Maybe not but there was no need for them to have an academy.
Everyone has academies now anyway. Vic/SA/WA teams have zones in their home states and the Northern Territory where they can develop multicultural and Indigenous kids and get them the same way the northern clubs do with their academies (or the way we do with father/sons).
You can debate whether they should have the Riverina as part of their zone but ultimately the idea is that they develop kids that would not otherwise have played Aussie rules football and they are funnelled into the AFL system. Eventually when they can't fit them all in the salary cap they start getting traded out and other clubs will benefit.
GWS are gonna be docked 1000 draft points (that's the equivalent of a third of pick 1 or about pick 10) due to the Whitfield saga as well, so that will help a little for this year's draft.