Academy: Gold Coast SUNS Gun Factory

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If those players where rated by anyone they would of been drafted by someone else.
We did the whole draft every academy player for seasons and we got stuck with spuds like Dawson, Scheer, Nutting and Graham.

If those players where rated by anyone they would of been drafted by someone else.
We did the whole draft every academy player for seasons and we got stuck with spuds like Dawson, Scheer, Nutting and Graham.
When we reject them it does reduce their #brand# to other clubs when we have a 49 man list (not many Qlders get drafted anyway) and I believe some of those guys I listed have had nibbles from other clubs. At least we got some good games out of Dawson , Scheer, Graham , Joyce etc , there are 4 guys on our list we will be lucky to get a AFL possession out of. A solid depth player like Peating for GWS (academy selection) would not get a look in at the Suns. Jeff Foggo could be an AFL player if we backed him , at least he can play the game
 
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Jye Lockett had 28 disposals and 2.1 goals
Corbett with 29, 4 tackles
Walter with 2.1 goals
Harrington withn 3 goals from 15 touches
Campbell Lake with 10 tackles, 1 goal from 9 disposals

Stats are on the nab league app for those interested for more.
 
Watched suns beat Western Jets in brisbane today. Lions beat eastern ranges too. Need to treat NAB form with caution; 18yos clearly dont play footy well after a 5am rise and a 2 hour plane trip, something non-vic sides do a helluva lot more than vic sides.
A Few 19 yos played vfl today, allowed eckersley and corbett more midfield time and they were GC's best, along with Walters, who is looking increasingly like Suns will have to come up with Top 10 points for in 2023
Jye Lockett had 28 disposals and 2.1 goals
Corbett with 29, 4 tackles
Walter with 2.1 goals
Harrington withn 3 goals from 15 touches
Campbell Lake with 10 tackles, 1 goal from 9 disposals

Stats are on the nab league app for those interested for more.
If Walter is as good as advertised then we've got a high quality power forward on our hands that's going to be our main man for the next 10 years or so. Last time I checked he was 194cm with an impressive vertical leap and an an enormous amount of power but he's still just 16 years of age! Perhaps he's got a few centimetres of height left in him and I think we'd probably want him around the 198-200cm mark in an ideal world. Tom Hawkins is 198cm so you'd want to follow that mould if possible when talking about a power forward that can dominate the league. I imagine he'll be the natural successor to Casboult either next year or the year after and he'll compliment Kingy well in the forward line.

When you look at Brisbane's rise up the ladder a few years ago, a lot of it had to do with two high quality key position players (Hipwood & Andrews) coming through their academy system around the same time and that's something we've never had when you look back at it. Obviously nothing is guaranteed at this age but you just hope Walter can become the key forward we really want him to be because it's going to pay massive dividends later.
 

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GOLD COAST SUNS 10.9 (69) DEF. WESTERN JETS 8.13 (61)

152 points – Massimo D’Ambrossio (Western Jets)

137 points – Marlin Corbett (Gold Coast Suns)

134 points – Jye Lockett (Gold Coast Suns)

134 points – Jake Rogers (Gold Coast Suns)

114 points – Brinn Little (Gold Coast Suns)

That name is so Italian that i'd be shocked if he didn't come out of the womb with a fully grown moustache.

Also to keep it on topic; I want a Lockett in our forward pocket... badly.
 

Always great to see our academy teams win. Not sure if anyone else feels this way but I think we're finally starting to reap the benefits of our academy zone these days. Look at the players from our academy zone that went down to Sydney and pulled off a big win at the SCG yesterday - Rory Thompson (Southport), Connor Budarick (Labrador), Lachie Weller (Broadbeach), Alex Davies (Cairns) and Malcolm Rosas (Darwin). That's not including Jack Bowes (Cairns) who would be an instant inclusion if healthy or Joel Jeffrey (Darwin) who I think will regularly be in the seniors soon. Caleb Graham (Cairns) serves as tall depth that could be called upon and Bohdi Uwland (Broadbeach) may also find his way into our best 22 if he can have some luck with his injury. I also feel Sandy Brock (Darwin) will eventually find his way into our best 22.

So we've got probably 7-8 academy zone guys on our list right now who could all be picked in the firsts if they're healthy. That's a fairly significant number of players from our zone/academy finding their way into our best 22 on a weekly basis. If we can keep this up and draft some more high end local talent onto our list over the next few years then our future is looking very bright. Up the Suns!
 
Always great to see our academy teams win. Not sure if anyone else feels this way but I think we're finally starting to reap the benefits of our academy zone these days. Look at the players from our academy zone that went down to Sydney and pulled off a big win at the SCG yesterday - Rory Thompson (Southport), Connor Budarick (Labrador), Lachie Weller (Broadbeach), Alex Davies (Cairns) and Malcolm Rosas (Darwin). That's not including Jack Bowes (Cairns) who would be an instant inclusion if healthy or Joel Jeffrey (Darwin) who I think will regularly be in the seniors soon. Caleb Graham (Cairns) serves as tall depth that could be called upon and Bohdi Uwland (Broadbeach) may also find his way into our best 22 if he can have some luck with his injury. I also feel Sandy Brock (Darwin) will eventually find his way into our best 22.

