Academy Watch

[Thommo 42]

Interesting thing about the academy is that one of the main criticisms I have, and there are many, is that they take on way too many kids.

Apparently this is driven by AFL HQ and the have a minimum intake . This kind of underlines the point that its a commercial venture rather than a genuine talent pathway.

 

[Required]

Interesting thing about the academy is that one of the main criticisms I have, and there are many, is that they take on way too many kids.

Apparently this is driven by AFL HQ and the have a minimum intake . This kind of underlines the point that its a commercial venture rather than a genuine talent pathway.

Theres no doubt they sell the dream. But i really have no problem with that, or casting ones net wide. What i see as their failing is their lack of process to narrow down and find that 'genuine talent'. We know they are failing at doing it as people at the coal face, such as yourself, can give past and present examples of kids overlooked by the academy.

Having 100 kids in the u18 age group training all summer, yet not have them play real games in front of not only staff, but perhaps also a variety of 'judges' available in the footy community, is incredibly inept. These boys have lived for this 'penultimate moment' in time of their footy career. At 18yo its the judgement moment. They deserve to be able to show what they have. And for most of them, they didnt get that chance.

This is an organization that 'sells the dream'. Then robs the only opportunity to live that dream. That is their true crime.
.

 

[irel]

Theres no doubt they sell the dream. But i really have no problem with that, or casting ones net wide. What i see as their failing is their lack of process to narrow down and find that 'genuine talent'. We know they are failing at doing it as people at the coal face, such as yourself, can give past and present examples of kids overlooked by the academy.

Having 100 kids in the u18 age group training all summer, yet not have them play real games in front of not only staff, but perhaps also a variety of 'judges' available in the footy community, is incredibly inept. These boys have lived for this 'penultimate moment' in time of their footy career. At 18yo its the judgement moment. They deserve to be able to show what they have. And for most of them, they didnt get that chance.

This is an organization that 'sells the dream'. Then robs the only opportunity to live that dream. That is their true crime.
.

So, now it's come to you're deeply aggrieved because your son was not given an opportunity to turn the judge's chair.

Hmmm, these blow in judges that have no idea of what the club places value on, what they are looking for in a academy kid, or perhaps even the parent of that kid. We've heard the horror stories sometimes the kids that fail it was not their talent but the parental baggage that comes with the kid. But go on, keep entertaining us and shout at clouds.

By the way I agree with Thommo. The Academy should not be about quantity but identifying the quality. Granted there will be kids, always that fall through the cracks for various reasons, including those with latent development.

 

[irel]

Well, im not a biker that trashed whole communities with drugs, organized assault, and probably murder. Im just one that dares to speak out. And while you morn the loss of the former, you attack the latter, and suggest the latters son be penalised for his parent daring to have an opinion. Yet you would NEVER suggest a penalty for the son of the drug dealing, former!! Shows what sort of society we have become, and the morals you support..

Cast your net wide. Sort through them with intra academy games. Then pick a final squad based on performance. You get your 'elite'. But that didnt happen.
.

Sorry mate but I have no Idea what you're talking about. Too cryptic for me.

 

[irel]

IQ ?

.

OK, ha,ha.

 

[briztoon]

Sorry mate but I have no Idea what you're talking about. Too cryptic for me.

Dusty Martin I presume.

 

[irel]

Dusty Martin I presume.

I gathered that, but how is that even remotely connected with the Brisbane Academy. What am I missing Briz?

 

[briztoon]

I gathered that, but how is that even remotely connected with the Brisbane Academy. What am I missing Briz?

I don’t know.

I’m no longer engaging. Let him howl at the moon.

 

[dlanod]

IQ?

Considering you had the concept explained to you via PM, and pretended to understand the concept, now you are just being disingenuous. Look the word up. I have a few for you youd understand, but then id get my ass moderated..

Implying people are stupid for not getting on board your weird derailment is pretty damn close to getting your arse moderated anyway.

 

[Required]

Implying people are stupid for not getting on board your weird derailment is pretty damn close to getting your arse moderated anyway.

'Weird derailment'.. etc. All the little off topic niggles you allow. Yet i imply 'IQ' and im verging on getting banned...

