2nds Reserves 2011

[grimlock]

http://www.seeyouatthefooty.com.au/uploadedpdf/neafl_2011_eastern_draw.pdf

The NEAFL (Eastern Conference) draw was released a week ago. Here is my summation and analysis of the draw:

• Nominally a 22 round season, but with 2 competition-wide byes, it is a 20 round competition.
• Swans Reserves play 18 times (4 byes), while the rest of the competition play just 17 times (5 byes). How this will work in terms of competition points remains to be seen although I'm sure the Swans hierarchy prefers the Reserves to be playing more than less.
• Swans Reserves have 8 home games (out of 20), compared with 9 (out of 18) in 2010 in AFL Canberra. 6 SCG games, 1 ANZ game and 1 Blacktown Olympic Park game (see below)
• All of the home games are a curtain raiser to the seniors game except for the Round 22 AFL/Round 21 NEAFL fixture where the Swans Reserves play Brisbane at Blacktown Olympic Park the day before the Swans Seniors take on the Saints at ANZ Stadium. I haven't seen an official explanation but it could either be an NSW/ACT U18 match or the Indigenous teenage game the SCG hosted in 2010.
• 3 'away' games have the Swans Reserves playing in the curtain raiser, offering great incentive for Swans fans to travel to these games: R7 Bulldogs @ Manuka, R11 Lions @ Gabba, R16 Suns @ Gold Coast. In the image, all curtain raisers, home and away, are bolded in purple.
• A game at Newcastle, I assume this was originally a home fixture forfeited by the club to promote AFL in Newcastle.
• GWS get to play 2 more crossover games against the NT Thunder (home and away). How this plays in terms of the competition is also yet to be seen?
• The draw has been relatively kind to Sydney-based AFL fans who wish to catch both Swans and GWS matches. Only 2 rounds (16-Apr and 25-Jun) have both the Swans Reserves and GWS playing on the same day in Sydney.
• Ainslie, Eastlake, Queanbeyan play 2 crossover games while Belconnen and Tuggeranong play just 1 crossover game. Belconnen and Tuggeranong were the bottom 2 teams in the 2010 AFL Canberra competition.

 

[SOPH_CROSS]

Sooooo excited!

 

[themightybloods]

The limit is:

Regular season
Maximum 18 in the matchday squad of 24, maximum 13 on the field at the one time.
Finals
Maximum 12 in the matchday squad of 22.

do these restrictions still apply in this new competition?

 

[grimlock]

do these restrictions still apply in this new competition?

I think it still applies when we play the Canberra-based teams but it won't be when we play the GC Reserves, Lions Reserves or GWS.

 

[bedford]

Its much better, but far from perfect. Thanks Grim.

 

[lil big man]

Do you see any of your scholarship player getting a game with the ressies this year??

I've Seen Harry Butchart play a few times and he could turn into a real talent...

How are the rest of the scholarship holder coming along?

 

[grimlock]

Do you see any of your scholarship player getting a game with the ressies this year??

I've Seen Harry Butchart play a few times and he could turn into a real talent...

How are the rest of the scholarship holder coming along?

Our scholarship players have featured regularly in the reserves in the past couple of years, about 2-3 take the field depending on numbers. Last year we saw the likes of Jackson Potter, Blake Guthrie, Jack Lynch and Mitch May and the year before we had Ryan Bottin-Noonan, Jay Lewis and Matthew May. None of them have had the impact that Craig Bird or to a lesser extent, Nathan Gordon did when they were scholarship holders playing for the reserves.

I'm not sure of the arrangements for this year, but the club has said they will be using the Swans Academy more for top-ups. I'm not sure if the current scholarship holders have been rolled over as Academy members?

 

[liz]

I'm not sure of the arrangements for this year, but the club has said they will be using the Swans Academy more for top-ups. I'm not sure if the current scholarship holders have been rolled over as Academy members?

With two exceptions, all the existing scholarship players were included in the list of inaugural Academy members. Presumably the two that weren't were missing either because they and the club have parted ways, or due to an oversight in listing the Academy members. One of the two missing was Nathan Kenny. Can't recall the name of the other, but I think he was part of the same intake as Wray, Robinson and Butchart.

I suspect the drafting rules will be different, though, for those who were originally scholarship holders to keep things consistent with other clubs who still have active scholarship holders - ie the club can just put them on the list without having to go through the bidding process that will apply to other Academy "graduates".

Edit: I just went back to re-read the list of inaugural Academy members and realised that Butchart's was the other name that was missing. Not sure what that means, given the post just above Grim's.

 

[grimlock]

That's very interesting because Nathan Kenny (along with Jack Lynch) was prominent in some of the pre-season training photos on the club's website. This was before the Christmas/New Year break though, so I'm not sure whether they could have cut him loose during that time.

 

[liz]

Was that Kenny or Guthrie? I remember some pictures (and a story) about TDL battling to the line in an early pre-season time trial against a scholarship player but I thought that was Guthrie. I don't recall reading anything about Kenny (though of course that doesn't mean he wasn't there).

 

[grimlock]

The caption on the Swans' site says it's Kenny. To be honest I wasn't sure who it was at first but I knew it wasn't Guthrie (or Potter or Lynch or May because I would've recognised them)

Swans' photo saying Nathan Kenny, although he's look different from his other photos below:

Daily Tele photo with caption saying Kenny is on far right (and Guthrie middle)

Fan photo, Kenny is second from left.