So we've got probably 7-8 academy zone guys on our list right now who could all be picked in the firsts if they're healthy. That's a fairly significant number of players from our zone/academy finding their way into our best 22 on a weekly basis. If we can keep this up and draft some more high end local talent onto our list over the next few years then our future is looking very bright. Up the Suns!
The academy is the key to the Suns becoming a strong team long term. If the academy can turn out 1/2 AFL quality players every year it will be a gold mine, as eventually there will be a star or two come through.

And given the AFL's desire to grow the game it's an advantage that isn't going to go away either. Imagine the positive PR for the sport in general if the Suns become a consistent finals team and get a few players of the quality of Heeney or Mills through the academy.

You only have to look at the Swans to see what an advantage it can be.
 
The academy is the key to the Suns becoming a strong team long term. If the academy can turn out 1/2 AFL quality players every year it will be a gold mine, as eventually there will be a star or two come through.

And given the AFL's desire to grow the game it's an advantage that isn't going to go away either. Imagine the positive PR for the sport in general if the Suns become a consistent finals team and get a few players of the quality of Heeney or Mills through the academy.

You only have to look at the Swans to see what an advantage it can be.
Take out Darwin which could be taken away at any time and those numbers become slimmer , still think we get more hit than misses as we take the best one then go funky with the rest. A guy like Jack Johnstone now playing for Port Melbourne would have been a much smarter selection than a couple still on the list given we lack tall defenders
 
The academy is the key to the Suns becoming a strong team long term. If the academy can turn out 1/2 AFL quality players every year it will be a gold mine, as eventually there will be a star or two come through.

And given the AFL's desire to grow the game it's an advantage that isn't going to go away either. Imagine the positive PR for the sport in general if the Suns become a consistent finals team and get a few players of the quality of Heeney or Mills through the academy.

You only have to look at the Swans to see what an advantage it can be.

It would be great if we could have an absolute gun come out of the academy. Need to able to point to a Heeney, Mills or Tom Green to show players that you can be from the Gold Coast and become an elite player.

Bowes is the best we have produced and I wouldn't count the academy producing Weller and costing us Andrew Brayshaw as a win for the Suns.
 
It would be great if we could have an absolute gun come out of the academy. Need to able to point to a Heeney, Mills or Tom Green to show players that you can be from the Gold Coast and become an elite player.

Bowes is the best we have produced and I wouldn't count the academy producing Weller and costing us Andrew Brayshaw as a win for the Suns.
Again I think is that we spend so much time growing the game and looking for alternative talent that we don't fully develop the top end talent. Maybe it's time just for a few years to work on the top 5 in each age group and see if we can develop a champion rather than spread our academy resources too thin
 
Again I think is that we spend so much time growing the game and looking for alternative talent that we don't fully develop the top end talent. Maybe it's time just for a few years to work on the top 5 in each age group and see if we can develop a champion rather than spread our academy resources too thin
We just got Uwland and Brock last year while people were screaming to also draft Bella, Stevens and son on. 1-2 per year seems reasonable to me.
 
It would be great if we could have an absolute gun come out of the academy. Need to able to point to a Heeney, Mills or Tom Green to show players that you can be from the Gold Coast and become an elite player.

Bowes is the best we have produced and I wouldn't count the academy producing Weller and costing us Andrew Brayshaw as a win for the Suns.
There's a kid called Ethan Reid playing in the U18s but not eligible for draft until 2023 - 6'8" or so in the old language and will get drafted. Toss in Jedd Walter and maybe a couple of others and 2023 draft looks like generating a couple of champs - one KPF and one a ruck.
 

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Good to see 2023 afl draft could have some very handy academy players in Walter, Read and Rogers. Hopefully that’s when we are making finals and these players come in with the multiple buildup picks we have
It's also great that Walter, Read and Rogers are all Gold Coast juniors. Don't get me wrong, I'm of course appreciative of academy products from North/Central Queensland and Darwin but producing local academy stars from the Gold Coast does more for the club than just adding another standout to our list. It increases the local engagement within the GC community through friends and families who are more inclined to get on board. The Gold Coast is growing an extremely fast rate and anything we can do to increase local involvement is very important.

I'll do you one better. How about we play finals this year and that inspires our academy standouts to really give everything next year because they have a burning desire to be a part of it? Then we draft them with first and second round picks just a few weeks after qualifying for the finals for a second straight season. Sound good?
 
Surprised to see Harrington miss this squad after an eye catching NAB league and Northern Academy series. Lockett stiff too in my opinion.
Harrington dropped off and I believe is first reserve if anybody gets injured. Eckers and Marlin Corbitt are the two to really watch this year - with Jedd Walter and Eithan Reid in 2023.
 
Harrington dropped off and I believe is first reserve if anybody gets injured. Eckers and Marlin Corbitt are the two to really watch this year - with Jedd Walter and Eithan Reid in 2023.
Corbett is an interesting prospect. 188cm and hails from Byron Bay. it'd be a great story to have an academy prospect come through from Byron Bay as it's a completely untapped area for us and we know there are plenty of passionate AFL fans there like the Hemsworth brothers.