I'll explain the concept so all can understand;

If i was a crime boss (any crime boss) who, has been involved in nefarious activities involving drugs, and the resultant crime and suffering in the community, that saw him in jail many times, indeed got him deported, and probably negatively effected some people that those in 'footy positions of power' know personally, then you and society believe that should have absolutely no bearing on his son, (nor should it), and you will fight to defend his right to be judged as a separate person.

It is suggested in a post above; its totally fine and acceptable by posters here, as well as probably happening, that a kid is being overlooked / sabotaged by people that hold footy positions of power who can further or deny his progress, simply because his Dad says some harsh words about those same people in 'footy positions of power'. The Dad has hurt no one. Not the wider community, not been agressive, simply presented an opinion. That is enough for all you people to feel its fine for those in positions of power to sabotage a kid. HURT FEELINGS!!!

Crime boss (any crime boss)= Son should not be judged.

Harsh words = Son should be penalized.

This is what you are all saying. Of course you will all deny it now you understand the concept...
.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Me checking out the Academy thread after a long absence.

 

[Required]

Me checking out the Academy thread after a long absence.

View attachment 1399775

You'll always get more diversity of thought and opinion in a thread that is a complete jungle, or dumpster fire.. if its not smothered by someone getting offended and demanding moderation. (Which happens here,.. a lot)

Over the past few weeks some parents have posted, and i know some parents that do follow this thread, but unfortunately they arent prepared to offer more of their insights as they see the crap i get from randon posters who just chime in for a pot shot.

IMO, the moderation (meaning to or not) defends the pot shotters and scares away those with actual experience with the academy.
.

 

[Thommo 42]

By the way I agree with Thommo. The Academy should not be about quantity but identifying the quality. Granted there will be kids, always that fall through the cracks for various reasons, including those with latent development.

I need to be clear here, and declare my bias. I am president of a QAFL club and have a son who is very handy and has been invited to be part of the academy and I have opted out until he is older as I don't see the point.

My beef with the academy is not how many kids they get drafted and their ability to develop talent. I am fairly neutral on this. I wouldn't say they are setting the world on fire with their development or talent ID, but I think the impact they can have is pretty minimal and the best talent finds a way to get where they need to be in the end and will get there if they work hard enough and are good enough.

My beef with the academy is the collateral damage it does to club football and footy in QLD as a whole. They take 100+ kids in each age group as an intake, and whether you agree with which 100 they take and what they do with them is not really relevant, but on the balance of probabilities, those 100 are going to represent a fair chunk of the talented players in that age group.

They then go into the academy, do all this training that costs a fortune, requires a silly amount of travel for many of them and are lost to club football as a result. They are often told to sit out club games, they also miss huge amounts of club training (where in reality the coaching is as good, if not better) and lose a connection to their footy community.

As a result, graduates from level 3 academy that don't get drafted (which is pretty much all of them) are dropping out of footy altogether before they are 20 at a rate over 80%. To me this is an unacceptable figure that needs immediate attention and rectification, its basically an epidemic of talent destruction.

As a result of this, you are basically taking 80% of the most talented players out of QLD club footy before they are 20 on an annual basis. This then means the local competitions are weaker, and its a vicious cycle where people think academies are needed because the QAFL competition isn't strong enough and the Lions and Suns reserves can't just play QAFL like they used to, because the standard isn't good enough - when the very existence of the academy and how it operates is the direct reason for the standard of footy not lifting as it should. Kids in the academy would do well to understand that being a 200 game senior player in local footy is an incredibly rewarding fallback, but instead its very much 'draft or bust' which is even more ridiculous given out of 100 kids, AFL recruiters wouldn't even look at 90 of them.

I'm not here to lay blame on why this happens, but they need to look at how they connect with these kids - their communication with them about club footy and not just cut them and send them off into the wild to give the game away. This statistic does not get enough attention. I see it first hand as our club who supplies a mountain of kids to the academy on an annual basis are then left to pick up the pieces when they come back to us at 18 absolutely hating the game and the system. We will likely have our 2nd player drafted in 3 years later this year, and I can confidently state that the academy has had almost nothing to do with their development as players, and the best thing for them has been playing senior footy in the QAFL.

