Academy: Gold Coast SUNS Gun Factory

[SUN OF A GUN]

Knock was always his light frame, however he looked noticeably larger last night. He probably finished with over 20 disposals and 40+ hit outs easily.

No doubt a VFL pre-season with the Sharks has improved his skills and size.
Definitely one to watch in the next few years.

Hopefully Nancarrow can make a return to the team before the CTL games, which should bolster our rucks too,

 

[GC2015]

Think the Academy boys ran out winners by around 10 goals. To be expected of a squad that has been in training since November last year. Downpour of rain just before opening bounce made for slippery conditions.

Leo far and away BOG and extracted from midfield at will, kicked one, maybe two? Addinsal was good, as was Beikoff-Smart and Iverach. Kalani White played fullback and didn’t ruck at all.

No Nancarrow, as he dislocated his shoulder in last weeks VFL game V Southport. Broadbeach dominated the ruck and stoppages through ex-Academy player Dawson, but the Academy midfield was too slick once it hit the deck.

From what I was told most of the over-agers, bar Zanker-Close, didn’t play as they were called up to todays VFL prac match.

Cheers for the breakdown. Must be weird for the Broady seniors to get smacked by a team that's full of a lot of their own juniors - Lombard, Addinsall, Murray, White, Kennedy, Hill, Gray, Hynes, Collins, Lockett, Eckersley, Iverach, Hudson and Gulbin are all currently Broadbeach juniors.

Sounds like these bottom agers are going to transition into U18s footy more easily than we originally thought. Perhaps we'll even see a few of them getting selected for the Allies team this year.

 

[SUN OF A GUN]

Cheers for the breakdown. Must be weird for the Broady seniors to get smacked by a team that's full of a lot of their own juniors - Lombard, Addinsall, Murray, White, Kennedy, Hill, Gray, Hynes, Collins, Lockett, Eckersley, Iverach, Hudson and Gulbin are all currently Broadbeach juniors.

Sounds like these bottom agers are going to transition into U18s footy more easily than we originally thought. Perhaps we'll even see a few of them getting selected for the Allies team this year.

This was far from the Broadbeach Seniors side, as was restricted to U23. Probably only 3 regular senior players in Harrington, Dawson and Semmeler, perhaps Howard.

As you stated, most of Broady’s best U23’s would have be in the Academy team, so a lot who ran out for the Cats last night were fringe Colts or Ressies at best.

Kennedy and Eckersley are no longer at Broadbeach and Grey, Hill and Gulbin did not play last night.

Very good crop of juniors coming through for Broadbeach, although Burleigh can lay claim to being the junior club for a number of them.

 

[Maybe Tomorrow]

Dogs make an offer, Tiger wants more, Hawks miss access to top prospect

Check out all the latest trade news from around the League

www.afl.com.au

 

[Sun Stormer]

Dogs make an offer, Tiger wants more, Hawks miss access to top prospect

Check out all the latest trade news from around the League

www.afl.com.au

I'd love Kalani to stay with his mates and family but I suspect he's already gone unless things change massively over the next few months.

 

[Supersuns]

I'd love Kalani to stay with his mates and family but I suspect he's already gone unless things change massively over the next few months.

Jeff wants him to play for Melbourne, no matter what he says to the media.

 

[Jirik13]

Jeff wants him to play for Melbourne, no matter what he says to the media.

Melbourne will be probably on downward trajectory by the time he joins them. Poor kid

 

[Young_Guns]

Sucks that we probably won’t get to see him come through to our squad, but at the end of the day, the more locals that make it onto lists around the country the better.

We won’t be able to take them all anyway if the pipeline is as strong as it looks. Although a 200cm defender is one you’d love to keep around.

 

[Maybe Tomorrow]

Sucks that we probably won’t get to see him come through to our squad, but at the end of the day, the more locals that make it onto lists around the country the better.

We won’t be able to take them all anyway if the pipeline is as strong as it looks. Although a 200cm defender is one you’d love to keep around.

Well if you believe the chaps on the draft board he's all hype due to his surname at present.

Doesn't mean he can't improve, but might not be the worst miss.

 

[Supersuns]

Well if you believe the chaps on the draft board he's all hype due to his surname at present.

Doesn't mean he can't improve, but might not be the worst miss.

Absolutely didn't deserve AA, but they shoehorned a boatload of Suns Academy kids in for some reason.

 

[Maybe Tomorrow]

Absolutely didn't deserve AA, but they shoehorned a boatload of Suns Academy kids in for some reason.

May become a nice counterpoint to all the nuffies who hate the academy access.

"Well look, White went to Melbourne, the Suns don't get them all"

We'll soon (maybe even this year) have to get very selective with academy picks anyway, as you can only take two in the first round if you make finals.

 

[GC2015]

May become a nice counterpoint to all the nuffies who hate the academy access.

"Well look, White went to Melbourne, the Suns don't get them all"

We'll soon (maybe even this year) have to get very selective with academy picks anyway, as you can only take two in the first round if you make finals.

We already have the counterpoint with Bailey Scott choosing the Roos over us in 2018. As has been stated earlier in the thread, we're just going to have to get used to the fact that we can't keep all our academy products. We've seen this with Brisbane losing players like Keays (Adelaide), Cumberland (Richmond) and Chol (Richmond). That's just the reality of running a successful northern academy.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Keays was originally selected by Brisbane in 2015.

 

[GC2015]

Keays was originally selected by Brisbane in 2015.

Yes, but he was viewed as excess at Brisbane. Goes to Adelaide and shows his worth.

This will likely happen to us as well. GWS have seen it happen with guys like Steele, Setterfield and Kennedy.