 

[liz]

Fair enough.

I guess the omissions of Kenny and Butchart from that ever-so-long list of names on the Academy intake is as likely to be just an oversight as anything else.

 

[RUNVS]

Fair enough.

I guess the omissions of Kenny and Butchart from that ever-so-long list of names on the Academy intake is as likely to be just an oversight as anything else.

Could you provide a link to the list of people who are apart of the Swans academy? I ask because on the Brisbane board a few days ago they seemed convinced that not only were Paul Roos kids part of the academy but so were Daniel Bradshaw's?

 

[grimlock]

http://www.sydneyswans.com.au/academy players/tabid/16968/default.aspx

Notable names:
Dylan Roos 15
Tyler Roos 17
Nicholas Blakey 11
Jake Bradshaw 11
Brandon Jack 17

 

[RUNVS]

http://www.sydneyswans.com.au/academy players/tabid/16968/default.aspx

Notable names:
Dylan Roos 15
Tyler Roos 17
Nicholas Blakey 11
Jake Bradshaw 11
Brandon Jack 17

Thanks for the link.

It might not happen but i would love to see one of the Roos boys drafted and he plays his first game in front of a good crowd at the SCG and as soon as he touches the ball the first time the crowd in unison all shout "ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOS". It would be great to have the old chant back as we haven't heard it since 2002.

As for Bradshaw's kids if they turn out to be good then that will only be another reason for Brisbane fans to be extremely annoyed at Michael Voss.

 

[legend166]

Wow, I didn't know the academy intake was going to be so big. I thought they'd take 15-20 guys a year.

I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing.

 

[liz]

Wow, I didn't know the academy intake was going to be so big. I thought they'd take 15-20 guys a year.

I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing.

I suspect it needs to be broken down into age range. For the 11-13 year olds, it is essentially a big clinic for promising kids. The majority of these will either lose interest (or have other interests take over) or not develop over the next couple of years and will probably drop off as they approach the ages of 15-18. I imagine there will be a culling process such that fewer than a dozen (maybe much fewer than a dozen) kids of each year bracket will still be left as they get closer to draftable age. And no doubt kids who didn't make it at ages 11 or 12 will force their way in at ages 16 or 17 as they either take up the sport at a later age, or develop physically.

 

[mark121]

Some of these young players will also move house at some point, not just interstate but also out of the country.


For example if Bradshaw and his family leave Sydney after his contract would his son still count as an acadamy player?

Would any acadamy player still count as one of our ours if he moved within western Sydneys acadamy recruiting area?

Over all this is all about increasing the strength of the code in Sydney and Brisbane and im sure this will help achieve the desired result but questions like the ones above still need to be asked

 

[SM]

Thanks for the link.

It might not happen but i would love to see one of the Roos boys drafted and he plays his first game in front of a good crowd at the SCG and as soon as he touches the ball the first time the crowd in unison all shout "ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOS". It would be great to have the old chant back as we haven't heard it since 2002.

As for Bradshaw's kids if they turn out to be good then that will only be another reason for Brisbane fans to be extremely annoyed at Michael Voss.

Didn't realise Tyler was so close to a draftable age, it'd be awesome!

 

[RUNVS]

Didn't realise Tyler was so close to a draftable age, it'd be awesome!

Hopefully we will see Tyler playing in this years U18 NSW/ACT team for the NAB U18 Championship.

 

[bdk1963]

Do you see any of your scholarship player getting a game with the ressies this year??

I've Seen Harry Butchart play a few times and he could turn into a real talent...

How are the rest of the scholarship holder coming along?

Harry not playing footy - given up his scholarship

 

[BIGBEZ]

Could you provide a link to the list of people who are apart of the Swans academy? I ask because on the Brisbane board a few days ago they seemed convinced that not only were Paul Roos kids part of the academy but so were Daniel Bradshaw's?

I reckon it will be hard on the boys having their old man as a coach

 

[whiteandred]

Dylan is the older one and turns 17 this year, so eligible for 2012 draft.

Word is that the Swans will select more 17 & 18 y.o. s from this weeks u/18 State trials for their academy, and those players, along with existing scholarship and academy players, will be used as top ups for ressies ... as opposed to the ad hoc approach previously, where they were given a pool of SFL players nominated by the Sydney clubs for home games, and ACT players for Canberra games - since GWS now "owns" ACT as a development zone, it would make no sense for us to use ACT players.

 

[liz]

Would be a shame if the door was completely closed to locals from the SFL. Arguably the greater opportunities of the Academy means that if they are not good enough for that, maybe they have no interest for the Swans, but that would means players like Krueger - late developers - wouldn't get their chance to show what they have in front of the Swans coaching staff.

Agree about leaving Canberra players out of it now that they fall exclusively within GWS' zone.

 

[whiteandred]

I hear that a number of those over 18 types are joining ACT clubs for the greater exposure thru the new NEAFL, and there will likely be a Sydney based side join that league next year ... there will still be chances if they are good enough.

It is importanat to AFL in Sydney that the Swans do produce some local talent through their academy though ... and the same with GWS.