In fact one of them, we had to push to be part of the academy. Then in his draft year he was treated horrendously. He played academy games, then played NEAFL for 2 different clubs, played QAFL for us and played Allies. In a 6 week period, he played for 5 different teams - how is a kid supposed to build any sort of continuity of form or familiarity with his teammates if this happens? COVID then came along, and he payed 10 solid QAFL games for us in a row, and was drafted by Richmond and 2 other clubs were keen - amazing what just playing footy and being part of a team can do for your form.

We are seeing the same with kids now. In the last month they have gone academy, QAFL, academy, QAFL, then one of them is going VFL, then Allies, then back to QAFL. so 4 different teams in 5 weeks...just makes zero sense. For me that is where the problem lies, they just bounce from jumper to jumper and lose the reason for actually playing footy and enjoying the game. Don't get drafted, then quit because they have been a pinball for 2 years (or more)

Just my 2c, and happy to declare my ulterior interest being the health of footy in QLD generally.

 

[dlanod]

They are often told to sit out club games, they also miss huge amounts of club training (where in reality the coaching is as good, if not better) and lose a connection to their footy community.

This is the key yet mind-numbingly dumb part to my non-expert eyes.

 

[Thommo 42]

In some parts of the year, they aren't told NOT to go to club training - but if you're doing year 12 and have Academy Monday and Wednesday - its not practical to then go to senior club training on tue and thu - often parents quite rightly will make that decision for them, they are in a pretty important academic year!

then in early parts of academy in school holidays, when they are in peak training load - they are told 'show your face at club training, but please sit out of any major sessions'. Well guess what, its QAFL state league pre-season, they are intense sessions!

I think the bigger issue is the bouncing between teams.

 

[BigCat2]

I need to be clear here, and declare my bias. I am president of a QAFL club and have a son who is very handy and has been invited to be part of the academy and I have opted out until he is older as I don't see the point.

My beef with the academy is not how many kids they get drafted and their ability to develop talent. I am fairly neutral on this. I wouldn't say they are setting the world on fire with their development or talent ID, but I think the impact they can have is pretty minimal and the best talent finds a way to get where they need to be in the end and will get there if they work hard enough and are good enough.

My beef with the academy is the collateral damage it does to club football and footy in QLD as a whole. They take 100+ kids in each age group as an intake, and whether you agree with which 100 they take and what they do with them is not really relevant, but on the balance of probabilities, those 100 are going to represent a fair chunk of the talented players in that age group.

They then go into the academy, do all this training that costs a fortune, requires a silly amount of travel for many of them and are lost to club football as a result. They are often told to sit out club games, they also miss huge amounts of club training (where in reality the coaching is as good, if not better) and lose a connection to their footy community.

As a result, graduates from level 3 academy that don't get drafted (which is pretty much all of them) are dropping out of footy altogether before they are 20 at a rate over 80%. To me this is an unacceptable figure that needs immediate attention and rectification, its basically an epidemic of talent destruction.

As a result of this, you are basically taking 80% of the most talented players out of QLD club footy before they are 20 on an annual basis. This then means the local competitions are weaker, and its a vicious cycle where people think academies are needed because the QAFL competition isn't strong enough and the Lions and Suns reserves can't just play QAFL like they used to, because the standard isn't good enough - when the very existence of the academy and how it operates is the direct reason for the standard of footy not lifting as it should. Kids in the academy would do well to understand that being a 200 game senior player in local footy is an incredibly rewarding fallback, but instead its very much 'draft or bust' which is even more ridiculous given out of 100 kids, AFL recruiters wouldn't even look at 90 of them.

I'm not here to lay blame on why this happens, but they need to look at how they connect with these kids - their communication with them about club footy and not just cut them and send them off into the wild to give the game away. This statistic does not get enough attention. I see it first hand as our club who supplies a mountain of kids to the academy on an annual basis are then left to pick up the pieces when they come back to us at 18 absolutely hating the game and the system. We will likely have our 2nd player drafted in 3 years later this year, and I can confidently state that the academy has had almost nothing to do with their development as players, and the best thing for them has been playing senior footy in the QAFL.

In fact one of them, we had to push to be part of the academy. Then in his draft year he was treated horrendously. He played academy games, then played NEAFL for 2 different clubs, played QAFL for us and played Allies. In a 6 week period, he played for 5 different teams - how is a kid supposed to build any sort of continuity of form or familiarity with his teammates if this happens? COVID then came along, and he payed 10 solid QAFL games for us in a row, and was drafted by Richmond and 2 other clubs were keen - amazing what just playing footy and being part of a team can do for your form.

