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

[HighReeve]

R1- Sydney Vs Western Jets, HRR
R2 - Sydney Vs GWV,
R4- Sydney V Oakleigh, SC
R6 - Sydney V Brisbane, ACO
R7 - Sydney V Tasmania, BISP

Why so few games? Season over in may? Worse than the vfl fixture

 

[Ticky009]

R1- Sydney Vs Western Jets, HRR
R2 - Sydney Vs GWV,
R4- Sydney V Oakleigh, SC
R6 - Sydney V Brisbane, ACO
R7 - Sydney V Tasmania, BISP

Why so few games? Season over in may? Worse than the vfl fixture

Last year we only got 4 games in the NAB Cup. The rest of the season will be against other academy clubs. On review however, they have us playing Brisbane & Tasmania here, thanks a lot AFL. Only 3 Vic based teams.

 

[bedford]

Last year we only got 4 games in the NAB Cup. The rest of the season will be against other academy clubs. On review however, they have us playing Brisbane & Tasmania here, thanks a lot AFL. Only 3 Vic based teams.

That's the trouble they are running everything

 

[rustycrate]

Looking for talls.

2023 Preseason Testing Top 5s – Swans Academy

The Swans Academy convened in Sydney for their preseason testing this month. Check out the top 10s for each test.

central.rookieme.com

THE SWANS Academy convened in Sydney this month to partake in their annual preseason testing event, under the eye of Rookie Me. Under 18 talent from both the boys and girls squads underwent a range of physical tests; from vertical jumps, to sprints and endurance running.

Explosive over-ager Bililign Robertson was a standout in the boys’ testing, achieving top five finishes in all-bar one event. He topped the running vertical jump and 20m sprint charts, as the sole athlete to breach the 100cm-mark in any of the leaps.

Top-age talent Max Rider joined Robertson among the highest tier of leapers, featuring among the top handful of scores in all three jump tests. AFL Academy member Caiden Cleary was also impressive off either foot, and proved his endurance with the third-best yo-yo test score.

Cleary finished one level behind father-son candidate Indhi Kirk in the endurance-based test, with both players poised to feature on either side of midfield for the Swans this year. Kirk, the son of Brett, was overlooked in last year’s draft and did not turn out for the Allies.

Elsewhere, over-age talls Christian Webster and Tye Gander brought their mobility to the fore, both nabbing podium places in the agility test. Gander, who measures up at 192cm like Webster, also put up an unbeaten effort in the standing vertical jump (75cm).

 

[rustycrate]

Swans Academy guns ready to fire in 2023

Swans Academy products Caiden Cleary and Lachlan Cabor have gained national recognition, and are primed to fire in their top-age campaigns.

central.rookieme.com

 

[bedford]

Robertson , is that first name true ?

 

[Membling]

Swans Academy guns ready to fire in 2023

Swans Academy products Caiden Cleary and Lachlan Cabor have gained national recognition, and are primed to fire in their top-age campaigns.

central.rookieme.com

Nice bit of coverage.

Going to be watching for Lugsdin, Cleary, Cabor and Hawkins this year.

Few talls in u16s to watch out for IIRC

 

[rustycrate]

Robertson , is that first name true ?

I thought it might be Aboriginal but it isn't.

 

[bedford]

I thought it might be Aboriginal but it isn't.

Poor kid at school

 

[anotherletdown]

I thought it might be Aboriginal but it isn't.

But what is the origin? Ethiopian from what I can tell..... Those 2 names together do seem like chalk and cheese, must be an interesting story behind him.
Either way, he seems to have some natural gifts, some good numbers there

 

[Slingshot Footy]

Our academy seems to attract and develop some really quality mids but I'm waiting for the day we identify and produce a quality key position player.

Whatever happened to Billy King?

I remember reading a lot of hype in his bottom age season from 2021 and then nothing came to fruition last year...

 

[Membling]

Our academy seems to attract and develop some really quality mids but I'm waiting for the day we identify and produce a quality key position player.

Whatever happened to Billy King?

I remember reading a lot of hype in his bottom age season from 2021 and then nothing came to fruition last year...

Injury and just did not come on too much.

Loebel and Cochran are underage talls to watch for.

 

[anotherletdown]

Injury and just did not come on too much.

Loebel and Cochran are underage talls to watch for.

Loebel is a new name to me. Cochran has been mentioned a few times before

 

[dosser]

Robertson , is that first name true ?

