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

[BloodySwan]

Totally agree. The academies are NOT about Errol Gulden, but about the other several hundred kids in that year who do not play League footy.

The thing that doesn't get talked about re the academies is what I call statewide footy IQ.
Some years ago when I took my eldest son to Auskick, one of the dads was trying to teach handball. Good on him for volunteering but he had NFI whatsoever and told me he had never played the game. That would not happen in Victoria, where there are a gazillion dads who played the game at very high levels, teaching their kids. So, in Victoria there is a high footy IQ, with kids having access to good coaching at all levels.
That is not the case in NSW. The academy boys will become dads, and pass on that knowledge. So the standard of junior coaching in NSW will naturally improve. That means the skills of the kids will be better. That means that the number of kids talented enough to play League footy will increase.
Thus, the academies increase the general footy IQ of NSW, which means participation rates, as players and supporters will increase, and that can only be a good thing.
In the meantime, the Northern Academies provide the footy IQ that is not within the community. This is the fundamental point that Victorians don't seem to understand.

I played junior footy in the 90s. Out of all the parents only my dad & the coach had played AFL before, all others had played soccer, league or rugby. I could never kick and between my dad & the coach they couldn't find a way to teach me how to kick no matter how much they repeated the same instruction. Never had the same issue playing soccer, plenty of parents were able to tell me how to improve, show me how to run into space and improve my kicking, heading, and tackling.

 

[HPKS]

I’ve had a few days off to calm because I’d had enough over the years regarding the academy. I find the majority of supporters in Melbourne who follow vic clubs uneducated dumb ignorant pricktoreans who have no understanding about aussie rules outside of the Melbourne cbd.

Seriously the solution regularly advanced is give elite development back to the AFL who going by their track record are pathetically terrible at running junior development. It’s why WA/SA hold onto their system with dear life knowing what could happen by looking at the barren waistland that is Tasmania now.

Also Why would some kids parents living in Cronulla even consider putting their kids in an academy that possibly takes their child away from them when they’re older. All the work & training to say good bye to them. Ffs you’d rather encourage their schooling and have them stay in the same state as you. Or the alternative, if they’re so good at sport they’ll put them in another sport. Like I said on the MB....a bunch of DiPs.

 

[BloodySwan]

Seriously the solution regularly advanced is give elite development back to the AFL who going by their track record are pathetically terrible at running junior development. It’s why WA/SA hold onto their system with dear life knowing what could happen by looking at the barren waistland that is Tasmania now.

It's worth looking at what the AFL is doing at the current elite development pathways. They are being gutted left & right. Pathways in Vic are being run by the private schools and unless you have access to send your boys to a private school their chance of being drafted is getting smaller and smaller. The AFL is not interested in supplying pathways to the AFL - only TV ratings

 

[HPKS]

It's worth looking at what the AFL is doing at the current elite development pathways. They are being gutted left & right. Pathways in Vic are being run by the private schools and unless you have access to send your boys to a private school their chance of being drafted is getting smaller and smaller. The AFL is not interested in supplying pathways to the AFL - only TV ratings

Exactly. It’s just an absolute joke that the old “give it to the AFL” line continually gets trotted out. They run an elite competition pretty well in that they achieve their objectives but if you look at their management level below that it’s deplorable. The private school boys club are turning junior development in Victoria into what has hampered union for a long time, a private school system that makes your catchment smaller.

 

[sataris]

The mainboard is like facebook but dumber when it comes to anything outside Victoria/SA/WA

 

[hairy biker]

Good to see former academy player Luke Parks is to make his debut for Carlton this week.

The more academy players that get into the AFL system the better.
A pathway that can be seen to benefit the AFL as a whole.

 

[RUNVS]

Good to see former academy player Luke Parks is to make his debut for Carlton this week.

The more academy players that get into the AFL system the better.
A pathway that can be seen to benefit the AFL as a whole.

Also if he is good we can pinch him

 

[hairy biker]

Also if he is good we can pinch him

You should post that on the main board;

 

[TheMase]

Totally agree. The academies are NOT about Errol Gulden, but about the other several hundred kids in that year who do not play League footy.

