Academy: Gold Coast SUNS Gun Factory

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Ben Drever said:
Ouch.
With brayden Crossley recently finished the tour with the AfL academy

Cal twomeys gone whack saying the GC Suns don't have any top end talent this year at this early stage
GWS again with early favourites

Obviously Crossley didn't perform so well on the big stage. :(


http://m.afl.com.au/news/2017-01-27/academy-us-trip-gives-early-hint-of-draft-pool
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To be fair, even if Crossley was the best ruckmen in the country (I don't know where he is actually ranked) he still most likely wouldn't feature in the top picks discussions, and we could still realistically not expect a bid until the 2nd round at best, given the leagues move away from spending high draft picks on ruckmen. Teams just don't spend much time/resources on 18y.o ruckmen as they are still on average 8-ish years away from showing their potential, unless they are NicNat, Grundy, or potentially Tim English. Not concerning really, besides the fact that we don't have a Bowes like prospect which would be more of a luxury however.

Besides Crossley, we only really have Simmington, and Kwaby Boakye who is very raw, at this stage but Im sure more will make themselves known once the championships kick off.
 
Ben Drever said:
GWS likely to keep all there zones inc Murray region and Albury
So will most likely have another 4 first round picks in 2017
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With the best of them going to private boarding schools in Victoria and playing in the TAC Cup.....

But also sounds like they will be trying to limit the number of top 20 academy and father-son picks for teams who finish 1-4 (can only match a bid for 1 top 20 player) and 5-8 (can only match 2 bids in the top 20). Outside the top 8, can match them all.

In the last draft, GWS matched 3 top 20 bids (Setterfield, Perryman and Cumming). If this new system comes in, they would have lost Perryman (big wraps already) and Cumming.

If they are going to let GWS keep that zone (against strong opposition), then will need other types of restrictions. This one might have legs.

Would affect the Suns though, once they make the finals.
 

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Stroppy said:
With the best of them going to private boarding schools in Victoria and playing in the TAC Cup.....

But also sounds like they will be trying to limit the number of top 20 academy and father-son picks for teams who finish 1-4 (can only match a bid for 1 top 20 player) and 5-8 (can only match 2 bids in the top 20). Outside the top 8, can match them all.

In the last draft, GWS matched 3 top 20 bids (Setterfield, Perryman and Cumming). If this new system comes in, they would have lost Perryman (big wraps already) and Cumming.

If they are going to let GWS keep that zone (against strong opposition), then will need other types of restrictions. This one might have legs.

Would affect the Suns though, once they make the finals.
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should really be that you need a pick in that round to match a bid, like we had to use pick 11 to match for a bid at 10 for Bowes which i thought was fair. But then Perryman for the Giants was matched at pick 14 with 38, 44 and 51 and them Then Cumming was matched at pick 20 with picks 52, 54, 55 and 56. its just too easy to exploit the system when you can do that
 
Stroppy said:
With the best of them going to private boarding schools in Victoria and playing in the TAC Cup.....

But also sounds like they will be trying to limit the number of top 20 academy and father-son picks for teams who finish 1-4 (can only match a bid for 1 top 20 player) and 5-8 (can only match 2 bids in the top 20). Outside the top 8, can match them all.

In the last draft, GWS matched 3 top 20 bids (Setterfield, Perryman and Cumming). If this new system comes in, they would have lost Perryman (big wraps already) and Cumming.

If they are going to let GWS keep that zone (against strong opposition), then will need other types of restrictions. This one might have legs.

Would affect the Suns though, once they make the finals.
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The chances of the Suns' academy (or Brisbane/Sydney for that matter) producing two top 20 picks in the same year seem quite low. Logic tells you that any given year there is often at least 19 players from Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and even New South Wales that are better than the second best player from the Gold Coast-Central/North Queensland zone. And even if the academy does happen to produce two top 20 players in the same year, the club still has a 77% mathematical chance that it won't finish top four that season and will be able to retain both. Suggesting that the academy will get to a point in the near future where it produces more than two top 20 picks in any given year is bordering on lunacy.

This rule is designed for GWS to retain their zone but not take the absolute piss out of the draft system. The three other northern clubs will be largely unaffected by it.
 
Corkie said:

Suns hammy research and some of the academy lads.
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I wonder if Simington is a chance to be picked up by the Suns this year. He looks a decent size in that clip and according to AFL.com.au he's nearing 190cms and about 90kgs. Another positive when it comes to Simington is that he's captaining the Suns' academy side this year and has previously captained the Queensland U16 side. Both he and Crossley will play for Labrador this year and both played as underagers for the the QLD U18 side in the Div 2 national championships last year. Another interesting aspect to Simington is that it would appear he's the first player to come out of the Gold Coast Hinterland (western suburbs) and have a genuine shot at being drafted.

However, unlike Crossley and Boakye, Simington wasn't chosen to attend the AFL Academy's US trip earlier this year so perhaps that's an indication that he's not quite up to the standard at this point.
 
