NEAFL - Northern Conference - Season 2012

A million % agree about Ryan Davey. Has played 2 ripping state games and won the league medal from 13 games. Ready made player, I think needs to go to a established club to add polish to there list. A cracking bloke as well.

Agree, saw him play against us twice this season and was a dominating player. Certainly worth a rookie possy.

Would like to think so guys but gee it seems hard to convince clubs that a mature age footballer is a better bet than a 17yr old. For the life of me I can't work out why. Takes 3 years for the majority of draftees to make their mark, most mature age players seem to play first year in bc they are recruited as ready made footballers. Take into account hat by the time the 17yr old is ready to play that he may be ready to either move on or finish up (as the average football life is somewhere around 4 years) then i just cannot understand why clubs don't look at 23 yr olds dominating in the state leagues or the better country / metro leagues in Vic. These guys are in the prime of their football life, mature bodies, mature minds, require nowhere near the sort of intensive work to get them up to speed and invariably play the same length of time as the average draftee (talking those from 2nd pick thru to last picks, 1st rounders seem to have a better strike rate). IMO reckon its lazy recruiting and noone with any balls to go out on a limb and do it. The Swans have been the best exponents over the past decade in this respect taking 2nd hand footballers from other clubs who were to be sacked and look at the sort of sustained success they have had. here in Qld I think it is even more the case where our kids are a little behind the southern states anyway. Most are ready to be drafted at age 20 or so, not 17/18. The hardest thing is to keep their chins up when things don't go their way in the draft initially I reckon.

Lucy signed with Aspley per the NEAFL site. Pull to play under Blair stronger than that to return to old club? (Or might be living on Northside so more convenient? Or Aspley pay a bit better!)

Very astute Dogwarna In fact Andrew Boston was taken today by the Suns as a rookie and starts with them tomorrow. Not sure why he was not taken in the Draft certainly was a massive amount of interest particulary from North . So I guess there loss and the Gold Coasts gain. Great to see another Broady kid entering the AFL system. Thats 3 in the last three years. Next year i am tipping young Lachlan Weller will get drafted.

Good to hear if that is the case about Boston. Can they get him as a priority pick? The draft is still a couple of weeks away isn't it?
Broady have done very well to bring the list they have together with some exciting young kids. I heard Weller was not draftable until 2014.

Has he been given "permission to train" up till rookie draft, or been promised a rookie spot.
Lachlan Weller is the best running around at the moment down there but I believe he can't be drafted till 2014.
If we get one qld kid rookied that may be a decent result, as bad as that sounds

I reckon a couple more Dog. Hasn't been a great draft, next year should be a better I think - Caine Tickner has already been signed up by the Lions so that is one for next year already!!

Tickler has signed with the academy, so he is not quite there just yet. He still has to get the job done over the summer with the academy program leading into the nationals then finish off the yr with good Neafl form.
There is definitely a lot to like about this batch of academy kids

http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_...ID=108278&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=19551404

Bit more than being part of the Academy Dog but point taken - lets just say i think it will be a given that he is drafted if the Lions are going thru this process. Hope so anyway.

fixture is out

Interesting to see full round of footy at Yeronga which means several teams only get 8 home games for the year. Fair disadvantage to them I reckon!
Thoughts?

i reckon it's a stupid idea. i don't know why they would do that

they did it in 2006 as well.

zillmere, broadbeach, morningside and southport all played at carara on the same day

What was the point of it? Losing a home ground advantage to those teams could be the difference between making finals or missing out at that time of year. I'd be fuming if I was anyone of those sides.

Dinner at the Cattery last night and word is Lions reserves after a new coach

Interesting, any other details

So the new finals set up is to ensure that the NEAFL championship game has some meaning. The conference final is a GF but not a GF! No medals and no cup will given to the conference winning team. No doubt it's been done to try and keep the players focused on the championship game and not kicking the premiership cup sideways down Cavill Ave!!

Cup hasn't been down that way for many years mate. Outrageous decision if their are no medals and cup for winning Northern division. Either way winning club will be on the drink for days.

why play the championship game a week later, why not play it at the start of the next season. makes sense. i don't think players would want to play another game after just winning a flag

Thats the whole point now damo is that they wouldn't have won a flag the week before so they have to have themselves up for the championship Grand Final.
If there is no cup, no medallions etc given out the week before the players are going to be pretty determined to win the big one and might subdue the celebrations?

No different to an American style set up - it just means a change of mentality for the players / coaches. TBH reckon their should be a conference style set up with the 18s Cup and Shields as well. Top 4 sides from both play in a Final 8 finals arrangement.

Explanation seems to be in article on AFL website today with Mark Browning discussing drafting from Qld - seems the rationale is to have all the NEAFL talent on display at the one venue on the same day to try to attract recruiters up to Qld to look at potential Qld recruits

Given that the AFL are puting in significant funds to develop the NEAFL probably not unreasonable if it does improve exposure of players - certainly seems the recruiters still not convinced by the Qld under 18's or the NEAFL - under 18's this year had their best results for 4 or 5 years but only one draftee (maybe a couple of rookies to come next week?) and little interest in the best NEAFL players as mature age recruits... Sure the clubs happy to do as a one off each season if it really improves the exposure of Qld players - I guess the question is whether in reality it will actually do this or not?

Agree FM - the bottom line is, no matter how many games are played at one time etc, it is important that the NEAFL is rated as a breeding ground for footballers - if it is seen as a comp no better than many country Vic leagues then why would talent scouts make their way up here? Not sure about that line of thinking anyway - its a 2hr flight, no more than what it would take to drive to Albury to watch an O&M game. If it was just about travel and logistics why didn't the Suns and Lions recruit the apparently draftable 18 yr olds running around up here? IMO most kids up this way just are not draftable at 17/18 as they are invariably a year or 2 behind in development. A couple of years playing senior footy, maybe one in the NEAFL and then one in the VFL / SANFL would be best process i reckon. If they play well in those southern comps you can nearly guarantee you will get drafted as a 19/20 yr old. As an example, Zorko needed to absolutely brain them for 4 years before he even got noticed and that was by ONE club - fortunately for him thats all it took to now be up and about and probably a 5-8 year footy career in front of him but not many kids follow this model!
I hope there are many more kids taken from Qld but I'm not sure putting show case days on offer for talent scouts will do this? From all reports the U18's knocking over WA had more of an affect on WA kids being drafted (1 only I think) than Qld kids getting taken up. Its much more about improving the standard of the NEAFL to a point where scouts can confidently say that if a 17yr old is doing really well week in, week out, then this holds some credibility to them.

Rookie draft over. Bourne from Morningside to Brisbane,Boston from Broadbeach to Suns through academy's. Oxley from Redlands to Collingwood.thought Scott Clouston is stifff

Rookie draft over. Bourke from Morningside to Brisbane,Boston from Broadbeach to Suns through academy's. Oxley from Redlands to Collingwood.thought Scott Clouston is stiff