?

Bottom line is the AFL still has handed you this particular area...
Carlton and other teams dont have the opportunity to produce these academies in good areas.