Saw him in a televised game or two last year. He has some good skill that made you take notice but only popped up sporadically. This is probably only normal with that age group.

 

[Membling]

Loebel is a new name to me. Cochran has been mentioned a few times before

Few I will be watching during the academy games.

As stated previous, we churn out mids but talls have been sparce.

Hopefully we start getting some quality like GC have with Walter

 

[anotherletdown]

Few I will be watching during the academy games.

As stated previous, we churn out mids but talls have been sparce.

Hopefully we start getting some quality like GC have with Walter

Geez Walter is going to be a player, ridiculously powerful. Hopefully we can produce someone like that one day

GC won't get a live pick this year, all their picks will be 'matched bid'

 

[Ticky009]

Geez Walter is going to be a player, ridiculously powerful. Hopefully we can produce someone like that one day

GC won't get a live pick this year, all their picks will be 'matched bid'

They've got at least 5 players in this years draft worth looking at.

 

[BloodySwan]

Our academy seems to attract and develop some really quality mids but I'm waiting for the day we identify and produce a quality key position player.

Whatever happened to Billy King?

I remember reading a lot of hype in his bottom age season from 2021 and then nothing came to fruition last year...

Key position players are hard to come by in general.

In saying that we have Edwards, Naismith and McAndrew as talls who have all come through the academy.

Blakey is tall enough to play a key position but his style doesn't suit it. We originally tried playing him as a key forward but that just didn't work. I wouldn't put it past him turning into a CHB over the years

 

[SGBeach]

Ive heard numerous stories of Swans academy athletes that would grow to 190+cm and heavy.. getting paid as 15 yo's to play rugby league.
I reckon theres restrictions on young player payments in the AFL that dont apply in the NRL?

 

[Membling]

Ive heard numerous stories of Swans academy athletes that would grow to 190+cm and heavy.. getting paid as 15 yo's to play rugby league.
I reckon theres restrictions on young player payments in the AFL that dont apply in the NRL?

100%

Different academy system for NRL.

If those stories are true, would not surprise me at all

 

[Callipygian]

Key position players are hard to come by in general.

In saying that we have Edwards, Naismith and McAndrew as talls who have all come through the academy.

I didn't think McAndrew came through the Academy but it turns out I was wrong. I still think he didn't spend much time there because he had barely played any footy before we picked him up in the 2021 mid-season draft.

His profile on the club website says:

22-year-old ruckman Lachlan McAndrew was selected by the Sydney Swans in the 2021 NAB Mid-season AFL Rookie Draft. The athletic QBE Sydney Swans Academy product from the Northern Beaches stands at almost 210cm and was drafted by the Swans as a long-term ruck prospect. The Northern Beaches local grew up playing rugby union but fell in love with Australian Rules after he was encouraged to join the Academy. In McAndrew's transition to AFL, he was mentored by former Swans player and ruck coach Steve Taubert alongside Academy coach Jared Crouch who, with Sydney Swans Assistant Coach, Dean Cox, have all praised his ability to be coached.

 

[dosser]

I didn't think McAndrew came through the Academy but it turns out I was wrong. I still think he didn't spend much time there because he had barely played any footy before we picked him up in the 2021 mid-season draft.

His profile on the club website says:

22-year-old ruckman Lachlan McAndrew was selected by the Sydney Swans in the 2021 NAB Mid-season AFL Rookie Draft. The athletic QBE Sydney Swans Academy product from the Northern Beaches stands at almost 210cm and was drafted by the Swans as a long-term ruck prospect. The Northern Beaches local grew up playing rugby union but fell in love with Australian Rules after he was encouraged to join the Academy. In McAndrew's transition to AFL, he was mentored by former Swans player and ruck coach Steve Taubert alongside Academy coach Jared Crouch who, with Sydney Swans Assistant Coach, Dean Cox, have all praised his ability to be coached.

Wouldn't have thought it was a special 'ability', but I'm often wrong.

 

[Maximumlnsanity]

Wouldn't have thought it was a special 'ability', but I'm often wrong.

It's an amazing ability to have if you're brand new to the game. No faults ingrained through juniors (and childhood) means they can essentially be sculpted from scratch, and the more you're coachable the easier it'll be. The best example I can think of is Mason Cox's set shot. It's ugly as all * but very accurate

 

[bedford]

Allies under 18 fixture out , no games in NSW

 

[Membling]

2023 AFL National Championships: U18, U16 fixtures released

The link above.

May be able to go to a few if not tied up with work