2nds Official Swans Academy Thread (Player News and Discussion)

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D Bourke inherited his dad's crazy brave gene. Without the regular head knocks he copped he would have been a very good player. As it was, he had a fair career. Schauble had very good footy smarts. Fair warning though from the Member for Warringah. I really enjoyed Blakey Snr's career and wish we had picked him up. The old Roys produced some wonderful players who were champs at other clubs. If Blakey Jnr has half the career of his his dad he will do well.
 

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DavyRed

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Have you got an opinion on Rogers? Didn't make the Allies so is sitting way back from the pack but looks like he might have something about him.
Rodgers is something of a late bloomer and perhaps this draft year is one year too early for him. He may be one of the boys they keep on in the Academy as a 19 year old as part of the NEAFL squad and then consider him for drafting next year if he continues to progress.
 

Ralphyboy

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Have you got an opinion on Rogers? Didn't make the Allies so is sitting way back from the pack but looks like he might have something about him.
Mitch Rogers is continuing to develop. He is a little like one of the McGovins with an excellent ability to intercept mark. He is also good on the ground, gathering the ball and firing out clean handballs to clear the area.

I got a chance to watch 8 of the Academy players in the Manly v Pennant Hills prems game on the weekend. The players were Luke Scrivanic, Josh Stern, Nick Eynaud, Mick Carrol for Penno, and Jarrod Osborne, Sam Wicks, Mitchell Rogers and Evan Kaporis.

Prems is always a good test for young players as they get to play against some big bodies, some of whom can be very aggressive. It is a good test of their courage in very a congested physical environment.

Scrivanic and Stern played forward and linked up for some pretty good play. They probably got around 10-12 disposals each, but not too many tackles as they played mainly outside. I like Scrivanic, he positions himself quite well and can take a mark.

Eynaud and Carroll were quiet. Eynaud is actually a very good player, but is continually hampered with back problems. Carroll, who was selected for the allies struggled against the bigger bodies. He looked slow and was well held.

For Manly Jarrod Osborne (who is a 19 year old) looked well balanced in traffic, and his disposal was thoughtful and precise. He was Manly's third best player and had around 20 disposals and 6 or 7 tackles. Osborne is also in the Allies squad. He has played a bit of NEAFL but based on the stats has yet to make an impression. He is very strong and athletic and is an interesting prospect.

Sam Wicks was named best on ground with a 30+ disposal performance. The majority of disposals were contested possessions. He also had more than 10 tackles for the game. This kid showed exceptional work rate, and attack on the ball. He has also played NEAFL recently kicking 3 goals in the swans last game, off the back of a 2 goal game against Canberra. He was not selected in Allies which looks like an oversight. In the last quarter he was flattened with a sickening head high shirtfront. To his credit he got back into the game and kept going. If guts is important then this guy has it.

Mitchell Rogers played in the backline. He showed great judgement and body positioning against tall forwards. He was very rarely beaten, and in a quiet way made a huge difference to the game by repelling so many incoming balls. He either outmarks his opponent or brings the ball to ground, gathers it and handballs out. He was also overlooked for Allies and based on what I saw should have got in ahead of Carroll.

Evan Kaporis is a small mid, who got busy working with the rest of the team. He had around 10 or so possessions and a couple of tackles.

In summary Osborne, Wicks and Rogers looked like they have definitely transitioned to prems level making significant and confident contributions to the game. The other guys were a bit more tentative and outside but showed plenty of talent, and with more games will grow in confidence.
 

Ralphyboy

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DavyRed

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The Allies lost a close one to Victoria Country today at Blacktown. AFLNSWACT summary reads:

The Allies stood tall in defeat today against Victoria Country in the opening round of the NABAFLU18s Champs.

Despite some big goals from AFL NSW/ACT players - including one from Jack Hardman in the opening 15 seconds - the Vics were too strong over the final term.

ALLIES 8.8 (56) def. by Victoria Country 10.8 (68)...
ALLIES GOALS - Dixon (3) Simmington (2) Hardman, Blakey, Powell
ALLIES BEST - Shipley, Brander, Highmore, Hardman,Thomas

As far as the Swans boys went it was a fairly average day all in all. Jack Hardman was named in the best and while he's obviously classy and did well when he got the ball he didn't see enough of it. As far as Bell and Blakey were concerned, I've seen them both play very good games and I'm a fan of both but unfortunately this was definitely not one of their good games - at all. Bell was largely anonymous and couldn't get in the game at all. Blakey only succeeded in crowding the forward line when he was there, to the detriment of his other forwards, and contributed very little. He was moved into the midfield and didn't do much there either.

Unfortunately the saddest story to report is about Luke Robertson who broke his leg within the first two minutes of the game when he went up for his first contest. And that was obviously that for poor Luke. A real shame for the lad as he was one to watch as a possible draft prospect (and there were lots and lots of scouts there watching).
 
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Ralphyboy

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The Allies lost a close one to Victoria Country today at Blacktown. AFLNSWACT summary reads:

The Allies stood tall in defeat today against Victoria Country in the opening round of the NABAFLU18s Champs.

Despite some big goals from AFL NSW/ACT players - including one from Jack Hardman in the opening 15 seconds - the Vics were too strong over the final term.

