Player Watch #40: Eddie Ford - re-signed until end of 2025

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Phillyroo said:
Let’s just say the Jets coaching program was “Horrendous”…. Which didn’t help 5-6 years of possible draftees
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I'll bet that wouldn't have happened at Sandy tho.

This is exactly the stuff I'm talking about.
 

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No doubt in my mind that private school influence over the draft is real and it's been trending for years now and it's only going to intensify.

Northern Knights and the Calder Cannons dominated the first 15 years of the Talent league largely on the back of State school kids from the North, North East and North West of Melbourne.

Even Pagan built his amazing success in the Under 19's in the 80's largely on kids from Broadmeadows and Boronia and surrounding areas.

What happened in the 90's is that we got affluent and governments have been pouring huge amounts of money into already well resourced private schools ever since which has flowed through to pretty obscene football programs tbh.

So while time poor Dads and Mums in the burbs try and keep the lights on in local Clubs - elite private schools are paying squillions to blokes like Matthew Lloyd to run their programs.

Little wonder then that the Chargers and Dragons dominated the Talent League in the last 15 years largely on the back of private school programs.

Fair chance if the likes of Eddie Ford or Paul Curtis had of gone through those pathways they'd be better developed, played in better games and would have been selected higher.

Just an opinion.
 
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Masked Avenger said:
No doubt in my mind that private school influence over the draft is real and it's been trending for years now and it's only going to intensify.

Northern Knights and the Calder Cannons dominated the first 15 years of the Talent league largely on the back of State school kids from the North, North East and North West of Melbourne.

Even Pagan built his amazing success in the Under 19's in the 80's largely on kids from Broadmeadows and Boronia and surrounding areas.

What happened in the 90's is that we got affluent and governments have been pouring huge amounts of money into already well resourced private schools ever since which has flowed through to pretty obscene football programs tbh.

So while time poor Dads and Mums in the burbs try and keep the lights on in local Clubs - elite private schools are paying squillions to blokes like Matthew Lloyd to run their programs.

Little wonder then that the Chargers and Dragons dominated the Talent League in the last 15 years largely on the back of private school programs.

Fair chance if the likes of Eddie Ford or Paul Curtis had of gone through those pathways they'd be better developed, played in better games and would have been selected higher.

Just an opinion.
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Lol.

The Northern Knights and Calder dominated the early parts of the TAC Cup era because it also reflected the equal footing the AGSV and even the ACc had with the APS during the 90’s and 00’s.

They had major reps of the historically gun sides of Assumption, Marcellin, PEGS, St Bernard’s etc of those era’s.

Saying those sides were built off of the working class state school kids of the North is hilarious.

90% of the great Calders and Northern sides were from those schools, particularly Assumption, Marcellin and Bernards.
 
Calders Cannons got its talent from PEGS, St Bernards, the grammar school and then maybe Strathmore High and one or 2 catholic schools.
Most of the good talent gets poached at ages 14-15 and then they move the kid to a St Kevins etc to complete his VCE.
Very rarely will any draft prospect not get picked up by the private school system these days.

The sell to parents is if you want your kid to be seen, this is where the recruiters go and scout. Oh and a private school education helps too lol
 
Sphynx said:
Lol.

The Northern Knights and Calder dominated the early parts of the TAC Cup era because it also reflected the equal footing the AGSV and even the ACc had with the APS during the 90’s and 00’s.

They had major reps of the historically gun sides of Assumption, Marcellin, PEGS, St Bernard’s etc of those era’s.

Saying those sides were built off of the working class state school kids of the North is hilarious.

90% of the great Calders and Northern sides were from those schools, particularly Assumption, Marcellin and Bernards.
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Wouldnt be surprised if the Nights start to dominate the comp again soon. Some of the clubs in the outer North are massive.
 
tazaa said:
Calders Cannons got its talent from PEGS, St Bernards, the grammar school and then maybe Strathmore High and one or 2 catholic schools.
Most of the good talent gets poached at ages 14-15 and then they move the kid to a St Kevins etc to complete his VCE.
Very rarely will any draft prospect not get picked up by the private school system these days.

The sell to parents is if you want your kid to be seen, this is where the recruiters go and scout. Oh and a private school education helps too lol
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Came here to make this point, and saw you did.

Every gun I played with back in the day who was a fellow povo like me ended up getting a good scholarship to a private school.
 
It's the same deal up here too, almost everyone who's any good gets poached by St Pats and Ballarat College. 90% of the Rebels list would go to those 2 schools.
Makes sense for those coming from the South West and Wimmera to take up scholarships at the big schools in Ballarat, saves them many hours of travel. Both schools also take in interstate borders (Daniel Rioli, Jacob Hopper), and that helps boost the quality of the Rebels list.
From memory the only players drafted not from St Pats or College in relatively recent times is Lloyd Meek from Grammar, Brad Sewell and Will Young from the High School. And the 1 outlier from outside the Ballarat APS system totally, was Andrew Hooper from Sebastopol High.
 
