Prediction Just give Gold Coast the next 5 flags and be done with it

[GC2015]

??
This was always the issue, your club will be disliked and any success will be tainted

You and others were wondering why GCS is so disliked, its because of reasons I stated, its just bullshit

Okay mate. Being a West Coast fan, I assume you've heard the claims that your '92 & '94 flags were tainted because you were 'given a state team'. Is that what this is? A projection due to your own unpleasant experiences?

I could be wrong here, but I don't even think we're that disliked (yet). We've played finals once in 15 years and have been largely irrelevant for 95% of our existence. I think YOU hate us because you believe we've prevented West Coast from getting their hands on draft talent they need to climb back up the ladder. You want something to blame your club's recent failures on and you've decided the Suns are the perfect target. That's what I think.

 

[Colonial]

??
This was always the issue, your club will be disliked and any success will be tainted

You and others were wondering why GCS is so disliked, its because of reasons I stated, its just bullshit

Wasn’t your first flag from being given basically every star in WA?

 

[shintemaster]

I think he was referring to the free agency compensation pick North were given for Ben McKay and a lot of people felt at the time that losing B.McKay didn't warrant band 1 compensation, but it was a convenient excuse to give the struggling Roos a bit of help. I assume that's what he was referring to when he mentioned "North got their help in 2023".


So it's exactly what I suggested - you're unwilling to criticise the top 5 pick North were given because 'it's too early to tell what he'll be' but you're happy to criticise Gold Coast's pick because he's 4 years older and turned out to be a good player. The issue here is you're leaving the door open for the North player to be a flop and then you won't be as outraged about the pick being given to North if he does flop. So your outrage towards help is conditional depending on how good the player becomes, not how much help the club is actually given. However, and this is where the hypocrisy really comes into play, you're more than happy to critcise the academy picks the Suns have landed in the last three years... even though 'we don't know what those kids are yet' because they were all drafted from 2023 onward. Will your opinion change if half the first round Suns academy picks end up being flops?


Writing ****s sake doesn't make your point any better FYI. Just letting you know that there's a fairly good chance we're going to disagree on a lot of things because I can already tell we look at things differently. So don't be surprised when I don't agree with you in future posts. You don't have to express frustration in that way just because people don't agree with your point of view. Forums like BF are literally designed for people to discuss topics and sharing differing opinions.

So the issue with this quote above is you're conveniently not mentioning what the Suns did to get those picks/points. I tried to provide you with context in my last post by mentioning best 22 players that were traded out like Flanders, Lukosius, Ainsworth, Chol, Fiorini etc but you've failed to mention that part again in this quote. By leaving out this crucial piece of context, you've made it sound like the Suns have received all these amazing benefits and have given up absolutely nothing to make it happen. Think about what actually happened - the Suns gave up former pick 11 Flanders for pick 7, former pick 2 Lukosius for pick 8 and bundled those two picks with their natural 2026 second round pick and their 2027 first round pick in order to land Petracca. There was a fair bit moving out of the club in order to make the Petracca trade possible.

So what about the first round academy picks? The Suns let go of three best 22 players who all competed in the 2025 finals series in Ainsworth, Fiorini & Budarick as well as Rosas and Atkins to make it possible. They also traded away their natural first round pick + 2026 and 2027 second/third round picks to accumulate more points. Once again, there was a fair bit being moved out in order to make it possible. It's going to hurt seeing guys like Flanders, Fiorini, Budarick, Rosas etc succeeding at other clubs, but that's how trading works. You take the good with the bad.

I just wanted to make it clear that there was a fair bit being given up in order to do what they did last year because your post could be perceived in a very misleading way. You've focused a lot on the end result and have mentioned virtually nothing about how they got there. Now if you want to debate that the Suns didn't give up enough for what was coming back in return, then we can have that subjective conversation but that's a very different point to the one I think you're trying to make.


And this just proves how ridiculous your point of view is and how you've overlooked so many things that occurred to make it all possible. You're essentially suggestng we gave up nothing to land Trac and 4 first round picks. I'll direct you to the text above so you can educate yourself more on what we gave up.


