2nds Official Swans Academy Thread (Player News and Discussion)

Remove this Banner Ad

Oct 17, 2016
1,254
3,455
AFL Club
Sydney
He did play a couple practice matches in the seniors pre-covid. But as you say, he's a bit stiff to be having to strutt his stuff alongside two of the best small mids in the country, he may got to another club like Will Martyn from Brisbane but I'm no club recruiter.

He also regularly hits the scoreboard in the prems comp, which is with and against men some with AFL experience.

I only got to see a few preseason training sessions. But I remember seeing Thorne at swans training, though I did not know who he was at the time. He did drills with the seniors and also helped make up the numbers for a few of the match sims. I remember seeing Gaden and Geddes as well. I think Gaden kicked a goal in one of the early match sims.

I don't know anything about the Academy or the decision making process in who to draft.

But I am guessing they are drafting Academy players who they can see have a realistic pathway into the senior team. I am guessing they don't want to keep drafting Cat B rookies, playing them in the reserves and then delisting them after one year. So they might not draft a key forward like Ellem if they have already got McCartin and Mclean as talented young forwards. So instead looking at positions or roles where there could be openings and opportunities.

I am happy to see players like Wicks succeed and get a game. Because I think he got overlooked for Allies selection in his draft year, then had a good season in the NEAFL as a 19yo, then gets drafted and debuts in his 2nd year. I get that feel with Thorne. Because in those two matches he seemed to be playing as well as Campbell/Gulden even though they are the ones with all the draft focus on them.
 
Last edited:
Oct 17, 2016
1,254
3,455
AFL Club
Sydney
Off season I will probably try to watch some academy player footage. So here are some links. Though you have to have patience because often there is no commentary and low budget camera work.

Replays of UNSW games from this season. So there will be some footage of Gulden. I think he is 12. There are other Swans players like Thorne, Towers and Gaden.

Replays of Pennant Hills games from this season (though less available and Campbell only plays some of the games)

Bigfooty thread with links to U18 Championships games from last season.

Bigfooty thread with links to Swans Academy NAB league games from last season

NAB league youtube channel. You will see a lot of underage games for the Victorian draftees
 
Last edited:

Bear31

Club Legend
Feb 15, 2020
1,145
1,751
AFL Club
Sydney
Off season I will probably try to watch some academy player footage. So here are some links. Though you have to have patience because often there is no commentary and low budget camera work.

Replays of UNSW games from this season. So there will be some footage of Gulden. I think he is 12. There are other Swans players like Thorne, Towers and Gaden.

Replays of Pennant Hills games from this season (though less available and Campbell only plays some of the games)

Bigfooty thread with links to U18 Championships games from last season.

Bigfooty thread with links to Swans Academy NAB league games from last season

NAB league youtube channel. You will see a lot of underage games for the Victorian draftees
My nephew just turned 16 about 3 weeks ago. Playing in under 19s UNSWES AFL and under 16s every weekend. Also a wicketkeeper batsman for NSW under 16s. A really lovely kid.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Bear31

Club Legend
Feb 15, 2020
1,145
1,751
AFL Club
Sydney
Good luck to him, hope he gets a go for either sport

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
He won an award for most dismissals in the entire competiion fom under 6 to 18 (i think its the East Sydney comp. covers about half of sydney cricket) when he was 12. equalled a reord held since 1977. Got the award at the opera house and was presented with the award by Mick Whitney of all people.
 

Bear31

Club Legend
Feb 15, 2020
1,145
1,751
AFL Club
Sydney
He won an award for most dismissals in the entire competiion fom under 6 to 18 (i think its the East Sydney comp. covers about half of sydney cricket) when he was 12. equalled a reord held since 1977. Got the award at the opera house and was presented with the award by Mick Whitney of all people.
last year he was playing 5th or 4th grade mens or something. Cricket. As a slipper got most catches for the season
 
image.png

Bit late but of note.

4 players from the top-10 of the AFL Sydney b&f are academy players.
Errol, Sam, Jacob and Mark which is quite good considering there are many state league players and a sprinkle of former AFL players.
 
Jul 9, 2014
1,192
2,876
AFL Club
Sydney
View attachment 992807
Bit late but of note.

4 players from the top-10 of the AFL Sydney b&f are academy players.
Errol, Sam, Jacob and Mark which is quite good considering there are many state league players and a sprinkle of former AFL players.

Graduate Jake adding to his neafl medal from 2019 and joining Luffy and Rampe as winners of the Phelan Medal.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Graduate Jake adding to his neafl medal from 2019 and joining Luffy and Rampe as winners of the Phelan Medal.
I've heard that Jake's been trying for ages to get drafted for quite a few years. He had previously been trialing for the Swans as a supplementary cat.B rookie in the pre-season but I'm not sure what happened after that to make him go to the Northern Blues (Carlton VFL), obviously he came back to Sydney Uni after the VFL season was shut down.
 
Jul 20, 2001
23,300
28,504
Sydney
AFL Club
Sydney
Other Teams
Sydney Swans
I've heard that Jake's been trying for ages to get drafted for quite a few years. He had previously been trialing for the Swans as a supplementary cat.B rookie in the pre-season but I'm not sure what happened after that to make him go to the Northern Blues (Carlton VFL), obviously he came back to Sydney Uni after the VFL season was shut down.

Wouldn’t surprise me if he gets a contract for Swans entry into the new revamped reserves / NEAFL / vfl comp (assuming we form a stand alone team).
 
Confirmed measurements for Campbell and Gulden

Campbell
181cm 75kg

Gulden
175cm 75kg

How did you get these and are you on some kind of government watch list now?
 
How did you get these and are you on some kind of government watch list now?
The combine was a couple of days ago. From my memory after reading the article a couple of days ago errol won the 2km and thorne was top 10. campbell came first in the 20m sprint (around the 2.95 mark) and van hustide (ruck from newcastle) came first in verticle jump and placed somewhere else i just can't rember. I'm not sure what Gaden did.
 

Also received news last night that the academy is going to restructure.
I'll Combe back once I read it to see what happened.
 
Back