We are seeing the same with kids now. In the last month they have gone academy, QAFL, academy, QAFL, then one of them is going VFL, then Allies, then back to QAFL. so 4 different teams in 5 weeks...just makes zero sense. For me that is where the problem lies, they just bounce from jumper to jumper and lose the reason for actually playing footy and enjoying the game. Don't get drafted, then quit because they have been a pinball for 2 years (or more)

Just my 2c, and happy to declare my ulterior interest being the health of footy in QLD generally.

Thanks for your input. Despite your potential bias as President of a QAFL club, what you say seems balanced and rings true. I think I know the kid you speak of, whom someone (can't remember whether it was you or not) previously posted about. The academy should be about growing the game in Qld and having some kids drafted from time to time, so the 80% dropping out rate is hugely alarming.

How have you found the new leadership at Lions Academy at present? They won't get everything right, but are they more willing to work with QAFL clubs? It seems to me kids develop more and play better when they have some continuity and familiarity with teammates and coaching instructions. Not to mention they will likely do better when they play eith and a form a bond with teammates - the reason most people play team sport to start with.

It seems to me (as an uninformed outsider) that the majority of games should still be with QAFL clubs, but may have a block of training/games with the academy in pre-season, and perhaps the same in the lead up to championships. The rest of the time they're better off playing with their QAFL clubs, with some liaising with academy coaches in the other periods, in terms of specific developments they want to see, playing another position etc.

It has been said (and I'm not sure how accurate this is) that the Academy works against rather than with QAFL clubs. How can this be addressed at the fundamental level?

 

[briztoon]

Thanks for your input. Despite your potential bias as President of a QAFL club, what you say seems balanced and rings true. I think I know the kid you speak of, whom someone (can't remember whether it was you or not) previously posted about. The academy should be about growing the game in Qld and having some kids drafted from time to time, so the 80% dropping out rate is hugely alarming.

How have you found the new leadership at Lions Academy at present? They won't get everything right, but are they more willing to work with QAFL clubs? It seems to me kids develop more and play better when they have some continuity and familiarity with teammates and coaching instructions. Not to mention they will likely do better when they play eith and a form a bond with teammates - the reason most people play team sport to start with.

It seems to me (as an uninformed outsider) that the majority of games should still be with QAFL clubs, but may have a block of training/games with the academy in pre-season, and perhaps the same in the lead up to championships. The rest of the time they're better off playing with their QAFL clubs, with some liaising with academy coaches in the other periods, in terms of specific developments they want to see, playing another position etc.

It has been said (and I'm not sure how accurate this is) that the Academy works against rather than with QAFL clubs. How can this be addressed at the fundamental level?

We (the uninformed fans) would need to know what the requirements are from the AFL, in terms of contact spent with the kids during different parts of the season.

What you suggest makes sense, but might not be possible if the AFL require the kids to be training with the academy X amount of hours per week during the season.

 

[dlanod]

We (the uninformed fans) would need to know what the requirements are from the AFL, in terms of contact spent with the kids during different parts of the season.

What you suggest makes sense, but might not be possible if the AFL require the kids to be training with the academy X amount of hours per week during the season.

At a minimum the AFL expects the clubs to have provided a training plan for the player as that's why a couple of teams have lost first claim on players.

 

[Thommo 42]

We've discovered recently the reason for the massive intakes is because there is a directive from AFL HQ in Vic that sets minimum intakes.

I can only imagine this is because down there they still look at QLD as some sort of footy backwater where clubs can't be trusted to develop or nurture talent, which I think is wrong - but I'm compromised in this view of course.

Thanks for your input. Despite your potential bias as President of a QAFL club, what you say seems balanced and rings true. I think I know the kid you speak of, whom someone (can't remember whether it was you or not) previously posted about. The academy should be about growing the game in Qld and having some kids drafted from time to time, so the 80% dropping out rate is hugely alarming.

