AFLW 2024 - Round 10 - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
Haha. Few great quotes from him in there.
Humble Johnston determined to be the best
Lloyd Johnston is a Northern Territory talent who has always dreamed of playing AFL but is now right in the frame and ready to step up.central.rookieme.com
It's looking pretty likely that we're going to draft Johnston tomorrow or Tuesday. I like the sound of small forward Tedcastle as well but I think he's more likely to end up on the rookie list than Johnston. Draft another two NT lads to the list and that would mean over 10% of our list will come from our Darwin academy. We don't know how long we're going to have access to NT players so I think it's important for us to draft as many talents as we can while we can (as long as they are up to the standard or have potential to reach it of course). You only have to look at some of the talents the Brisbane Bears were able to secure from their NT access back in the day (Nathan Buckley, Darryl White, Michael McLean) to realise that we should take full advantage of this while we can.
Excuse the ignorance, but why is that any different to Sandy Brock who had relocated and was playing in the WAFL comp?
Wishful thinking but if he’s good enough then I think he’s Hawthorn bound for sure under the FS.
I would have said a lot will depend on his older son (Charlie, two years older) but it would appear he isn't playing footy on the GC so perhaps Ben is the one they are eyeing off instead. From what I can tell, Ben Crawford will be draft eligible in 2026 which means, should they remain living in our part of the world, Ben will fulfil the necessary five years of living in our region to be academy eligible for us going into the 2026 draft. Even if he boards in Victoria, he'll still be academy eligible for us because the Crawfords' postal address will still be within our zone (see Caleb Nancarrow as an example). So Ben will have to choose between becoming a father-son pick for Hawthorn or being an academy pick for us. Considering Hawthorn have only just committed to a proper rebuild and it looks like we're about to open our finals window, it's entirely possible that we'll be a regular finals competitor once 2026 rolls around and Hawthorn may just be starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of a full rebuild of their list.
The same could be said about Bailey Scott. Chose North over Geelong (and us).Bet he wishes he joined the Cats now…
Its an interesting one.Bet he wishes he joined the Cats now…
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John Blakey also happened to be a two-time premiership player with North Melbourne and played 200+ games for them. I understand Crawford was more prolific with Hawthorn where he won a Brownlow but Blakey's career at North Melbourne isn't anything to sneeze at. The Kangaroos were a VERY good team in the mid-to-late 90s and Blakey virtually played every game for them over that period so the guy was no slouch.
Blakey's draft options were Sydney, North Melbourne, Brisbane (through Fitzroy) or entering the open draft. Brisbane certainly tried to secure Blakey's services (see the 2017 father-son academy pic below) in the lead up to his 2018 draft but the Lions hadn't opened their finals window at that point in time so it was always going to be an uphill battle against the regular finals competitors in Sydney. North were also struggling to play finals back then as well so they obviously failed in their attempt to secure Blakey too but they probably weren't too concerned considering they were able to convince Bailey Scott to join them over Geelong and us which softened the blow of not getting Blakey.
Boston Everitt for one is coming up very quickly. Not sure he'll make it but he would have a decision to make like all the others.
This could be a more common occurrence than some think. In fact, if we had not sacked Marcus Ashcroft in 2017, then the list of upcoming academy players with father-son opportunities would be as follows:
Blakey is the kid on the right.
Hodge’s boys will interesting. His eldest has already dropped Hawthorn and is an avowed Lions fan. He’s been trolling his dad on his socials about how poor Hawthorn is, and I’ve personally seen him at Lions training with his mates, wearing his Lions gear, kicking the ball back over the fence to the players.John Blakey also happened to be a two-time premiership player with North Melbourne and played 200+ games for them. I understand Crawford was more prolific with Hawthorn where he won a Brownlow but Blakey's career at North Melbourne isn't anything to sneeze at. The Kangaroos were a VERY good team in the mid-to-late 90s and Blakey virtually played every game for them over that period so the guy was no slouch.
It'll be interesting is to see what Luke Hodge's sons do when their time rolls around because Luke is obviously a legend of the Hawthorn footy club but he also played for and worked with the Lions. Then you consider that his sons have grown up in Brisbane and are likely apart of the Lions academy as well as the Brisbane community to some degree. I'm sure the Lions will be hoping they pick them over Hawthorn but only time will tell. As for us, all we can do is make sure our business is in order in terms of regularly competing in the finals and that will at least get these father-son prospects considering their options as opposed to the easy decision a kid like Bailey Scott had a few years ago when we were close to rock bottom.
Blakey's draft options were Sydney, North Melbourne, Brisbane (through Fitzroy) or entering the open draft. Brisbane certainly tried to secure Blakey's services (see the 2017 father-son academy pic below) in the lead up to his 2018 draft but the Lions hadn't opened their finals window at that point in time so it was always going to be an uphill battle against the regular finals competitors in Sydney. North were also struggling to play finals back then as well so they obviously failed in their attempt to secure Blakey too but they probably weren't too concerned considering they were able to convince Bailey Scott to join them over Geelong and us which softened the blow of not getting Blakey.
In the interest of accuracy, I would like to add that John Blakey retired from North Melbourne at the end of the 2002 season and immediately moved to Brisbane with his two-year-old son Nick to take up an assistant coaching role with the Brisbane Lions. So he was a part of their premiership winning coaching staff in 2003, their grand finalist team in 2004 and even filled in as the caretaker senior coach for Brisbane in a 2005 game against the Bulldogs. The Blakey family remained in Brisbane until the end of the 2006 season when John accepted an assistant coaching role with the Swans and he moved to the Harbour city with his then six-year-old son Nick.
This is what we're hoping will happen for us as well when these father-son prospect come through our academy. The biggest factor IMO is whether we're competing for premierships/regularly playing finals. If you're not doing that then you virtually have no chance of keeping these juniors.
Never underestimate the appeal of Melbourne (the city) itself to a young footy player either. Although some players prefer to be out of the limelight, many more love the idea of being immersed in football’s heartland and being feted as celebrities with fame and fortune.
