I like the thought of getting these guys into a Crows guernsey as soon as possible and get them developing bonds with fellow teammates, as well as learning directly from our coaches and training to our gameplan. This is instead of developing split loyalties, playing in a guernsey other than our own and receiving heavy influences from coaches/players outside of our club. We worry so much about losing players to other sides and yet as soon as a young player is drafted, we ship them off to a foreign club to play their footy and develop. Personally I feel that reserves sides are great for the culture of a footy club and would go a long way towards ensuring we keep our young interstate players as right from word go, even if they're not playing in our seniors, they're playing for OUR football club and playing/bonding with OUR players.