Anyone know what position Corbett plays?
 
Corbett is an interesting prospect. 188cm and hails from Byron Bay. it'd be a great story to have an academy prospect come through from Byron Bay as it's a completely untapped area for us and we know there are plenty of passionate AFL fans there like the Hemsworth brothers.

Anyone know what position Corbett plays?
I've seen him down back, mid and high forward...so guess he's an all-rounder!
 
Jed Walter headed up to the Sunny Coast yesterday and lined up at full forward for the PBC seniors in their match against Noosa. He managed two goals which isn't a bad outing for a 16 year old playing against men but perhaps more importantly, his partner in crime yesterday was none other than 161 AFL gamer Liam Jones who lined up at CHF. I don't think we can really underestimate how great that is for Walter's development in his underage year. Let's hope Jones is taking him under his wing and we become the beneficiaries next year.

Who knows, maybe they'll be teammates in the future as well :cool:
 
Jed Walter headed up to the Sunny Coast yesterday and lined up at full forward for the PBC seniors in their match against Noosa. He managed two goals which isn't a bad outing for a 16 year old playing against men but perhaps more importantly, his partner in crime yesterday was none other than 161 AFL gamer Liam Jones who lined up at CHF. I don't think we can really underestimate how great that is for Walter's development in his underage year. Let's hope Jones is taking him under his wing and we become the beneficiaries next year.

Who knows, maybe they'll be teammates in the future as well :cool:
Heard good things about him, the best thing about us winning more games in the seniors us that we may start forgetting about the clickbait stories and relying on our team itself getting people through the turnstiles. That means the Academy kids don't have to worry what their background is to get a gig only their performance. Someone like Jed who seems to be a legitimate footballer is the type of rookie we should be taking if he doesn't.make the main draft
 
Heard good things about him, the best thing about us winning more games in the seniors us that we may start forgetting about the clickbait stories and relying on our team itself getting people through the turnstiles. That means the Academy kids don't have to worry what their background is to get a gig only their performance. Someone like Jed who seems to be a legitimate footballer is the type of rookie we should be taking if he doesn't.make the main draft
You're right. Success breeds success and our seniors winning more regularly shines a brighter light on our academy prospects and also probably gives them greater motivation to work harder because they want to be a part of AFL success with their local team. We're currently experiencing unprecedented population growth on the Gold Coast which means there are a lot of kids moving here from the southern football states who haven't experienced the last 10 years of struggles for the Suns. All they will know is the current Suns team that appears to be climbing the ladder and that's where the club has an enormous opportunity to win over a full generation of Gold Coasters who will grow up wanting to play footy instead of other sports.

Jed is obviously a natural footballer who was probably always going to make it regardless of the Suns' standing in the AFL but it's always interesting to see how often high end academy talents seem to come through when the senior AFL team is performing well. GWS make their first prelim in 2016 and they have three first rounders come through in the same year - Setterfield (Pick 5), Perryman (Pick 14) and Cumming (Pick 20). Sydney win a premiership in 2012 and they have top three draftees Heeney and Mills come through in consecutive years. Brisbane less so but even they had Blake Coleman two years ago.

Having said all that, I think we're going to lose our automatic access to academy prospects very soon if Jeffrey keeps playing like this. They may even push for us to lose Darwin access altogether but I'm sure once they get wind of the fact that Walter is a likely top 10 pick next year, the southern teams will do their best to eradicate any advantage we currently have. Let's just hope we've accumulated enough academy talent by that point.
 
You're right. Success breeds success and our seniors winning more regularly shines a brighter light on our academy prospects and also probably gives them greater motivation to work harder because they want to be a part of AFL success with their local team. We're currently experiencing unprecedented population growth on the Gold Coast which means there are a lot of kids moving here from the southern football states who haven't experienced the last 10 years of struggles for the Suns. All they will know is the current Suns team that appears to be climbing the ladder and that's where the club has an enormous opportunity to win over a full generation of Gold Coasters who will grow up wanting to play footy instead of other sports.

Jed is obviously a natural footballer who was probably always going to make it regardless of the Suns' standing in the AFL but it's always interesting to see how often high end academy talents seem to come through when the senior AFL team is performing well. GWS make their first prelim in 2016 and they have three first rounders come through in the same year - Setterfield (Pick 5), Perryman (Pick 14) and Cumming (Pick 20). Sydney win a premiership in 2012 and they have top three draftees Heeney and Mills come through in consecutive years. Brisbane less so but even they had Blake Coleman two years ago.

Having said all that, I think we're going to lose our automatic access to academy prospects very soon if Jeffrey keeps playing like this. They may even push for us to lose Darwin access altogether but I'm sure once they get wind of the fact that Walter is a likely top 10 pick next year, the southern teams will do their best to eradicate any advantage we currently have. Let's just hope we've accumulated enough academy talent by that point.
Walter is not a top 10 pick prospect
 

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