GC2015 said:
The section I found most interesting was where it said Crossley's chances of going top 10 in the draft will be heavily dependent on his ability to build his engine and if he can play as a key position forward.
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Ballenden will likely hurt Crossley's chances of establishing himself as a forward in 2017. He'll have to rotate with another tall through the ruck. So unless he develops into a Kurt Tippett style forward-ruckman, I can't really see it happening. Ballenden is quite likely to be Queensland's highest pick this year and he is a key forward. Either way, Crossley has to work on his endurance.
 
Definitely worth noting that the captains of the Lions, Broncos and Titans all attended Palm Beach Currumbin State High School on the Gold Coast. Dayne Beams (Lions), Darius Boyd (Broncos), Ryan James (Titans) and Kevin Proctor (Titans) are all PBC graduates. It's probably also worth noting that the the Queensland Reds captain, James Slipper, also grew up on the Gold Coast and attended TSS. I guess that makes the Suns the only major sporting team in South East Queensland that doesn't have a captain from the Gold Coast.

I think it's time for the Suns to start recruiting more locals, particularly from PBC.
 

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Matchu said:
Definitely worth noting that the captains of the Lions, Broncos and Titans all attended Palm Beach Currumbin State High School on the Gold Coast. Dayne Beams (Lions), Darius Boyd (Broncos), Ryan James (Titans) and Kevin Proctor (Titans) are all PBC graduates. It's probably also worth noting that the the Queensland Reds captain, James Slipper, also grew up on the Gold Coast and attended TSS. I guess that makes the Suns the only major sporting team in South East Queensland that doesn't have a captain from the Gold Coast.

I think it's time for the Suns to start recruiting more locals, particularly from PBC.
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Isn't Max Spencer from PBC? I don't think it's some proclamation whereby we just need to draft kids from there. If they are good enough to be quality AFL players we will draft them. No point picking them up for the fact they went to PBC.
 
Interesting take away here for the academy boys from their clash with Southport over the weekend.
Nick Kempe and Jacob Heron top-scored with two goals each for the Suns, who were best served by Heron, Sam Davidson, Brodie Foster, Jacob Dawson, Timakoi Bowie (one goal) and Tom Frazer.
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Good to see both Foster and Dawson (two PBC boys) in the bests for the Suns. Anyone know if Crossley played?
 
SUNS Academy match program:

Academy Series 2017

Round 1 v Lions Academy @ Southport March 25th 11.00am

Round 2 v GWS Academy @ Blacktown April 1st 10.30am

Round 3 v Swans Academy @ Blacktown April 8th 10.30am

Round 4 v Tasmania @ Southport April 29th 10.30am

Round 5 v Northern Territory @ Broadbeach May 6th 1.00pm
 
Matchu said:
Interesting take away here for the academy boys from their clash with Southport over the weekend.

Good to see both Foster and Dawson (two PBC boys) in the bests for the Suns. Anyone know if Crossley played?
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Tom Fraser and Sam Davidson also PBC - school and club....
 
Corkie said:
We have another Saad! Adam's brother Muhammad has joined our U19 academy. Players listed below are eligible for NEAFL this year.
View attachment 345787
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Like the look of Watson as a potential future forward - kicked goals in the Senior intraclub scratch match a few weeks back. Missed out in last years draft but next year with more maturity could be the goods... 196 and 93 already !
 
Academy players to watch out for. Series starts at Southport on Saturday v Lions.

GOLD COAST
Comments from Queensland talent manager Adrian Fletcher

Kwaby Boakye
16/3/99
186cm/88kg
Broadbeach
Medium defender

"He's tested really quickly over 20 metres and has really good agility. He will give the Suns some good run and drive off half-back with his left foot. He was added to the NAB AFL Academy as a multicultural player but the Suns don't have first access to him under northern academy rules as he hasn't lived in the region long enough."

Brayden Crossley
16/8/99
198cm/105kg
Labrador

Ruckman

"Brayden has had glandular fever but he's starting to work back into better fitness. He still has a way to go, but he's just a natural footballer. He loves contact. As a ruckman he's Shane Mumford all over; he's physical and throws himself around. If he can get his body right, he will show in the back-end how good he can be. He's a footballer."

Sam Davidson
6/5/99
180cm/70kg
Palm Beach
Midfielder

"He's a really quick winger whose pace sets him apart. He has a strong body and can take on the first tackler and then get into space. He likes to take the game on and you'll see him zip through at times. He did the pre-season with the Suns and is in pretty good form."

Brodie Foster
3/3/99
178cm/74kg
Surfers Paradise Demons
Defender

"We see him just as a really natural footballer. He's got a low centre of gravity – long body and short legs – but he just reads the game so well. He plays half-back and can go through the midfield, but he's so good behind the ball and he sees it so well. He sets up the play from there but in the long-term would probably have to go through the midfield."

Harry Simington
28/3/99
189cm/85kg
Labrador
Midfielder

"Harry is a tall midfielder who kicks the ball really well. He's played as a half-forward but has been thrown into the midfield because that's where we see his best position will be. He's a really good kick into the forward line but just needs to accumulate a bit more of the ball around the ground."
 

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Academy: Gold Coast SUNS Gun Factory

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