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Academy Watch

  • Thread starter Thread starter irel
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Forward We Go said:
100% agree with everything you say Tigernova. To take it another step forward, once boys start to become young men, they have many different options in life....girls, cars, careers, moving out of home... the list goes on. I have been involved in community footy now for a long time up here since moving from Melbourne a little while ago and another BIG issue up here compared to down south is the state of our u16's & up is the lack of support from the AFL (or AFLQ to be more precise) IMO the cost to get these young men on the footy ground should be dramatically subsidised. Instead it keeps going up almost every year to the extent where it has a significant effect on drop off rates. Boys have plenty of things to do with only a limited amount of $ to do so. Footy is expensive when you account for fees ($400 - $450.00), boots (over $100.00 for a decent pair) , shorts/socks (most clubs do not provide these for free) and time involved to train/play & travel. If a boy is recruited in the Academy, more time & resources add to that growing expense. If we want to nurture talent at this age group, we need to be more supportive.
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Cheers for the 'like' FWG.

Mate, what are sign on rates for u16s in Victoria?

Personally I feel our sign on fees at about $300-400 are ok. The 'elite' clubs charge more, but they offer better training and competition. Usually a training singlet is thrown in etc by clubs. Subsidies from AFLQ may work if only because QRL fees are much cheaper. Our local RL club charged only $40 sign on fee for 14s and 16s this season to attract more players. We paid only $120 for my u12. I know one AFL kid that took the $40n u16s RL bait.. hes gone to RL, and he is a decent AFL player also.

A boy being selected in the academy should be looked at by the family as an education, and thereby a commitment by the family to support him. I don't feel its up to others to pay for it.
 
tigernova said:
Cheers for the 'like' FWG.

Mate, what are sign on rates for u16s in Victoria?

Personally I feel our sign on fees at about $300-400 are ok. The 'elite' clubs charge more, but they offer better training and competition. Usually a training singlet is thrown in etc by clubs. Subsidies from AFLQ may work if only because QRL fees are much cheaper. Our local RL club charged only $40 sign on fee for 14s and 16s this season to attract more players. We paid only $120 for my u12. I know one AFL kid that took the $40n u16s RL bait.. hes gone to RL, and he is a decent AFL player also.

A boy being selected in the academy should be looked at by the family as an education, and thereby a commitment by the family to support him. I don't feel its up to others to pay for it.
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I guarantee there are talented kids out there who's families can not afford sporting fees, or sporting fees are low on the families list of where to spend any "spare" cash.
 
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tigernova said:
Cheers for the 'like' FWG.

Mate, what are sign on rates for u16s in Victoria?

Personally I feel our sign on fees at about $300-400 are ok. The 'elite' clubs charge more, but they offer better training and competition. Usually a training singlet is thrown in etc by clubs. Subsidies from AFLQ may work if only because QRL fees are much cheaper. Our local RL club charged only $40 sign on fee for 14s and 16s this season to attract more players. We paid only $120 for my u12. I know one AFL kid that took the $40n u16s RL bait.. hes gone to RL, and he is a decent AFL player also.

A boy being selected in the academy should be looked at by the family as an education, and thereby a commitment by the family to support him. I don't feel its up to others to pay for it.
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I've got a son who went through the TAC Cup program from Development Squad at 15. Fees in Vic will vary from club to club but are roughly as follows -

Club - $200 plus $10 per week for umpires ($360 total) not including uniform, which was roughly $150.
League rep program u14 and 15 - $150 per season
Development squads from u15 through to top age TAC CUP $500 per season.

So for those 4 seasons it was in the region $1000-$1150 per season, not including boots. Obviously dearer when involved in multiple squads but fair to say the average junior club player would be looking at between $300-$500. Of note, I've been told that junior soccer in Victoria can have annual club fees starting around $1000.
 
tigernova said:
Cheers for the 'like' FWG.

Mate, what are sign on rates for u16s in Victoria?

Personally I feel our sign on fees at about $300-400 are ok. The 'elite' clubs charge more, but they offer better training and competition. Usually a training singlet is thrown in etc by clubs. Subsidies from AFLQ may work if only because QRL fees are much cheaper. Our local RL club charged only $40 sign on fee for 14s and 16s this season to attract more players. We paid only $120 for my u12. I know one AFL kid that took the $40n u16s RL bait.. hes gone to RL, and he is a decent AFL player also.