The thing that doesn't get talked about re the academies is what I call statewide footy IQ.
Some years ago when I took my eldest son to Auskick, one of the dads was trying to teach handball. Good on him for volunteering but he had NFI whatsoever and told me he had never played the game. That would not happen in Victoria, where there are a gazillion dads who played the game at very high levels, teaching their kids. So, in Victoria there is a high footy IQ, with kids having access to good coaching at all levels.
That is not the case in NSW. The academy boys will become dads, and pass on that knowledge. So the standard of junior coaching in NSW will naturally improve. That means the skills of the kids will be better. That means that the number of kids talented enough to play League footy will increase.
Thus, the academies increase the general footy IQ of NSW, which means participation rates, as players and supporters will increase, and that can only be a good thing.
In the meantime, the Northern Academies provide the footy IQ that is not within the community. This is the fundamental point that Victorians don't seem to understand.

I have firsthand experience as a player in the 90s (I used to double hand drop the ball when kicking and noticed the players on tv used one hand to guide the ball down so I taught myself to change my kicking action!!) and as a coach only 5 years ago.

I coached under 16/17s in western Sydney and most of the coaches below my grade were almost all parents who had never played the game. One of them was a Canadian expat!! They meant well but just lacked the football nous that I had to try and fix as they entered the 16/17 age group (bloody hard to do once they are that age!).

I miss coaching (and playing, getting too old for that).

 

[Crust]

I have firsthand experience as a player in the 90s (I used to double hand drop the ball when kicking and noticed the players on tv used one hand to guide the ball down so I taught myself to change my kicking action!!) and as a coach only 5 years ago.

I coached under 16/17s in western Sydney and most of the coaches below my grade were almost all parents who had never played the game. One of them was a Canadian expat!! They meant well but just lacked the football nous that I had to try and fix as they entered the 16/17 age group (bloody hard to do once they are that age!).

I miss coaching (and playing, getting too old for that).

I remember coaching U13s a few years back. Two new kids were good players, really good skills except kicking. They were terrible kicks, always round the corner. Had a look at them. Both left footers, but their ball drop was guided by their right hand.
They had been coached for five years, but no one picked this up. As you say, well meaning but no idea.
It took a lot of practice to get them out of this habit.

 

[Skeparovic]

I have firsthand experience as a player in the 90s (I used to double hand drop the ball when kicking and noticed the players on tv used one hand to guide the ball down so I taught myself to change my kicking action!!) and as a coach only 5 years ago.

I coached under 16/17s in western Sydney and most of the coaches below my grade were almost all parents who had never played the game. One of them was a Canadian expat!! They meant well but just lacked the football nous that I had to try and fix as they entered the 16/17 age group (bloody hard to do once they are that age!).

I miss coaching (and playing, getting too old for that).

Hey TheMase go those Emu Lions, Penrith Swans, St Clair Crows, Blue Mountains Kangas and the Rams. I previously worked for AFL NSW with Caroline Watson when at uni to run primary school clinics and the hardest part was getting past school Admin Ladies who would flat out refuse access to school principles saying they were "NRL schools" and access was blocked. No way would that ever happen in Victoria.

AFL has come a long way since my time in the Western Suburbs but there is still a huge amount of work to be done before academies and coaches can bring the skill level anywhere near the Southern and Western states for footy IQ.

 

[Edmund hunt]

How does the new NGA matching rule effect us?

 

[Kapers]

How does the new NGA matching rule effect us?

it doesn't

 

[TheMase]

Hey TheMase go those Emu Lions, Penrith Swans, St Clair Crows, Blue Mountains Kangas and the Rams. I previously worked for AFL NSW with Caroline Watson when at uni to run primary school clinics and the hardest part was getting past school Admin Ladies who would flat out refuse access to school principles saying they were "NRL schools" and access was blocked. No way would that ever happen in Victoria.

AFL has come a long way since my time in the Western Suburbs but there is still a huge amount of work to be done before academies and coaches can bring the skill level anywhere near the Southern and Western states for footy IQ.

Haha nailed it straight up (Emu).

Oh and totally understand the school piece, once again I have a first hand and pretty disgusting account of this.

I went to a high school on the northern side of the central coast. At my school of 1300 kids, only 3 of us played Australian Rules and one was my brother.