So we cop more heat because we're better at drafting/developing players than North are? Again, this is the problem with your approach of suspending judgement until you know the kind of player that pick develops into. Let's try something here - say your team had finished last in 2018 and you were given a priority pick that you use to draft Sam Walsh and let's say my team finishes last in 2014 and we get given a priority pick that we use on Paddy McCartin. Have we been given the same level of help or have you been given considerably more help because Walsh develops into a good player and McCartin ends up being a flop? Your answer here will be telling.


North were very competitive in 2019 with 10 wins on the board and only 2 wins shy of playing finals. The Suns were the opposite of competitive in 2019 and were the wooden spooners crying out for help after years of struggling with departures of both captains (Lynch & May), a Brownlow medalist and former captain (Ablett), Ah Chee, Martin, Hall, Saad, Matera etc in the two years leading up to that point.

This is why I don't think it's fair to compare North and the Suns prior to 2020 because they were in two very different boats and North even played finals in 2018 while the Suns were languishing down the bottom and forced to play away for an extended period due to the Commonwealth Games. This is why I think comparing from 2020 onward while both teams were struggling simultaneously is more fair. The Suns didn't play finals for 15 years and lost just about every prominent player they ever drafted other than Dave Swallow, so of course there's going to be a long history of top 10 picks that are eventually traded for future top 10 picks.


But that could've been any team getting lucky with the F/S rule other than Gold Coast or GWS, right? Carlton are going to land pick 1 as an F/S pick this year after they got pick 3 as an F/S pick last year and they also got the Camporeale twins as F/S picks two years ago. They were also able to add in pick 3 Jagger Smith and another first round pick in Ashton Moir. But wait, there's more... they also traded in Florent, Hayward & Ainsworth while their only big loss was Curnow. Why aren't you more critical of Carlton with their F/S access and ability to make other big moves in the same period of time, but you're happy to criticise Brisbane for doing the same thing? Is it because you're selective with your outrage?


Oh so Carlton's F/S access to pick 3 last year is okay but Brisbane's F/S access to pick 5 the year before is disgraceful? It's crazy that you can't see the hypocrisy in your responses. And the cherry on top is Carlton is going to get F/S access to pick 1 this year... but that's totally okay because Carlton might be forced to trade in a late first round pick to make it possible. You can't make this stuff up.

I'm sure you've got some ridiculous reasoning as to why you'll be okay with Port Adelaide's priority access to 2x academy pick 2s + 2x F/S top 15 picks over the next two years as well.


Gee whiz. You've either got a terrible memory or you're purposely making things up to suit your narrative. GWS were constantly berated in the lead up to their 2019 GF appearance for the access they were given and people thought they were going to win 5 straight premierships due to the 'help' the AFL gave them in their foundation years. It's why they lost academy access to the Albury/Murray region because there was so much fear in relation to the Giants becoming a juggernaut. I'm sure prominent GWS posters like Colonial will be happy to educate you on this topic that you've got terribly wrong.


It's really not. You've constantly contradicted yourself and shown multiple times that you're okay with the priority access rules being applied to a club like Carlton, but very much against those same rules being applied to a team like Brisbane.


Ahh so once again Carlton get a pass (in your mind) for their high end priority access because F/S is an old rule but Gold Coast and Brisbane don't get a pass because the academies are a new rule. So you should be okay with Will Ashcroft, Jaspa Fletcher and Levi Ashcroft joining the Lions because they were recruited as F/S picks and it's an old rule, right? But wait, you already labelled that a disgrace. Something isn't adding up here...

The most ridiculous part of your point of view is that you can't see how much you're contradicting yourself.

Who cares what he is referring to? It doesn’t change reality. Argument then changed to we deserve it because Gokd coast. Mighty argument.

 

[GC2015]

Who cares what he is referring to? It doesn’t change reality. Argument then changed to we deserve it because Gokd coast. Mighty argument.

To be fair to stallon, he admitted he got that one wrong and that's where the comparisons to North stopped. Not much point in continuing down that train of thought when the OP admits there was a mistake in the premise.

 

[Obeanie1]

I think he was referring to the free agency compensation pick North were given for Ben McKay and a lot of people felt at the time that losing B.McKay didn't warrant band 1 compensation, but it was a convenient excuse to give the struggling Roos a bit of help. I assume that's what he was referring to when he mentioned "North got their help in 2023".


