News Indigenous and Multicultural Zones Announced

[NicoNicoNico]

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-04-12/sa-and-wa-clubs-get-their-indigenous-and-multicultural-zones

We get:

• East Fremantle
• South Fremantle
• Peel Thunder
• West Perth
• Claremont
• Midwest
• 10% of South West
• Wheatbelt
• Kimberley

The Slime gets the rest of WAFL and WA.

 

[Van_Dyke]

Not bad. But dear god am I grateful I no longer live in the Pilbara.

 

[Purpletown]

This will take 3 years to kick in as to be eligible a player must have fully participated in a clubs academy program. Unfortunately Sam Petrevski - Seaton will slip through our fingers this year. However the way we are going we may well have an early enough pick to get him regardless.

Young indigenous and multi cultural boys (and girls) could really benefit from the more gradual introduction to the demands of AFL football, a positive program for the players and the clubs.

 

[Docker82]

We're going to get close to a player a year out of this...

From our zone (apologies if my geography is a bit off)
Jack Martin
Patrick Ryder
Daniel Wells
Callum Ah Chee
Brendan Ah Chee
Stephen Hill
Brad Hill
Josh Hill
Jarrad Pickett
Harley Bennell
Jarrod Garlett
Jason Johannisen (South African ???)

Probably missed one or two (not to mention which 10% of SW do we get, assumed all WCE for this) but it's a pretty decent list I would've thought. Unfornately it's lacking in KPPs which we need but the talent above would be close to the best in the country for one of these indigenous/multicultural zones.

 

[Andy Brennan]

Freo area + Kimberley = priority access to a lot of indigenous kids. Let's hope some can play footy!

 

[Taylor]

It looks like we have from Joondalup to almost Onslow up the coast.

 

[Nickos66]

Sucks it doesn't kick in from this year.

 

[basashi]

What % of AFL indigenous players are from the south west? Its a lot isn't it?

 

[basashi]

19 Noongar according to afl players association. 11-13 from the rest of the state depending on how you count (parents from diff areas)

http://www.aflplayers.com.au/indigenous-map/

 

[Swan Districts Kid]

Shame we didn't gt Swan Districts - has generated a lot of very good noongar players like Michael Walters.

 

[scon]

The Coast is Ours

 

[Nickos66]

Shame we didn't gt Swan Districts - has generated a lot of very good noongar players like Michael Walters.

That was probably the trade off - us getting the Kimberley region, i'd imagine the talent pool would be a similar size up there, maybe a little smaller hence we get 5 WAFL clubs.

 

[smokingjacket]

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-04-12/sa-and-wa-clubs-get-their-indigenous-and-multicultural-zones

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-02-03/victorian-clubs-handed-afl-funding-for-academies

The AFL hopes the introduction of the community hubs and regional involvement will boost the draft numbers for its traditional football heartland.

"We certainly have noticed a change in where our draftees come from. New South Wales and Queensland have done a terrific job in growing the base there and it has challenged some of the traditional states about their talent programs," Evans said.

As the demands on elite professional football teams increase, it seems that the improvements to be made from developing players from the age of 18+ are relatively exhausted. There's only so much you can change a players technique past 18 and it would appear the limits of endurance and strength and conditioning programs have already been tapped out.

To take the game to the next level its clear that what is needed is under-age academies with the resources of AFL clubs, put in to technical training and developing players from a younger age to ready them for the huge jump and growing, from juniors and reserves to AFL.

The academies proposed by the AFL to be run by Fremantle and WC in WA aren't typical academies in the European round-ball mould, they seem to be more an extension of a well resourced community coaching camp. However it seems inevitable that at some point the clubs will push for their own academies to further their players skill development from a younger age as clubs in NSW and QLD will begin to have a distinct advantage over their competitors if not.

So the question: If you were designing an academy program for FFC, what would you consider to be the core traits of the way we play footy and what do you think an academy director should be focusing on? Footskills? Tactical discipline? What sort of players would you like to see our club producing to play our style?