ALLIES 8.8 (56) def. by Victoria Country 10.8 (68)...
ALLIES GOALS - Dixon (3) Simmington (2) Hardman, Blakey, Powell
ALLIES BEST - Shipley, Brander, Highmore, Hardman,Thomas

As far as the Swans boys went it was a fairly average day all in all. Jack Hardman was named in the best and while he's obviously classy and did well when he got the ball he didn't see enough of it. As far as Bell and Blakey were concerned, I've seen them both play very good games and I'm a fan of both but unfortunately this was definitely not one of their good games - at all. Bell was largely anonymous and couldn't get in the game at all. Blakey only succeeded in crowding the forward line when he was there, to the detriment of his other forwards, and contributed very little. He was moved into the midfield and didn't do much there either.

Unfortunately the saddest story to report is about Luke Robertson who broke his leg within the first two minutes of the game when he went up for his first contest. And that was obviously that for poor Luke. A real shame for the lad as he was one to watch as a possible draft prospect (and there were lots and lots of scouts there watching).
I wonder if some of the swans kids who missed out on Allies might get a run. I'm thinking of Rogers, Stewart and Wicks. I see Wicks kicked 4 goals for the swans neafl in the demolition of GWS.
 

DavyRed

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I wonder if some of the swans kids who missed out on Allies might get a run. I'm thinking of Rogers, Stewart and Wicks. I see Wicks kicked 4 goals for the swans neafl in the demolition of GWS.
Well my understanding is that only four of the nine Swans boys who were named in the original Allies squad actually played in the first game. As such I think that if any boys do get added to the team they would come from the original squad initially.

The bad news is that that would still exclude the likes of Wicks and Rodgers, the good news is that it might open the door for the likes of Osborne and Skrivanic perhaps.
 
Fox are televising the Allies/South Aust match 10am Saturday.

Good article about Sam Wicks, link in the post above. Looks a likely draft prospect despite being overlooked for the Allies given his NEAFL performances which is obviously a higher standard than National U18s.
 
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DavyRed

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Easy win for the U16s Rams against NT on Tuesday:

U16 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Swans Academy summary:

NSW/ACT - 20.16.136
Northern Territory - 1.10.16

GOALS - Thorne 4, Barling 4, Ellem 2, Maguire 2, Swaney.
BEST - Thorne, Martin, Barling, Kannan.​

Write up from AFLNSWACT:

NSW/ACT Rams – 5.3 8.9 13.12 20.16 (136)

Northern Territory – 0.2 0.5 0.9 1.10 (16)

NSW/ACT GOALS: L Delahunty (5); J Barling S Thorne (4); H Ellem H Maguire (2); L Swaney L Russell R Allen (1)

NSW/ACT BEST: H Grant, L Delahunty, S Thorne, K Martin, J Barling, M Kannan

The Under 16 NSW/ACT Rams have comprehensively beaten the Northern Territory at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast. In their first match of Round 2 of the NAB AFL U16 Championships, the Rams put on a clinic to win by 120 points.

A strong defensive display led the way for a free-scoring NSW/ACT team. Their strength all around the ground proved too good for the Northern Territory who were simply unable to match the work of the Rams around the stoppages.

A five-goal opening quarter saw the Rams open up a 31-point lead at the first break. Liam Delahunty showed his intent early, kicking two goals in a sign of what was to come.

The second quarter was a quieter display, as the Rams only kicked the three goals. They still managed to push the margin out to 52 points at the main break. Jackson Barling and Liam Russell kicked goals, as well as Delahunty’s third to continue what was already an impressive performance.

The second half saw the Rams run riot, as they kicked 12 goals against a tiring Northern Territory side. Delahunty kicked two more goals in the third quarter to bring up five, while Sam Thorne and Barling both kicked two in the final quarter to blow out the scoreboard.

The Northern Territory were unlucky not to be closer in the game. Kicking ten behinds meant that with some more accuracy the game could have been a lot closer, and would have put some pressure on the Rams.

GWS GIANTS Academy product, Harry Grant was the Rams best player on the day. He was joined by Sydney Swans Academy members, Matthew Kannan and Kyle Martin as other strong performers.​
 

Bloody

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Anyone know what happened with Tyrell Manfield? Remember a story on him two years ago when he was 15


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Anyone know anything about Jack Barling? I've been told to keep an eye out for him.

Quick google search... is he the son of former Richmond and Sydney player Tim Barling? He was 200cm according to the records, hopefully Jack will be of a similar size!

I'd be surprised if he wasn't, my stalking found links to the academy he he he....

Edit: yep looks like his son
 
Oct 2, 2016
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Quick google search... is he the son of former Richmond and Sydney player Tim Barling? He was 200cm according to the records, hopefully Jack will be of a similar size!

I'd be surprised if he wasn't, my stalking found links to the academy he he he....

Edit: yep looks like his son
Seems like Tim was (maybe still is?) The head coach of the Usyd junior team. Most likely related with such an unusual last name

https://www.susf.com.au/article/ex-...es-local-sydney-university-juniors-to-success
 
Oct 14, 2016
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Quick google search... is he the son of former Richmond and Sydney player Tim Barling? He was 200cm according to the records, hopefully Jack will be of a similar size!

I'd be surprised if he wasn't, my stalking found links to the academy he he he....

Edit: yep looks like his son

Jack won't be father/son but I still like it when ex players and their families retain contact with the club.

Didn't read too much into it but looks like his old man had a bumpy ride in actually getting to the Swans and onto the field for them.
 
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