News AFL overhauls Academy and FS bid matching, discussing draft lockout

[Eastern Rangers]

I would say the academy is not just there to give non AFL folk a chance but as a junior system that just doesn't exist in the Northern states. There is no TAC. school footy or WAFL/SANFL Colts programs to give that elite level training and development to kids on the GC before the academies came along. White and Walter may still have become AFL players, but in Walter's case, may not have got to the level he finds himself at now, and players like Rogers or Graham may not have even made it at all.

I think their will be changes, but I don't think you can dismiss what it does based on a couple of father/sons that are scattered through the clubs.

At what point do academies become an impediment to sustainable development pathways?

Self sustaining logic with no process of northern talent decoupling from the academies.

 

[quotemokc]

Curious - are people more annoyed at the Suns having access to four first round picks through the academy or that it was seemingly "easy" to secure them? Two separate issues.

Nothing against the Sun or Norf.

Its stupid that the first round of the draft had 29 picks.

 

[Colonial]

Nothing against the Sun or Norf.

Its stupid that the first round of the draft had 29 picks.

True, but there are many things that are stupid and unfair about the league. Academies is not at the top of the list.

 

[FB19]

While not perfect I don't think the AFL and clubs see the current system as that broken. They are smart enough to realise that there will never be 100% equalisation and there are various considerations regarding the different draft mechanisms that need to be weighed up.

It is only certain supporters that are carrying on and most of their reasoning is based on an overly simplistic view. And they are not the ones the AFL want to be listening too.

I trust Laura Kane will make some improvements with input from the clubs considering all factors in this complex ecosystem. She said as much last month and I was quite impressed with her take though may not be with the result )

You are easily impressed she said the draft wasn’t compromised it was complex. Spin of the highest order.

 

[kreglze]

At what point do academies become an impediment to sustainable development pathways?

Self sustaining logic with no process of northern talent decoupling from the academies.

The end goal would be not relying on academies for player development and having a sustainable and development focused underage set up and competition to develop players instead. When that is? I have no idea as a random punter on the street.

 

[bzparkes]

Yes, there was one out of that who was incorrect. Anything to say about the point of the post?

The spelling, or the fact he's from SA?

 

[branedotorg]

Australian football is actually soccer, i've never heard of anyone referring to the AFL as Australian Football

Perhaps you're referring to Australian Rules football?

before the AFL became such a behemoth i remember Footy, Aussie Rules, Australian Football all being common names for the sport.

Literally no one called Association Football 'football' it was always soccer or wogball (something that certainly reflects Australia at the time) until the 2010s, even SBS often called it soccer, Les Murray aside.

 

[eastfreo75]

It is so strange Fremantle has never gotten a father son. Isn't their catchment four large WAFL clubs?

It’s been take away.

 

[eastfreo75]

I agree with the last line - the academy concessions are only just beginning to kick in and they'lll be really beneficial for the Northern teams - to put it into context the Pies wouldn't have gotten close this year without Nick, DArcy and Quaynor as draft concession bargains. The Northern teams are almost guaranteed to have that level of advantage built in and not just relying on lucky happenstance.

The rest of it though: Freo have played 5 of the last 12 final series - including a Grand Final and a minor premiership, yet Freo supporters talk of them as though they've had a disastrous run. They've been about par for the league over the last decade nad a bit.

I will cherry pick years. Freo in the last 8 years only one finals appearance.

 

[sr36]

I will cherry pick years. Freo in the last 8 years only one finals appearance.

That's normal. Lists and success are cyclical. You had a block where you were challenging followed by an ordinary block. That's how the equalisation is meant to work.

 

[sr36]

Err, why else do you think Northern academies exist?

You're kidding yourself if you think the main purpose is to have the Northern clubs win flags.

They want to grow the supporter bases and the main way to do that is to get kids involved in grass roots and have the clubs at least playing finals.

Yep. The AFL is kicking arse because they're just about the only organisation in Australia that plans long term rather than just an individual contract cycle.

 

[GC2015]

I eagerly await the sons of Luke Hodge getting drafted to Bris through the academy as the final icing on the cherry of the academy cake.