 

[estibador]

Definitely skills. You can teach all the tactical stuff to them as adults, but the earlier you can ingrain good motor skill habits the better.

 

[Silversurfer]

Ambidextrous foot and hand skills. Balanced abilities on boath sides of the body is the future but must be taught early.

 

[smokingjacket]

Definitely skills. You can teach all the tactical stuff to them as adults, but the earlier you can ingrain good motor skill habits the better.

Ah, but the chicken and the egg is that you have players with good skills who get overlooked because they can't fit within a tactical system.

What's more important to our gameplan, skills or tactical discipline?

 

[go_the_dockers]

Ah, but the chicken and the egg is that you have players with good skills who get overlooked because they can't fit within a tactical system.

What's more important to our gameplan, skills or tactical discipline?

Speed and skills.

 

[schnoods]

We really need a proper academy, not just a multi-cultured one, like Sydney, brisbane, etc have.

Players like Mills and Heeney are developed and ready to go, they know how the clubs work and are ready blooded. Especially since we arent getting the Father/Son players that the traditional and longer established clubs are getting.

But honestly what we should look at is hungry, talented and hard working competitors.

 

[sij1981]

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-04-12/sa-and-wa-clubs-get-their-indigenous-and-multicultural-zones

We get:

• East Fremantle
• South Fremantle
• Peel Thunder
• West Perth
• Claremont
• Midwest
• 10% of South West
• Wheatbelt
• Kimberley

The Slime gets the rest of WAFL and WA.

Large % of Country WA in South West - plenty of footy leagues how can they get 90% and we get 10% - and 100% of the North where there is not much.

 

[estibador]

AFL Next Generation Club Academy zones
(Clubs will have access only to multicultural talent, not indigenous players, in their metropolitan zones)

West Coast
Metropolitan – East Perth, Perth, Swan Districts, Subiaco
Regional – South West (90 per cent), Midlands, Great Southern, Goldfields
* The Eagles will also have access to indigenous players in the Pilbara region

Fremantle
Metropolitan – East Fremantle, South Fremantle, Peel Thunder, West Perth, Claremont
Regional – Midwest, South West (10 per cent), Wheatbelt
* The Dockers will also have access to players from the Kimberley region

So guys like Hill, Walters and Bennell won't be eligible because we can only get access to 'multicultural' talent, not indigenous talent, from the metro zones.

I actually have a feeling it might be poorly written and we really only get access to multicultural talent from both the metro and regional zones, with indigenous talent only allowed to come from the two most remote zones (Kimberley and Pilbara).

a) otherwise it seems weird to specify that we get access to indigenous players from the Kimberley (and the eagles the Pilbara) in a separate little section rather than adding them as part of the regional zone. If we have access to all indigenous talent in the regional zones why have the Pilbara and Kimberley been separated?

b) access to the entire state's rural indigenous talent seem disproportionately generous and would turn the two WA clubs into perennial powerhouses.

c) it's the only reason I can think of where we would agree to hand the eagles 90% of the South West. 90% of the South West indigenous talent is too lopsided in their favour considering how well developed the pathways are already in that area

 

[Taylor]

What is classified as multicultural?

There are a lot of 6'6" Serbians.

 

[Allikat]

I was kinda excited to hear that our zones were finally worked out - but I get the feeling with these rules the talent's potentially going to be pretty thin. The no indigenous players from the metro zones is a harsh restriction. Not just for our recruiting, but a structured academy could really help a lot of the more disadvantaged kids to not go off the rails.

 

[Van_Dyke]

I was kinda excited to hear that our zones were finally worked out - but I get the feeling with these rules the talent's potentially going to be pretty thin. The no indigenous players from the metro zones is a harsh restriction. Not just for our recruiting, but a structured academy could really help a lot of the more disadvantaged kids to not go off the rails.

Agreed. Really dislike that being included.

 

[G Mus]

Feel like we lost that split

 

[estibador]

Feel like we lost that split

I think the Kimberley has more potential than the Pilbara to produce indigenous talent if we can harness it properly.

But I might be biased since I grew up there.