So it's exactly what I suggested - you're unwilling to criticise the top 5 pick North were given because 'it's too early to tell what he'll be' but you're happy to criticise Gold Coast's pick because he's 4 years older and turned out to be a good player. The issue here is you're leaving the door open for the North player to be a flop and then you won't be as outraged about the pick being given to North if he does flop. So your outrage towards help is conditional depending on how good the player becomes, not how much help the club is actually given. However, and this is where the hypocrisy really comes into play, you're more than happy to critcise the academy picks the Suns have landed in the last three years... even though 'we don't know what those kids are yet' because they were all drafted from 2023 onward. Will your opinion change if half the first round Suns academy picks end up being flops?


Writing ****s sake doesn't make your point any better FYI. Just letting you know that there's a fairly good chance we're going to disagree on a lot of things because I can already tell we look at things differently. So don't be surprised when I don't agree with you in future posts. You don't have to express frustration in that way just because people don't agree with your point of view. Forums like BF are literally designed for people to discuss topics and sharing differing opinions.

So the issue with this quote above is you're conveniently not mentioning what the Suns did to get those picks/points. I tried to provide you with context in my last post by mentioning best 22 players that were traded out like Flanders, Lukosius, Ainsworth, Chol, Fiorini etc but you've failed to mention that part again in this quote. By leaving out this crucial piece of context, you've made it sound like the Suns have received all these amazing benefits and have given up absolutely nothing to make it happen. Think about what actually happened - the Suns gave up former pick 11 Flanders for pick 7, former pick 2 Lukosius for pick 8 and bundled those two picks with their natural 2026 second round pick and their 2027 first round pick in order to land Petracca. There was a fair bit moving out of the club in order to make the Petracca trade possible.

So what about the first round academy picks? The Suns let go of three best 22 players who all competed in the 2025 finals series in Ainsworth, Fiorini & Budarick as well as Rosas and Atkins to make it possible. They also traded away their natural first round pick + 2026 and 2027 second/third round picks to accumulate more points. Once again, there was a fair bit being moved out in order to make it possible. It's going to hurt seeing guys like Flanders, Fiorini, Budarick, Rosas etc succeeding at other clubs, but that's how trading works. You take the good with the bad.

I just wanted to make it clear that there was a fair bit being given up in order to do what they did last year because your post could be perceived in a very misleading way. You've focused a lot on the end result and have mentioned virtually nothing about how they got there. Now if you want to debate that the Suns didn't give up enough for what was coming back in return, then we can have that subjective conversation but that's a very different point to the one I think you're trying to make.


And this just proves how ridiculous your point of view is and how you've overlooked so many things that occurred to make it all possible. You're essentially suggestng we gave up nothing to land Trac and 4 first round picks. I'll direct you to the text above so you can educate yourself more on what we gave up.


So we cop more heat because we're better at drafting/developing players than North are? Again, this is the problem with your approach of suspending judgement until you know the kind of player that pick develops into. Let's try something here - say your team had finished last in 2018 and you were given a priority pick that you use to draft Sam Walsh and let's say my team finishes last in 2014 and we get given a priority pick that we use on Paddy McCartin. Have we been given the same level of help or have you been given considerably more help because Walsh develops into a good player and McCartin ends up being a flop? Your answer here will be telling.


North were very competitive in 2019 with 10 wins on the board and only 2 wins shy of playing finals. The Suns were the opposite of competitive in 2019 and were the wooden spooners crying out for help after years of struggling with departures of both captains (Lynch & May), a Brownlow medalist and former captain (Ablett), Ah Chee, Martin, Hall, Saad, Matera etc in the two years leading up to that point.

This is why I don't think it's fair to compare North and the Suns prior to 2020 because they were in two very different boats and North even played finals in 2018 while the Suns were languishing down the bottom and forced to play away for an extended period due to the Commonwealth Games. This is why I think comparing from 2020 onward while both teams were struggling simultaneously is more fair. The Suns didn't play finals for 15 years and lost just about every prominent player they ever drafted other than Dave Swallow, so of course there's going to be a long history of top 10 picks that are eventually traded for future top 10 picks.