Themanbun said:
Came here to make this point, and saw you did.

Every gun I played with back in the day who was a fellow povo like me ended up getting a good scholarship to a private school.
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It’s the same everywhere, whether North, South, East or West and the bush.

Which was my point, it’s not restricted to any georgraphic location, if you are good you will get a scholarship.

These schools scout the NT and Tiwi’s also.

I don’t see an issue with it tbh. Why would you? Most of these schools are outstanding academic schools also, why do people have an issue with kids getting offered a better education as a pay off for their involvement in football.

It’s been happening since the 60’s.

There’s a few posters on here making out like it’s footballs version of the stolen generation.
 
Some of the North West Govt schools are trying. EKC I read somewhere is ramping up their program again. And Maribyrnong Sports College too.

How their programs compare to the private schools I've got no idea.

But if it's true the bulk of recruiters focus on eastern elite schools, then that provides a huge opportunity for us to keep picking up more like Ford and Curtis. May it long continue and we take advantage of their myopic view of where to find sporting talent.

https://www.ekc.vic.edu.au/co-curriculum/sport/football/

Sports Programs — MSA - Maribyrnong Sports Academy Touk Miller goes alright.
 
RightWingRoo said:
It's the same deal up here too, almost everyone who's any good gets poached by St Pats and Ballarat College. 90% of the Rebels list would go to those 2 schools.
Makes sense for those coming from the South West and Wimmera to take up scholarships at the big schools in Ballarat, saves them many hours of travel. Both schools also take in interstate borders (Daniel Rioli, Jacob Hopper), and that helps boost the quality of the Rebels list.
From memory the only players drafted not from St Pats or College in relatively recent times is Lloyd Meek from Grammar, Brad Sewell and Will Young from the High School. And the 1 outlier from outside the Ballarat APS system totally, was Andrew Hooper from Sebastopol High.
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Joel frejiah and mac scoullar who are both on the rebels list are both on a sports scholarship at Ballarat Clarendon college with frejiah being from Horsham and scoullar being from nsw. I’m not over those who go to st pats but I know many of those who are on the rebels list hail from st pats
 
Harveysuth said:
Joel frejiah and mac scoullar who are both on the rebels list are both on a sports scholarship at Ballarat Clarendon college with frejiah being from Horsham and scoullar being from nsw. I’m not over those who go to st pats but I know many of those who are on the rebels list hail from st pats
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Wasn't sure about this years crop, but that doesn't surprise me. It's normally about 90% of the Rebels list going to St Pats and College. Not sure where George Stevens goes though
 

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Sphynx said:
Lol.

The Northern Knights and Calder dominated the early parts of the TAC Cup era because it also reflected the equal footing the AGSV and even the ACc had with the APS during the 90’s and 00’s.

They had major reps of the historically gun sides of Assumption, Marcellin, PEGS, St Bernard’s etc of those era’s.

Saying those sides were built off of the working class state school kids of the North is hilarious.

90% of the great Calders and Northern sides were from those schools, particularly Assumption, Marcellin and Bernards.
Click to expand...
The only one of those schools that was anywhere near the attitude of the Eastern suburbs private schools now was PEGS and they were a pack of soft w***ers anyway.
 
Sphynx said:
Lol.

The Northern Knights and Calder dominated the early parts of the TAC Cup era because it also reflected the equal footing the AGSV and even the ACc had with the APS during the 90’s and 00’s.

They had major reps of the historically gun sides of Assumption, Marcellin, PEGS, St Bernard’s etc of those era’s.

Saying those sides were built off of the working class state school kids of the North is hilarious.

90% of the great Calders and Northern sides were from those schools, particularly Assumption, Marcellin and Bernards.
Click to expand...
90% - let's just say that's lol.
 
Ford has become one of my favourite players over the second half of the year (this is the first year I've followed AFL). But we just have soooo many half forwards - do you think he gets a spot next year? I'd be kind of gutted if not, but I guess footy is a brutal business.

Off the top of my head, he's competing for the mid-sized forward role with:
  • Stephenson
  • Zurhaar
  • George
  • [x new draft pick]
  • Taylor
  • Curtis
  • Harvey
  • Sheezel

I'd play him over Stephenson, Taylor, and Harvey, but I'm not an expert (the club may disagree) and that still leaves him fighting with like 5 other players for a role with 2-4 max capacity. Where do you guys think Ford plays next year?
 
Amicalola said:
Ford has become one of my favourite players over the second half of the year (this is the first year I've followed AFL). But we just have soooo many half forwards - do you think he gets a spot next year? I'd be kind of gutted if not, but I guess footy is a brutal business.