How have you found the new leadership at Lions Academy at present? They won't get everything right, but are they more willing to work with QAFL clubs? It seems to me kids develop more and play better when they have some continuity and familiarity with teammates and coaching instructions. Not to mention they will likely do better when they play eith and a form a bond with teammates - the reason most people play team sport to start with.

It seems to me (as an uninformed outsider) that the majority of games should still be with QAFL clubs, but may have a block of training/games with the academy in pre-season, and perhaps the same in the lead up to championships. The rest of the time they're better off playing with their QAFL clubs, with some liaising with academy coaches in the other periods, in terms of specific developments they want to see, playing another position etc.

It has been said (and I'm not sure how accurate this is) that the Academy works against rather than with QAFL clubs. How can this be addressed at the fundamental level?

have had very little to do with them. We get an email from them sometimes weekly, sometimes less. We have one of our coaching staff thats also an academy coach, and thats our best source of information on their form or otherwise. Classic case now, which is still happening is that we have a kid in our Colts who is not in the academy. We have about 25 kids in the academy, including 5 playing Level 3 games. This kid in the Colts who will likely play seniors soon (at least I think he should) is better than all our academy kids except one, and we already know that one is getting drafted.

As for your other comments, my belief is as follows:

Academy can start as young as u14s, but try and pick the best of the best - say 40-50 kids absolute tops. Get out and watch club football, don't rely on a micky mouse school competition where they pick a state merit team at the end to be your source of selection, go and ask football people at the clubs for reccomendations. Don't have to include everyone recommended, but its a good place to start your talent spotting.

Once in the academy, in the off-season 1-2 sessions a week of high intensity training, advanced skill execution and also identify their shortcomings and work on them. Kicking actions, ground ball, vision, aerobic capacity, clean hands, opposite foot, reading the drop zone - whatever. Every kid is different, work on their shortcomings that will hold them back from being drafted and try and improve them. The weapons they bring to the table that got them there in the first place will develop naturally, focus on improving weaknesses.

If they play another sport, thats fine. Don't wash your hands of them because they can't make the sessions, encourage attendance, keep in touch, send them plans etc. Many of the greatest players of all-time and of recent eras were multi sport athletes right up until their draft years, they don't have to give everything else away to focus on footy.

Once footy season starts. One focused session a week, still incorporating the above. give them something they don't get at club training. Work on their kicking mechanics, hell maybe even go and take some tape of a club game with some of them then do a video review - kids learn really well visually.

If they are good enough to be playing Senior QAFL footy, thats what they should be doing. Its the best grounding, they are playing a higher level than academy games and are testing themselves against senior bodies. The academy should be exactly that, an academy. Academies are for teaching and developing, not for playing meaningless games where the results literally don't mean a thing. They don't even need to play games - pick a QLD u18 side from the 2 academies (and players not in academies..) and enter it in the national carnival.

If you are in the best 22 and make the QLD u18 side, thats the only time you should be taken our of club footy.

You are 100% correct that they work against the clubs, not with them. There is also problems with the partisanship of some coaches - arguably only there to try and coax kids to their club, instead of actually coach them. this is fundamentally wrong and simply should never happen.

 

[irel]

I need to be clear here, and declare my bias. I am president of a QAFL club and have a son who is very handy and has been invited to be part of the academy and I have opted out until he is older as I don't see the point.

My beef with the academy is not how many kids they get drafted and their ability to develop talent. I am fairly neutral on this. I wouldn't say they are setting the world on fire with their development or talent ID, but I think the impact they can have is pretty minimal and the best talent finds a way to get where they need to be in the end and will get there if they work hard enough and are good enough.

My beef with the academy is the collateral damage it does to club football and footy in QLD as a whole. They take 100+ kids in each age group as an intake, and whether you agree with which 100 they take and what they do with them is not really relevant, but on the balance of probabilities, those 100 are going to represent a fair chunk of the talented players in that age group.

They then go into the academy, do all this training that costs a fortune, requires a silly amount of travel for many of them and are lost to club football as a result. They are often told to sit out club games, they also miss huge amounts of club training (where in reality the coaching is as good, if not better) and lose a connection to their footy community.

As a result, graduates from level 3 academy that don't get drafted (which is pretty much all of them) are dropping out of footy altogether before they are 20 at a rate over 80%. To me this is an unacceptable figure that needs immediate attention and rectification, its basically an epidemic of talent destruction.