But that could've been any team getting lucky with the F/S rule other than Gold Coast or GWS, right? Carlton are going to land pick 1 as an F/S pick this year after they got pick 3 as an F/S pick last year and they also got the Camporeale twins as F/S picks two years ago. They were also able to add in pick 3 Jagger Smith and another first round pick in Ashton Moir. But wait, there's more... they also traded in Florent, Hayward & Ainsworth while their only big loss was Curnow. Why aren't you more critical of Carlton with their F/S access and ability to make other big moves in the same period of time, but you're happy to criticise Brisbane for doing the same thing? Is it because you're selective with your outrage?


Oh so Carlton's F/S access to pick 3 last year is okay but Brisbane's F/S access to pick 5 the year before is disgraceful? It's crazy that you can't see the hypocrisy in your responses. And the cherry on top is Carlton is going to get F/S access to pick 1 this year... but that's totally okay because Carlton might be forced to trade in a late first round pick to make it possible. You can't make this stuff up.

I'm sure you've got some ridiculous reasoning as to why you'll be okay with Port Adelaide's priority access to 2x academy pick 2s + 2x F/S top 15 picks over the next two years as well.


Gee whiz. You've either got a terrible memory or you're purposely making things up to suit your narrative. GWS were constantly berated in the lead up to their 2019 GF appearance for the access they were given and people thought they were going to win 5 straight premierships due to the 'help' the AFL gave them in their foundation years. It's why they lost academy access to the Albury/Murray region because there was so much fear in relation to the Giants becoming a juggernaut. I'm sure prominent GWS posters like Colonial will be happy to educate you on this topic that you've got terribly wrong.


It's really not. You've constantly contradicted yourself and shown multiple times that you're okay with the priority access rules being applied to a club like Carlton, but very much against those same rules being applied to a team like Brisbane.


Ahh so once again Carlton get a pass (in your mind) for their high end priority access because F/S is an old rule but Gold Coast and Brisbane don't get a pass because the academies are a new rule. So you should be okay with Will Ashcroft, Jaspa Fletcher and Levi Ashcroft joining the Lions because they were recruited as F/S picks and it's an old rule, right? But wait, you already labelled that a disgrace. Something isn't adding up here...

The most ridiculous part of your point of view is that you can't see how much you're contradicting yourself.

Feel free to explain why is it ok for the Lions to stack up with fathers sons.

AND also have access to half a state of academy kids.

Suns and Giants dont have father son access due to being so young.

Your arguements are flimsy at best.

 

[Colonial]

Feel free to explain why is it ok for the Lions to stack up with fathers sons.

AND also have access to half a state of academy kids.

Suns and Giants dont have father son access due to being so young.

Your arguements are flimsy at best.

Dont have the grassroots setup or the media support.

When ever one of the traditional state players go on AFL media, especially radio stations/pods, they are asked about going home. Every time. Keep being pushed, probably by family and friends too.
Our media just ignores anything not NRL and literally bashes it at every opportunity.

Our grassroots in the northern states are a joke.

I’ve said a few times now that if the investment, obviously ratiod, that goes into the grassroots up here goes up to traditional state levels then will happily axe academies. Will champion it.
Until then? Nope.

That’s before we get to 3rd party deals available on traditional state areas.

Only thing that I would change is Giants need to spend all their effort/coin on Western Sydney. But that’s a whole other story.

Maybe limit to 1 in top 10 but would need to be the same for F/S.

 

[Obeanie1]

Dont have the grassroots setup or the media support.

When ever one of the traditional state players go on AFL media, especially radio stations/pods, they are asked about going home. Every time. Keep being pushed, probably by family and friends too.
Our media just ignores anything not NRL and literally bashes it at every opportunity.

Our grassroots in the northern states are a joke.

I’ve said a few times now that if the investment, obviously ratiod, that goes into the grassroots up here goes up to traditional state levels then will happily axe academies. Will champion it.
Until then? Nope.

That’s before we get to 3rd party deals available on traditional state areas.

Only thing that I would change is Giants need to spend all their effort/coin on Western Sydney. But that’s a whole other story.

Maybe limit to 1 in top 10 but would need to be the same for F/S.

Lions have struck gold with father sons. Basically set up a midfield for the next 10 years with top 5 talent at a discount.

So why should the Lions get premium father son access and then premium academy access as well?

Gold Coast doesn't get any father sons. Which is one of the main reasons they have a Qld academy.

Lions are now double dipping.

And the AFL allows it simply to get more $ in TV rights.

So much for equalisation.

As for investment in Qld grass roots.