A boy being selected in the academy should be looked at by the family as an education, and thereby a commitment by the family to support him. I don't feel its up to others to pay for it.
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I guess the point I am trying to make (rather than do comparisons to other sporting code costs) is that in South East Queensland, the state of young boys playing footy from U16's to U19's is not good. We competition has changed several times over a 4 year period, and drop off rates are huge. Subsidy's to keep those young men playing is one way to help keep them in the game, which improves the standard, which inturn improves individuals as footballers and potentially having them play at a higher standard. Footy down south has a much higher value for kids this age in Melbourne while up here it doesn't have the same drawing power. Cheaper associated costs and more support at grass roots level would definitely help.
 

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Hey folks any chance of a summary of the academy kids available this draft and the likely ones we will draft please ?

Cheers
 
irish said:
Hey folks any chance of a summary of the academy kids available this draft and the likely ones we will draft please ?

Cheers
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iBeng said:
From all reports, we have shit all compared to powerhouse academy clubs like GWS and the Suns.

Allison, Watson and Rolls, with probably 2 of them falling very late/rookie and Watson probably 3rd round? Quigley about right?
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Yeah definitely not a strong year by all accounts

Allison has been trialled in loads of positions and after being a 17 yo AA last year has really not progressed this year - pick 30-50 perhaps?
Watson is KPD that I quite like (from limited footage) but again doesn't seem like an early pick - same sort of range as Allison perhaps
Rolls seems to be a small HBF that accumulates but doesn't really damage - late to rookie by all accounts.

Can't think of anyone else obvious
 
I think how Allison tests at draft combine will heavily influence where he goes. If he tests really well, I can see a club taking a punt on him from 15-25. If he tests poorly, he could definitely slip between 40-60.
 
acuguy said:
I think how Allison tests at draft combine will heavily influence where he goes. If he tests really well, I can see a club taking a punt on him from 15-25. If he tests poorly, he could definitely slip between 40-60.
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If Allision attracts a bid in the top 25, I'd be passing.
 
Isn't there a New Zealand boy that showed a bit ? Or is my memory a bit clouded !
 

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cotter101 said:
If Allision attracts a bid in the top 25, I'd be passing.
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Right with you Cotter. Speculation from some in the industry that he may not even be bid on. That might be a stretch but is a concern. Allison and Rolls might be this years' Tickner and Conway. Hopefully for the boys they're not.
 
irish said:
Yep that's the lad ! Has he shown enough to be considered ?
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He is considered a likely top 10 pick (even as the pick 1) next year by some draft watchers. I haven't seen any footage of him personally but knowing past history highly rated Lions academy prospects usually drop off in their draft year.
 
crispy creme said:
Right with you Cotter. Speculation from some in the industry that he may not even be bid on. That might be a stretch but is a concern. Allison and Rolls might be this years' Tickner and Conway. Hopefully for the boys they're not.
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Can't see this being the case. The lad is 194, an underage all Australian and can bang it 60m. He had a poor year, but his upside is huge. The way he tests will influence the decision making. We can't allow a lad with these weapons go from underneath us, we could have had Allir Allir if we had any vision.
 

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SizeMatters said:
He is considered a likely top 10 pick (even as the pick 1) next year by some draft watchers. I haven't seen any footage of him personally but knowing past history highly rated Lions academy prospects usually drop off in their draft year.
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Not any more he's not. Not pick 1 or top 10. Probably first round. There's a lot of hype around some of next years GWS kids (better than this years crop) and a few of the Vic country and quite a few of the Vic city kids. Ballenden may not even be the top QLD prospect with GC ruck prospect Brayden Crossley in the frame.
 
briztoon said:
Not any more he's not. Not pick 1 or top 10. Probably first round. There's a lot of hype around some of next years GWS kids (better than this years crop) and a few of the Vic country and quite a few of the Vic city kids. Ballenden may not even be the top QLD prospect with GC ruck prospect Brayden Crossley in the frame.
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I have only seen pictures of him but he seemed overweight. Lets hope he was just packing a few too many kegs and that's what held him back this year.
 
I think we can sometimes forget how stressful grade 12 can be for some teens. If I were a player who was essentially guaranteed a spot at a club (Brisbane) and wanted to study after school as well, I don't think I'd work as hard as humanly possible on my football career as I would if I had no guarantees. I think it's a mentality kid and tbh just like Andrews and Keays I don't care where they land, if they're going to be 100% committed to their development and the team then that is more important than anything. If this year for Allison is a year of trying to mesh school and footy and its effected his form then so be it, but when he comes to the club next year, he won't have 30 hours of school as week to contend with and access to our full time development coach.

Sorry, I sorta blabbered on there. Essentially, he has the raw tools to be a good AFL player regardless of when he's picked, lets not worry too much and just enjoy seeing him develop.
 

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