As a result of this, you are basically taking 80% of the most talented players out of QLD club footy before they are 20 on an annual basis. This then means the local competitions are weaker, and its a vicious cycle where people think academies are needed because the QAFL competition isn't strong enough and the Lions and Suns reserves can't just play QAFL like they used to, because the standard isn't good enough - when the very existence of the academy and how it operates is the direct reason for the standard of footy not lifting as it should. Kids in the academy would do well to understand that being a 200 game senior player in local footy is an incredibly rewarding fallback, but instead its very much 'draft or bust' which is even more ridiculous given out of 100 kids, AFL recruiters wouldn't even look at 90 of them.

I'm not here to lay blame on why this happens, but they need to look at how they connect with these kids - their communication with them about club footy and not just cut them and send them off into the wild to give the game away. This statistic does not get enough attention. I see it first hand as our club who supplies a mountain of kids to the academy on an annual basis are then left to pick up the pieces when they come back to us at 18 absolutely hating the game and the system. We will likely have our 2nd player drafted in 3 years later this year, and I can confidently state that the academy has had almost nothing to do with their development as players, and the best thing for them has been playing senior footy in the QAFL.

In fact one of them, we had to push to be part of the academy. Then in his draft year he was treated horrendously. He played academy games, then played NEAFL for 2 different clubs, played QAFL for us and played Allies. In a 6 week period, he played for 5 different teams - how is a kid supposed to build any sort of continuity of form or familiarity with his teammates if this happens? COVID then came along, and he payed 10 solid QAFL games for us in a row, and was drafted by Richmond and 2 other clubs were keen - amazing what just playing footy and being part of a team can do for your form.

We are seeing the same with kids now. In the last month they have gone academy, QAFL, academy, QAFL, then one of them is going VFL, then Allies, then back to QAFL. so 4 different teams in 5 weeks...just makes zero sense. For me that is where the problem lies, they just bounce from jumper to jumper and lose the reason for actually playing footy and enjoying the game. Don't get drafted, then quit because they have been a pinball for 2 years (or more)

Just my 2c, and happy to declare my ulterior interest being the health of footy in QLD generally.

Thanks for taking the time to provide a very informative response. I will touch on one point that you make: Re Retention rate being very low. This issue has been ongoing ever since I can remember, even prior to Academies being in existence. I remember the “drop-out” of football issue being discussed during the TEAL Cup days and likely it will be discussed in 10, 20 years. It is the residual from having such high participation numbers.

 

[Thommo 42]

We are retaining club footballers not part of the academy at a rate almost the mirror opposite.

80% of our u16s progress to Colts football and 80% of those colts then progress to senior football.

But unfortunately 80% of the most talented kids just drop out altogether.

 

[NeverEddie]

We've discovered recently the reason for the massive intakes is because there is a directive from AFL HQ in Vic that sets minimum intakes.

I can only imagine this is because down there they still look at QLD as some sort of footy backwater where clubs can't be trusted to develop or nurture talent, which I think is wrong - but I'm compromised in this view of course.



have had very little to do with them. We get an email from them sometimes weekly, sometimes less. We have one of our coaching staff thats also an academy coach, and thats our best source of information on their form or otherwise. Classic case now, which is still happening is that we have a kid in our Colts who is not in the academy. We have about 25 kids in the academy, including 5 playing Level 3 games. This kid in the Colts who will likely play seniors soon (at least I think he should) is better than all our academy kids except one, and we already know that one is getting drafted.

As for your other comments, my belief is as follows:

Academy can start as young as u14s, but try and pick the best of the best - say 40-50 kids absolute tops. Get out and watch club football, don't rely on a micky mouse school competition where they pick a state merit team at the end to be your source of selection, go and ask football people at the clubs for reccomendations. Don't have to include everyone recommended, but its a good place to start your talent spotting.

Once in the academy, in the off-season 1-2 sessions a week of high intensity training, advanced skill execution and also identify their shortcomings and work on them. Kicking actions, ground ball, vision, aerobic capacity, clean hands, opposite foot, reading the drop zone - whatever. Every kid is different, work on their shortcomings that will hold them back from being drafted and try and improve them. The weapons they bring to the table that got them there in the first place will develop naturally, focus on improving weaknesses.