Want to guess how much the AFL spends in Qld versus WA?

AFL grass roots development money is pouring into NSW and Qld at record rates.

 

[stallon]

Okay mate. Being a West Coast fan, I assume you've heard the claims that your '92 & '94 flags were tainted because you were 'given a state team'. Is that what this is? A projection due to your own unpleasant experiences?

I could be wrong here, but I don't even think we're that disliked (yet). We've played finals once in 15 years and have been largely irrelevant for 95% of our existence. I think YOU hate us because you believe we've prevented West Coast from getting their hands on draft talent they need to climb back up the ladder. You want something to blame your club's recent failures on and you've decided the Suns are the perfect target. That's what I think.

Wasn’t your first flag from being given basically every star in WA?

No

The VFL clubs raided the WAFL the year prior to the Eagles getting a license to be a club in the VFL.
The Eagles got the rest who werent taken by VFL clubs
Then we got a list size 2 thirds the size of vic clubs
Werent allowed into the draft initially, only allowed to take WAFL players - the same WAFL that had 40+ players drafted from it the year before.
We were the only club that had to travel every 2nd week

Was far from gifted, it was far more to do with better talent identification and development, and being an us vs them vibe

 

[stallon]

I could be wrong here, but I don't even think we're that disliked (yet). We've played finals once in 15 years and have been largely irrelevant for 95% of our existence. I think YOU hate us because you believe we've prevented West Coast from getting their hands on draft talent they need to climb back up the ladder. You want something to blame your club's recent failures on and you've decided the Suns are the perfect target. That's what I think.

No,
Im going to use Freo as my example team, as theyve had no success and theyre right at the start of their window

Imagine being a club thats supposed to be coming into its prime from about now, has been building for the last 6-7 years(similar timeline as GCS), slowly worked their way to the 5-8 areas of the ladder, and now youre ready to go for 5+ years with a list thats a great age, good depth, etc
Now you are faced with a team thats also been climbing the ladder and started at a similar time, but theyve gotten an extra shitload of first round picks while also being able to trade 2+ years of picks away for an A-grader, AND being around that same part of the ladder.
Freo are just so far out of this race its insane, id be absolutely LIVID if I was Freo. Theyve got a pretty good list too, but theyre just so far behind on talent due to picks, while GCS keeps topping up with free/cheap top talents, trading away picks to get Petracca, Freo are forced to choose picks or players

 

[Obeanie1]

Okay mate. Being a West Coast fan, I assume you've heard the claims that your '92 & '94 flags were tainted because you were 'given a state team'. Is that what this is? A projection due to your own unpleasant experiences?

You need to do some research on how that Eagles side was built.

Because it's obvious you don't.

The Eagles list was smaller than other lists.

They got to choose players after the draft. Clubs like Hawthorn grabbed Buckenara BEFORE the Eagles were allowed to choose. He wasn't the only one either.

They had access to WAFL players (after the draft was held) and 6 VFL signings.

Eagles had to pay for clubs to travel West.

There certainly was no AFL golden spoons feeding the expansion side back then.

 

[Morro]

Same old WC fans in another thread complaining, when will it end.

GC finally look ready, its exciting to see so much talent in one team and I am just grateful its a time when we are not contending.

 

[Jirik13]

Freo are just so far out of this race its insane

Geez, I have Freo as one of favourites this year. Great young list. The only question mark for me is coach.

 

[Obeanie1]

I think he was referring to the free agency compensation pick North were given for Ben McKay and a lot of people felt at the time that losing B.McKay didn't warrant band 1 compensation, but it was a convenient excuse to give the struggling Roos a bit of help. I assume that's what he was referring to when he mentioned "North got their help in 2023".


So it's exactly what I suggested - you're unwilling to criticise the top 5 pick North were given because 'it's too early to tell what he'll be' but you're happy to criticise Gold Coast's pick because he's 4 years older and turned out to be a good player. The issue here is you're leaving the door open for the North player to be a flop and then you won't be as outraged about the pick being given to North if he does flop. So your outrage towards help is conditional depending on how good the player becomes, not how much help the club is actually given. However, and this is where the hypocrisy really comes into play, you're more than happy to critcise the academy picks the Suns have landed in the last three years... even though 'we don't know what those kids are yet' because they were all drafted from 2023 onward. Will your opinion change if half the first round Suns academy picks end up being flops?