Off the top of my head, he's competing for the mid-sized forward role with:
  • Stephenson
  • Zurhaar
  • George
  • [x new draft pick]
  • Taylor
  • Curtis
  • Harvey
  • Sheezel

I'd play him over Stephenson, Taylor, and Harvey, but I'm not an expert (the club may disagree) and that still leaves him fighting with like 5 other players for a role with 2-4 max capacity. Where do you guys think Ford plays next year?
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actually looking like a bit of depth, and its been a long time since we have had much depth on any line.
 
ferball said:
Okay further to that is something Clarko said months ago about the Tassie side. He talked about where he grew up, Kaniva, and how it was part of Essendon*'s zone. Three kids came from that town including him, two played with * in the 80s. That's one small town cos the AFL, well a VFL club at the time, is putting resources into developing players from that toen because its their zone.

That's sposed to be the de facto role of the academy's I guess but it doesn't seem to work that way. The elite kids come from the country sure but most of the role players (and alot of first rounders) seem to come from those three eastern suburbs sides. (I'm happy to be wrong about this if someone can be bothered checking btw but on the face of it the most common Vic names are the four eastern suburbs clubs.)

And most of those kids go to a bunch of high schools in the East and get scholarships to a few elite private schools.

How much money does Scotch college put into Warrnambool grass roots footy?

I know they work with a school on Melville Island but given how powerful an institution that school is and the benefit it gets from having guys like Jy, JUH and Cyril Rioli associated with their school they should be doing more.
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you forgot to mention one of its finest alumni, Jamie Macmillan!
 
Sphynx said:
LOL.

Posh bastards like LDU from a modest house in Rye given a life changing scholarship worth $30k per year to one of the best academic schools in the country traveling hours each day to fulfill his education and football requirements.

Or Will Phillips making the trek into Caulfield from Wheelers Hill every day.

Or Jy Simpkin the absolute elitist from Toorakesque Mooroopna, boarding at $80k per year Scotch College. Ziebell another that boarded at Caulfield from the elitist Wodonga.

I guess Cyril is a posh bastard also for going to Scotch…

Georgie Wardlaw from his ivory tower in Bentleigh and De La Salle before getting his scholarship to SKEV’s.

And Eddie is from Yarraville/Marybinong, not exactly the wild Wild West these days mate. There’s more toffs in those parts than most parts of the suburban east.
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To be fair Wardlaw's old man's a st kev's old boy.
 
This bloke is the reason I have no interest in Duursma. If he can continue on his trajectory from this season, I reckon we're onto something.
 
Amicalola said:
Ford has become one of my favourite players over the second half of the year (this is the first year I've followed AFL). But we just have soooo many half forwards - do you think he gets a spot next year? I'd be kind of gutted if not, but I guess footy is a brutal business.

Off the top of my head, he's competing for the mid-sized forward role with:
  • Stephenson
  • Zurhaar
  • George
  • [x new draft pick]
  • Taylor
  • Curtis
  • Harvey
  • Sheezel

I'd play him over Stephenson, Taylor, and Harvey, but I'm not an expert (the club may disagree) and that still leaves him fighting with like 5 other players for a role with 2-4 max capacity. Where do you guys think Ford plays next year?
Click to expand...
I would love to know how you've come to barrack for North if this is your first year watching footy. Good choice, but why?
 
Amicalola said:
Ford has become one of my favourite players over the second half of the year (this is the first year I've followed AFL). But we just have soooo many half forwards - do you think he gets a spot next year? I'd be kind of gutted if not, but I guess footy is a brutal business.

Off the top of my head, he's competing for the mid-sized forward role with:
  • Stephenson
  • Zurhaar
  • George
  • [x new draft pick]
  • Taylor
  • Curtis
  • Harvey
  • Sheezel

I'd play him over Stephenson, Taylor, and Harvey, but I'm not an expert (the club may disagree) and that still leaves him fighting with like 5 other players for a role with 2-4 max capacity. Where do you guys think Ford plays next year?
Click to expand...
Ford will be a swingman off the pine utility. Forward/wing rotations. All about rotations. 4 forwards on ground involved in rotation with mids and bench. You’ll find at least 1 bench (1sub) and will be linked with mid/fwd. unless he takes another step, which we all hope he should. He will be in rotation with Stephenson et al.

From my current understanding Stephenson has been given an exit meeting that has blown some heat up his backside. Half forward will be hot property next season.
 
I'd like to see him across half back. He's a good size, smart player, hugely strong overhead.

Could fir nicely into a system that diminishes our manpower issues down there imo.
 

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Player Watch #40: Eddie Ford - re-signed until end of 2025

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