You also have players like Lachlan Johnson, son of three time Brisbane premiership player Chris Johnson, being NGA drafted to Essendon instead of the club his father played 200+ games for. How about Marc Murphy denying his father-son rights to the Lions and going to Carlton instead? Nick Blakey choosing Sydney's academy over father-son to Brisbane? It's not like the Lions have come out on top in all of these exchanges. Swings and roundabouts.

Ultimately, Hodge's sons will have the choice of either joining Hawthorn as father-sons or going to Brisbane as academy products. It's on Hawthorn and Brisbane to do their best to convince him that he should join their club.

 

[eastfreo75]

That's normal. Lists and success are cyclical. You had a block where you were challenging followed by an ordinary block. That's how the equalisation is meant to work.

1 grand final and 8 finals appearances in 29 years.

Just makes me sick when the Roos got their concessions.

The reality is that Fremantle isn’t important to AFL and only agenda is kerb the strength of West Coast.

It’s turn into a fair weather fan for mental health issues.

 

[GC2015]

Great question! I would imagine the answer is both, but more the latter.

I certainly think this idea of paying for a top 5 pick with a bunch of 3rd and 4th rounders is ludicrous, but GC is certainly not the only club to have done so, and GC seem to have suffered more blame than other clubs to have done the same thing.

And it would be so easy to fix by making the points table more rational.

Something that seems to have been lost in this story is the trades that the Suns made in 2022 in anticipation of this exact scenario playing out. Check this out from last year:

GOLD COAST SUNS

2022 NAB AFL Draft picks: 5, 45, 71, 74

Future picks: Gold Coast has stockpiled a stack of selections ahead of the 2023 draft as it prepares to match bids on a handful of Academy prospects led by under-18 All-Australian Jed Walter. The Suns have GWS's second-round pick, third-round picks tied to Adelaide and Geelong, along with fourth-round picks tied to Adelaide and St Kilda, as well as all of their own selections.

It was a two year build to acquire the points needed for the academy players. I think this is a part of the story that really needs to be considered more when people discuss the difficulty of what the Suns just pulled off.

 

[WilloTree]

I love the Academys. It's a brilliant and vital pathway to AFL for kids in rugby states or remote areas. Closing them would be a mistake in my opinion.

It's difficult as a kid/teen to sustain an interest in AFL when you're surrounded by your mates playing other sports (anyone who has travelled up north in WA will know Basketball is king in the school yards, and soccer in the parks - not a cricket ball in sight, but that's another story).

Obviously, it's out-grown the host-club model, but there's no reason the Academy's themselves cast be kept. Why cant they just pop the kids in the draft like everyone else?

Frankly, the assumption that an 18 year old Queenslander or New South Welshman is less capable of moving interstate to follow their dream than a Sandgroper or Croweater is insulting.

Oh, and can we stop pretending Northern Territory kids automatically want to play in Queensland? They don't.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Obviously, it's out-grown the host-club model, but there's no reason the Academy's themselves cast be kept. Why cant they just pop the kids in the draft like everyone else?

Alternatively, return to the NSW scholarship model but with QLD players.

 

[sydney_gws]

Something that seems to have been lost in this story is the trades that the Suns made in 2022 in anticipation of this exact scenario playing out. Check this out from last year:

It was a two year build to acquire the points needed for the academy players. I think this is a part of the story that really needs to be considered more when people discuss the difficulty of what the Suns just pulled off.

I have nothing against the suns, you guys have been unlucky ( e.g GWS should have come into the AFL in 2013, to give Gold Coast another year of good picks).

I think the 29 picks is a joke, surely AFL fixes for 2025. I don't think they do much in 2024, otherwise Richmond wouldn't have traded in those 3rd rounders.

 

[RUNVS]

Something that seems to have been lost in this story is the trades that the Suns made in 2022 in anticipation of this exact scenario playing out. Check this out from last year:

It was a two year build to acquire the points needed for the academy players. I think this is a part of the story that really needs to be considered more when people discuss the difficulty of what the Suns just pulled off.

It won't be considered though. The Victorian media is not interested in doing a deep dive in how much these players actually cost.