Writing ****s sake doesn't make your point any better FYI. Just letting you know that there's a fairly good chance we're going to disagree on a lot of things because I can already tell we look at things differently. So don't be surprised when I don't agree with you in future posts. You don't have to express frustration in that way just because people don't agree with your point of view. Forums like BF are literally designed for people to discuss topics and sharing differing opinions.

So the issue with this quote above is you're conveniently not mentioning what the Suns did to get those picks/points. I tried to provide you with context in my last post by mentioning best 22 players that were traded out like Flanders, Lukosius, Ainsworth, Chol, Fiorini etc but you've failed to mention that part again in this quote. By leaving out this crucial piece of context, you've made it sound like the Suns have received all these amazing benefits and have given up absolutely nothing to make it happen. Think about what actually happened - the Suns gave up former pick 11 Flanders for pick 7, former pick 2 Lukosius for pick 8 and bundled those two picks with their natural 2026 second round pick and their 2027 first round pick in order to land Petracca. There was a fair bit moving out of the club in order to make the Petracca trade possible.

So what about the first round academy picks? The Suns let go of three best 22 players who all competed in the 2025 finals series in Ainsworth, Fiorini & Budarick as well as Rosas and Atkins to make it possible. They also traded away their natural first round pick + 2026 and 2027 second/third round picks to accumulate more points. Once again, there was a fair bit being moved out in order to make it possible. It's going to hurt seeing guys like Flanders, Fiorini, Budarick, Rosas etc succeeding at other clubs, but that's how trading works. You take the good with the bad.

I just wanted to make it clear that there was a fair bit being given up in order to do what they did last year because your post could be perceived in a very misleading way. You've focused a lot on the end result and have mentioned virtually nothing about how they got there. Now if you want to debate that the Suns didn't give up enough for what was coming back in return, then we can have that subjective conversation but that's a very different point to the one I think you're trying to make.


And this just proves how ridiculous your point of view is and how you've overlooked so many things that occurred to make it all possible. You're essentially suggestng we gave up nothing to land Trac and 4 first round picks. I'll direct you to the text above so you can educate yourself more on what we gave up.


So we cop more heat because we're better at drafting/developing players than North are? Again, this is the problem with your approach of suspending judgement until you know the kind of player that pick develops into. Let's try something here - say your team had finished last in 2018 and you were given a priority pick that you use to draft Sam Walsh and let's say my team finishes last in 2014 and we get given a priority pick that we use on Paddy McCartin. Have we been given the same level of help or have you been given considerably more help because Walsh develops into a good player and McCartin ends up being a flop? Your answer here will be telling.


North were very competitive in 2019 with 10 wins on the board and only 2 wins shy of playing finals. The Suns were the opposite of competitive in 2019 and were the wooden spooners crying out for help after years of struggling with departures of both captains (Lynch & May), a Brownlow medalist and former captain (Ablett), Ah Chee, Martin, Hall, Saad, Matera etc in the two years leading up to that point.

This is why I don't think it's fair to compare North and the Suns prior to 2020 because they were in two very different boats and North even played finals in 2018 while the Suns were languishing down the bottom and forced to play away for an extended period due to the Commonwealth Games. This is why I think comparing from 2020 onward while both teams were struggling simultaneously is more fair. The Suns didn't play finals for 15 years and lost just about every prominent player they ever drafted other than Dave Swallow, so of course there's going to be a long history of top 10 picks that are eventually traded for future top 10 picks.


But that could've been any team getting lucky with the F/S rule other than Gold Coast or GWS, right? Carlton are going to land pick 1 as an F/S pick this year after they got pick 3 as an F/S pick last year and they also got the Camporeale twins as F/S picks two years ago. They were also able to add in pick 3 Jagger Smith and another first round pick in Ashton Moir. But wait, there's more... they also traded in Florent, Hayward & Ainsworth while their only big loss was Curnow. Why aren't you more critical of Carlton with their F/S access and ability to make other big moves in the same period of time, but you're happy to criticise Brisbane for doing the same thing? Is it because you're selective with your outrage?


Oh so Carlton's F/S access to pick 3 last year is okay but Brisbane's F/S access to pick 5 the year before is disgraceful? It's crazy that you can't see the hypocrisy in your responses. And the cherry on top is Carlton is going to get F/S access to pick 1 this year... but that's totally okay because Carlton might be forced to trade in a late first round pick to make it possible. You can't make this stuff up.