If they play another sport, thats fine. Don't wash your hands of them because they can't make the sessions, encourage attendance, keep in touch, send them plans etc. Many of the greatest players of all-time and of recent eras were multi sport athletes right up until their draft years, they don't have to give everything else away to focus on footy.

Once footy season starts. One focused session a week, still incorporating the above. give them something they don't get at club training. Work on their kicking mechanics, hell maybe even go and take some tape of a club game with some of them then do a video review - kids learn really well visually.

If they are good enough to be playing Senior QAFL footy, thats what they should be doing. Its the best grounding, they are playing a higher level than academy games and are testing themselves against senior bodies. The academy should be exactly that, an academy. Academies are for teaching and developing, not for playing meaningless games where the results literally don't mean a thing. They don't even need to play games - pick a QLD u18 side from the 2 academies (and players not in academies..) and enter it in the national carnival.

If you are in the best 22 and make the QLD u18 side, thats the only time you should be taken our of club footy.

You are 100% correct that they work against the clubs, not with them. There is also problems with the partisanship of some coaches - arguably only there to try and coax kids to their club, instead of actually coach them. this is fundamentally wrong and simply should never happen.

A couple of criticisms/points in here I completely agree with Thommo.

1) The academy using the micky mouse school comp as their starting point (rather than going and watching club footy and selecting from that) They say they come and watch club games, but I know who they are and I've never caught them watching our club (even though we are Div 1). The school rep footy selection process is not great, there is nepotism and people involved with no knowledge of the players other than what they have seen in a short try out session. They very often just pick the most physically developed kids regardless of all else.

2) The focus of the program should be on developing aspects that clubs are not covering . . .100% agree on this. What is the point of giving them another 2 sessions per week of the same things they are already getting at club level? If they were really trying to develop, they would be trying to take kids to the next level. They absolutely do not do that. It's not a hard concept and it makes me wonder what their real intent is (I've stated in previous comments that it's not development, it's money collection and it's all about bringing the talent to them rather than them having to travel around watching games . . . lazy and cheap)

3) 1 session a week during season . . . yes, at the moment they are trying to kill these kids with over training (school work, academy training x 2, club training x 2, school team training x 2 and then rep training if they make a met team. Other sport!! forget it . . . and then we wonder why they completely drop out of footy after a few years of that . . .lucky they don't drop dead)

4) The partisan coaches with ulterior motives - agree, not all of them, but they are there . . . just get them out of it . . .it is amateur (as well as cheap). Spend the cash and employ some real professionals.

 

[Fatcat08]

You'll always get more diversity of thought and opinion in a thread that is a complete jungle, or dumpster fire.. if its not smothered by someone getting offended and demanding moderation. (Which happens here,.. a lot)

Over the past few weeks some parents have posted, and i know some parents that do follow this thread, but unfortunately they arent prepared to offer more of their insights as they see the crap i get from randon posters who just chime in for a pot shot.

IMO, the moderation (meaning to or not) defends the pot shotters and scares away those with actual experience with the academy.
.

I think you've seen the evidence of how someone can have an opinion that the academy has issues that need addressing without calling people names like a teenager. It's not the point of view that is the issue it's how you communicate it. People are genuinely Interested in how the academy is going as it's a massive advantage for the club if we can get it right. If people have the ability to articulate their point without the sort of childish abuse you've resorted to then they get responded to with appreciation and it starts genuine positive discussion.

Perhaps a review of your own posting rather than calling everyone else out may be needed here.

Even when people like myself have asked follow up questions you've completely ignored it and continued with your own agenda. If you want reasoned engagement, then engaging reasonably in the first place is a good start.

Food for thought

 

[Fatcat08]

On the academy I think the crux of the issue is how it was set up in the beginning and what the AFL has set as the benchmark on how it's engaged local footy.

They should have looked at the issue, then looked at the solution and then how the club could be involved in that development. Then work out what reward there should be for that

Instead they said you can have an academy and you need to take responsibility for their development and if you don't do enough you don't benefit.

Nowhere in there was an actual assessment of what was actually best for the kids development.

Or at least that's how it appears

 

[M Malice]

From what I have heard in club land re the academy Thommo 42 has nailed the problems with it.