I have pointed out time and time again how much Mills actually cost, and the picks we started with before trading backwards, and how we got those picks but it is all flatly ignored. Easier to point at the picks used in the bid and say "look at all these junk picks that landed you guys Mills, he was practically free"

 

[sr36]

1 grand final and 8 finals appearances in 29 years.

Just makes me sick when the Roos got their concessions.

The reality is that Fremantle isn’t important to AFL and only agenda is kerb the strength of West Coast.

It’s turn into a fair weather fan for mental health issues.

The reality is that your introduction into the comp was a complete balls up that left you crap for the first 15 years. Now that's passed, you're a team that will have good periods, shit periods and periods where you're middling. At the moment you're middling on field. Some fans however are excelling at whinging.

 

[GC2015]

I have nothing against the suns, you guys have been unlucky ( e.g GWS should have come into the AFL in 2013, to give Gold Coast another year of good picks).

I think the 29 picks is a joke, surely AFL fixes for 2025. I don't think they do much in 2024, otherwise Richmond wouldn't have traded in those 3rd rounders.

Would it actually make a difference if you removed the 20% discount though? The Suns saved 1117 points through the 20% discount and had just over 800 points remaining after the last bid was matched. It probably wouldn't have been that difficult to acquire another 300 points and there's always the option to go into deficit for the following year. So I'm not sure removing the 20% discount would actually solve anything...

It won't be considered though. The Victorian media is not interested in doing a deep dive in how much these players actually cost.

I have pointed out time and time again how much Mills actually cost, and the picks we started with before trading backwards, and how we got those picks but it is all flatly ignored. Easier to point at the picks used in the bid and say "look at all these junk picks that landed you guys Mills, he was practically free"

It really does seem like the Vic media will just spin any story in a way to make it seem like the old VFL teams are getting massively screwed over whenever something noteworthy is achieved outside of Victoria. The fact that 13 of the last 15 AFL premiership teams come from Victoria speaks volumes in terms of what's really going on.

 

[Farang83150]

Yes, there was one out of that who was incorrect. Anything to say about the point of the post?

Yeah, I think you've had a leg up for to long.

 

[RUNVS]

It really does seem like the Vic media will just spin any story in a way to make it seem like the old VFL teams are getting massively screwed over whenever something noteworthy is achieved outside of Victoria. The fact that 13 of the last 15 AFL premiership teams come from Victoria speaks volumes in terms of what's really going on.

Even worse than that as from memory I think it is 15 of the last 17 premierships have been Victorian teams.

 

[bungalow_bill]

Would it actually make a difference if you removed the 20% discount though? The Suns saved 1117 points through the 20% discount and had just over 800 points remaining after the last bid was matched. It probably wouldn't have been that difficult to acquire another 300 points and there's always the option to go into deficit for the following year. So I'm not sure removing the 20% discount would actually solve anything...


It really does seem like the Vic media will just spin any story in a way to make it seem like the old VFL teams are getting massively screwed over whenever something noteworthy is achieved outside of Victoria. The fact that 13 of the last 15 AFL premiership teams come from Victoria speaks volumes in terms of what's really going on.

Conveniently ignoring the massive gift the VFL gave North. No Vic uproar about that. Now imagine it was the Swans who were basically gifted a top 5 pick. At least the GC thing was not at all dodgy

 

[Farang83150]

This is probably behind a paywall. Apologies, also if it has been previously linked. It highlights the Academy advantage in pretty simple player list form for each club in the article. Sydney have benefited. Rumours are Gold Coast are about to hit the jackpot.

https://www.themercury.com.au/sport...s/news-story/18dbf2bee649b360e8d541b2566b58ad

ABOUT TO...you been under a rock or something!

 

[Caligo]

Something that seems to have been lost in this story is the trades that the Suns made in 2022 in anticipation of this exact scenario playing out. Check this out from last year:

It was a two year build to acquire the points needed for the academy players. I think this is a part of the story that really needs to be considered more when people discuss the difficulty of what the Suns just pulled off.

As I said, lots of thirds and fourths, often over many trades to maximise the flaws in the points table that we all agree is bullshit.

But it isn't like GC is the first to do it