I'm sure you've got some ridiculous reasoning as to why you'll be okay with Port Adelaide's priority access to 2x academy pick 2s + 2x F/S top 15 picks over the next two years as well.


Gee whiz. You've either got a terrible memory or you're purposely making things up to suit your narrative. GWS were constantly berated in the lead up to their 2019 GF appearance for the access they were given and people thought they were going to win 5 straight premierships due to the 'help' the AFL gave them in their foundation years. It's why they lost academy access to the Albury/Murray region because there was so much fear in relation to the Giants becoming a juggernaut. I'm sure prominent GWS posters like Colonial will be happy to educate you on this topic that you've got terribly wrong.


It's really not. You've constantly contradicted yourself and shown multiple times that you're okay with the priority access rules being applied to a club like Carlton, but very much against those same rules being applied to a team like Brisbane.


Ahh so once again Carlton get a pass (in your mind) for their high end priority access because F/S is an old rule but Gold Coast and Brisbane don't get a pass because the academies are a new rule. So you should be okay with Will Ashcroft, Jaspa Fletcher and Levi Ashcroft joining the Lions because they were recruited as F/S picks and it's an old rule, right? But wait, you already labelled that a disgrace. Something isn't adding up here...

The most ridiculous part of your point of view is that you can't see how much you're contradicting yourself.

Did Carlton get father son access on top of academy access to 50% of the states kids?

No.

Brisbane and the Swans are the only two clubs who get that nice bit of priority access. Oth father son access PLUS staye academy access.

Your focus on Carlton is moot. Totally a non argument.

Oh, and with the changes finally coming the Blues will be paying a fortune for Walker.

Unlike some clubs who have been accessing g discounted access year in year out and paying with junk picks.

 

[Spirit Level]

Jesus they have such a soft fixture to start the year.

All good, gotta try grow that game etc

 

[Jirik13]

Jesus they have such a soft fixture to start the year.

All good, gotta try grow that game etc

What about fixture after soft start? Is season over after 4 games? Surely Cats who played in Grand final were not soft.

Apparently, Suns have 2nd hardest fixture after Cats.

You made me curious and I checked Freo. First 3 games - Cats, Melbourne, Richmond. Basically identical start. Yes, Suns got also Eagles while Freo plays Crows in the first 4 games. BTW Freo plays Eagles twice, first game round 6.

 

[FlowersByIrene]

The AFL's negligence has created a monster.

 

[harper2bastinac]

Any melb clubs complaining about the Gold coast academy access is ridiculous and quite frankly embarrassing. Melbourne clubs have father son (gold coast don't get), nga access (a bigger rort than the northern states academy) and the bigger draw for free agents.

Melbourne clubs don’t have 4 first round father sons a year joining their list and dont worry, they have begun to attract solid players over the last few years

 

[Obeanie1]

No

The VFL clubs raided the WAFL the year prior to the Eagles getting a license to be a club in the VFL.
The Eagles got the rest who werent taken by VFL clubs
Then we got a list size 2 thirds the size of vic clubs
Werent allowed into the draft initially, only allowed to take WAFL players - the same WAFL that had 40+ players drafted from it the year before.
We were the only club that had to travel every 2nd week

Was far from gifted, it was far more to do with better talent identification and development, and being an us vs them vibe

Back then they could hide talent in WA.

Now there are so many recruiters looking at kids it is very hard to hide top talent pre draft.

 

[bungalow_bill]

What about fixture after soft start? Is season over after 4 games? Surely Cats who played in Grand final were not soft.

Apparently, Suns have 2nd hardest fixture after Cats.

You made me curious and I checked Freo. First 3 games - Cats, Melbourne, Richmond. Basically identical start. Yes, Suns got also Eagles while Freo plays Crows in the first 4 games. BTW Freo plays Eagles twice, first game round 6.

The fans of the non nepo baby teams are all over the shop. Inconsistent & full of selective outrage.

Go the mighty Suns (unless they're playing the mighty Lions of course)

 

[GC2015]

Feel free to explain why is it ok for the Lions to stack up with fathers sons.

AND also have access to half a state of academy kids.