I played a bit of rep footy and had some connections therefore through the school programs. As a year 10 student (1998) I tried to organise to start a school team:
I organised...
- forms to the school for application
- gained 25 or so kids who wanted to participate
- got a hold of guernseys we could use
- was going to coach the team myself

The school did nothing. Lost the forms, made excuses etc. a very ordinary way to treat one of their students who was prepared to do most of the legwork.

 

[RUNVS]

The school did nothing. Lost the forms, made excuses etc. a very ordinary way to treat one of their students who was prepared to do most of the legwork.

A great way to prepare you for the workforce though.

 

[Ticky009]

Haha nailed it straight up (Emu).

Oh and totally understand the school piece, once again I have a first hand and pretty disgusting account of this.

I went to a high school on the northern side of the central coast. At my school of 1300 kids, only 3 of us played Australian Rules and one was my brother.

I played a bit of rep footy and had some connections therefore through the school programs. As a year 10 student (1998) I tried to organise to start a school team:
I organised...
- forms to the school for application
- gained 25 or so kids who wanted to participate
- got a hold of guernseys we could use
- was going to coach the team myself

The school did nothing. Lost the forms, made excuses etc. a very ordinary way to treat one of their students who was prepared to do most of the legwork.

Mase you should post this onto MB academy thread as an example of what we have to deal with up here.

 

[tombomb]

I get why supporters of other clubs don't wear that 'development/participation' is a fair reason for the academy bidding system

But, I haven't heard one rational argument as to why academy system isn't a fair balance to the inherent disadvantage faced by Northern clubs in attracting and retaining talent.

 

[dosser]

Haha nailed it straight up (Emu).

Oh and totally understand the school piece, once again I have a first hand and pretty disgusting account of this.

I went to a high school on the northern side of the central coast. At my school of 1300 kids, only 3 of us played Australian Rules and one was my brother.

I played a bit of rep footy and had some connections therefore through the school programs. As a year 10 student (1998) I tried to organise to start a school team:
I organised...
- forms to the school for application
- gained 25 or so kids who wanted to participate
- got a hold of guernseys we could use
- was going to coach the team myself

The school did nothing. Lost the forms, made excuses etc. a very ordinary way to treat one of their students who was prepared to do most of the legwork.

I'm an old James Ruse boy who was one of three boys in the whole school who played Aussie Rules. In 1980 we had a teacher who was a footy fan and he organised to get us into the state knockout comp if I could get a team together. We got a team but only three of us knew how to play! I finished school that year and they never fielded a team again.
PS. In our only game we lost by a point after I touched the ball from the mark on a shot at goal but the umpire (who was our teacher/coach) called it as a goal. Later he said that he thought he heard the touch but didn't want to call it as it would look like he was biased.
It's not like I still carry that...

 

[swanssince2002]

I'm an old James Ruse boy who was one of three boys in the whole school who played Aussie Rules. In 1980 we had a teacher who was a footy fan and he organised to get us into the state knockout comp if I could get a team together. We got a team but only three of us knew how to play! I finished school that year and they never fielded a team again.
PS. In our only game we lost by a point after I touched the ball from the mark on a shot at goal but the umpire (who was our teacher/coach) called it as a goal. Later he said that he thought he heard the touch but didn't want to call it as it would look like he was biased.
It's not like I still carry that...

Wow James Ruse... dunno about the status back in the 1980s but thats a big achievement to get in that school regardless

 

[dosser]

Wow James Ruse... dunno about the status back in the 1980s but thats a big achievement to get in that school regardless

Some of us sneaked in

 

[SwansProudly]

Wishing Luke all the best for his debut

 

[Ticky009]

I wait with anticipation for Blues supporters to stop harping on about how no one gets academy players but the Swans.

 

[mtooler]

Do we have any bright prospects over the next 2 drafts coming through the Academy?

 

[RUNVS]

Do we have any bright prospects over the next 2 drafts coming through the Academy?

From what I know it is going to be a lean year or two, though others will of course know more.

 

[TheMase]

Do we have any bright prospects over the next 2 drafts coming through the Academy?

I think the consensus was not many top line talents this year but some real possibles for 2022. There is a poster that drops in every now and again who I am sure mentioned that.

Could be wrong.