 

[robo_1]

Suns Academy Live

suns-academy-live.webflow.io

 

[GC2015]

View attachment 1936637View attachment 1936638

Suns Academy Live

suns-academy-live.webflow.io

Good stuff. It's great to see these games getting streamed so we can all see the large amount of talent coming out of our academy. Particularly interested to see the U16 AA players from last year like Addinsall, Murray, Patterson, Uwland and White. 3pm bounce.

 

[noobermensch]

Leo Lombard looked beefed up and powerful on the weekend. Not many 17 year olds would be capable of dominating a VFL game like this:

 

[Southern Sun]

His mix of inside and outside game is really impressive and would be close to playing afl this year.

 

[GC2015]

Leo Lombard looked beefed up and powerful on the weekend. Not many 17 year olds would be capable of dominating a VFL game like this:

His mix of inside and outside game is really impressive and would be close to playing afl this year.

Lombard's speed/evasiveness are absolutely elite and he's very strong through the core which helps him tackle as well as break tackles. He still has the occasional shonky disposal but that's to be expected at that age. Interestingly, you can see in that clip that Lombard and Rogers clearly have a level of cohesion from many years of playing in the same part of the ground together at school and Broadbeach/junior rep teams. That's what we're likely to see more of over the next few years with these academy players we've got coming through and it reminds me of the Nathan Cleary + Jerome Luai combination that have been so successful at Penrith after making their way through the Panthers pathway together.

I also think Lombard has grown a little since last year and is very close to 180cm now. So he's essentially going to have a body that's very similar to Matt Rowell when we draft him.

 

[Ben Drever]

Leo Lombard looked beefed up and powerful on the weekend. Not many 17 year olds would be capable of dominating a VFL game like this:

Harley Reid?

 

[GC2015]

Been brought up in this thread before but this is a new article and is such a great example of us not getting maximum value from the footy talent available in our academy zone. The 'Hammer' is one of the quickest and most talented young players in the NRL and we almost convinced him to join us... but ultimately it was his childhood love for rugby league and local hero Matty Bowen that convinced him to pursue league. I know we have Jarrod Harbrow but he's not revered up north in the same way league players like Matty Bowen and Jonathan Thurston are so we're probably going to lose more talented youngsters like the Hammer until we can turn the tide.

...

"I was pretty close to signing with (the Suns). I sat down with my manager and had a meeting about which way I wanted to go," Tabuai-Fidow told AAP.

"I still had a big love for league and that was the sport I played mostly growing up. It was the right choice to go back up to Townsville and sign with the Cowboys.

"The Suns were very good to me and I enjoyed my time playing Aussie rules. I played in the midfield and centre half-forward growing up.

"I looked up to Buddy Franklin. He is a proud Indigenous man and what he has done in the game is pretty special."

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8569855/dolphins-hammer-set-for-titans-after-time-in-the-sun/

 

[Iva Bigun]

Lombard's speed/evasiveness are absolutely elite and he's very strong through the core which helps him tackle as well as break tackles. He still has the occasional shonky disposal but that's to be expected at that age. Interestingly, you can see in that clip that Lombard and Rogers clearly have a level of cohesion from many years of playing in the same part of the ground together at school and Broadbeach/junior rep teams. That's what we're likely to see more of over the next few years with these academy players we've got coming through and it reminds me of the Nathan Cleary + Jerome Luai combination that have been so successful at Penrith after making their way through the Panthers pathway together.

I also think Lombard has grown a little since last year and is very close to 180cm now. So he's essentially going to have a body that's very similar to Matt Rowell when we draft him.

I could be wrong but Rodgers and Lombard are like clones, where do they fit in the side? I can’t see them pushing anyone out of the midfield in the next 5 years.

 

[Jirik13]

I could be wrong but Rodgers and Lombard are like clones, where do they fit in the side? I can’t see them pushing anyone out of the midfield in the next 5 years.

How about forward, they could replace Holman, Berry. They could run through midfield too; we need more rotations there (current 4-5 is not enough, IMO. So far Dimma does exactly what Dew did). I like that beside speed, pressure, evasiveness, they both seems making good decisions, show good ball use, got mongrel, work hard. Similar to Read and W Graham - we need players with a good disposal.

I suspect all 4 academy kids drafted this year and Lombard are great gets. All of them look skilful and should help us hopefully in not-too-distant future.

 

[Southern Sun]

How about forward, they could replace Holman, Berry. They could run through midfield too; we need more rotations there (current 4-5 is not enough, IMO. So far Dimma does exactly what Dew did). I like that beside speed, pressure, evasiveness, they both seems making good decisions, show good ball use, got mongrel, work hard. Similar to Read and W Graham - we need players with a good disposal.

I suspect all 4 academy kids drafted this year and Lombard are great gets and will help us in not-too-distant future.

Having a heap of players go through the middle seems a bit of a myth at the moment, most clubs don't move too far away from the same 3 or 4. Rogers is suited to start at half forward and Lombard has the outside game to start on a wing or half forward, both will be fine and gives us good depth going forward.

 

[Jirik13]

Having a heap of players go through the middle seems a bit of a myth at the moment, most clubs don't move too far away from the same 3 or 4. Rogers is suited to start at half forward and Lombard has the outside game to start on a wing or half forward, both will be fine and gives us good depth going forward.

Agree, usually early in the season and there is a core of 3-4 but over the season 5-7 is a usual. WB used 6 players against us (not counting rucks). GWS used 7 players against Eagles (I bloody love how GWS play, easily the most watchable team for me).

No reason why Rosas, Ainsworth can't run through to mix it up, lessen a load.