It's interesting to see Addinsall getting mentioned like he's a probable first round pick now. He must have really impressed a lot of recruiters with his MVP performance in the U17s Futures game on GF day.
It was a part of the assistance/rescue package that the AFL put together for us in 2019 when we hit rock bottom. IIRC the AFL more than doubled the funding for our academy and that meant the draft class of 2023 was the first cohort of Gold Coast juniors to go through the whole pathway with proper amount of resources/coaching/facilities etc. Unsurprisingly, that 2023 draft class included four first round picks from our academy, a stark difference to the previous 11 years of academy access that only resulted in one first round pick (Jack Bowes, 2016). Leo Lombard will continue that tradition this year and we should see Uwland + Addinsall follow suit next year. It's not a coincidence that this is happening.
This was the best form of assistance that the AFL could have possibly given us. It will set us up for the next decade or so.
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