I think you're drastically overestimating the strength of Brisbane's academy zone. The Lions academy has produced one top 10 pick in 15 years and three first rounders total. It's really not anything to write home about. They've done a good job of developing their lower rated academy graduates into good players like Harris Andrews (pick 61), Keidean Coleman (rookie pick), Bruce Reville (rookie pick) but clearly they weren't highly rated at the time of their respective drafts so it would be hard to argue that should be considered unfair access.

Brisbane have access to F/S prospects for the same reason everyone else does - their fathers played over 100 AFL games for the club. We've seen several teams get lucky with multiple top 30 F/S picks over the last 15 years like the Bulldogs (Darcy, Croft, West) and Collingwood (Daicos, Moore, Kelly) and now we're seeing it happen at Carlton with pick 3 Dean last year and predicted number 1 pick Walker this year. The Bulldogs also got access to pick 1 (Ugle-Hagan) through their academy and Collingwood got access to pick 13 (Quaynor) through their academy. All under the old system that people now say isn't paying a fair price.

Granted, Carlton haven't received quite as much from their F/S or academy (although pick 3 & 1 in consecutive years is nothing to cry about), but how is Brisbane's situation any different to the Pies or Dogs in terms of what's actually being produced through F/S & academy access? There doesn't seem to be much difference on paper, yet you're super duper mad at Brisbane and seem totally fine with access the Bulldogs and Collingwood have been afforded.

No

The VFL clubs raided the WAFL the year prior to the Eagles getting a license to be a club in the VFL.
The Eagles got the rest who werent taken by VFL clubs
Then we got a list size 2 thirds the size of vic clubs
Werent allowed into the draft initially, only allowed to take WAFL players - the same WAFL that had 40+ players drafted from it the year before.
We were the only club that had to travel every 2nd week

Was far from gifted, it was far more to do with better talent identification and development, and being an us vs them vibe

You need to do some research on how that Eagles side was built.

Because it's obvious you don't.

The Eagles list was smaller than other lists.

They got to choose players after the draft. Clubs like Hawthorn grabbed Buckenara BEFORE the Eagles were allowed to choose. He wasn't the only one either.

They had access to WAFL players (after the draft was held) and 6 VFL signings.

Eagles had to pay for clubs to travel West.

There certainly was no AFL golden spoons feeding the expansion side back then.

I'm glad you mentioned needing to do research because I happen to be well versed on this topic and I'm also aware of the spin that comes from Eagles fans when it comes to West Coast's intial years in the VFL/AFL.

A little taste of what you can expect - Gary Buckenara was not "grabbed before the Eagles were allowed to choose". Buckenara was signed by Hawthorn in 1982 well before the Eagles were ever discussed as a possible expansion team. The entry conditions for West Coast in 1986 clearly stated that the Eagles could only sign existing VFL players with WAFL backgrounds if they were off contract. Despite knowing the rules, West Coast tried to illegally sign the contracted Buckenara and were taken to the Victorian Supreme Court where they were told Buckenara's contract with Hawthorn would be upheld as the rules intended.

Are you sure you two want to get into this and potentially embarrass yourselves by not knowing or purposely overlooking/exaggerating the truth about your club's history?

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

GC is probably the hardest away game in the league. They shot themselves in the foot not getting a top 4 finish. They'll do this season imo

That shitty dew up there makes the games hard to watch too.

 

[Lockyer24]

Sam Darcy and Nick Daicos should have been the warning signs, that top draft picks requires top capital. But the AFL was asleep thinking 5 pick 70s equal a top line draftee.

How they never thought this system would be manipulated shows the lack of foresight from those involved.

Last years draft was deplorable and I feel they may not have even gone far enough based on how clueless they were to start with.

Sure it’s great that Carlton will cop full whack now, but overall the last few years I’m fairly sure I run my fantasy league with tighter checks and balances.

 

[stallon]

How they never thought this system would be manipulated shows the lack of foresight from those involved.

There was plenty of foresight, it was intentional.

I dont believe that they are that stupid, like actually genuinely stupid, like sub 80iq stupid at AFL house

 

[Jirik13]

That shitty dew up there makes the games hard to watch too.

I sure enjoyed watching Suns against Cats

 

[My Tilly]

Just wait until Walters begins to hit his straps. That kid is a generational talent in his own right.