moginie
Brownlow Medallist
My kids are coping with the fact that there are footy players their age and coming to the conclusion that they are old!
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Mercy Seat
Norm Smith Medallist
His dad is still a hawks tragic and even better, hates the Scum with a passion.
He did us a huge solid, such was his contempt for the Scum.
HeHateMe
Norm Smith Medallist
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That's it, I've heard enough. Sign his son to a 10 year deal.
Throw him to CHB....
wahawk
Norm Smith Medallist
Where we gunna play roughie ?
Roger Rogerson
Brownlow Medallist
Heard Rough speak at a lunch yesterday. He said we have 51 father sons coming through. Said he was up in Queensland recently presenting to Cooper Hodge.
CaptainWorpedo
Club Legend
- Feb 15, 2021
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Our father sons could get us through the compromised drafts coming up via Tassie.
Kobe Williams is playing today for the western jets. He is a chip off the old block.
Dipper Here
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I'm coping with the fact that there are MANY footy players who could be the age of a son and coming to the conclusion that I am REALLY old.
wahawk
Norm Smith Medallist
Did he say how many of the 51 can actually play footy ?
A pretty big difference between 51 young lads & 51 good young footballers.
This isn’t having a crack at you Roger Rogerson
Just lowering the expectations back to reality
Brant
Brownlow Medallist
I'd suggest that the 51 range in ages from 1 - 17.
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I did not realise how massive the Northern Clubs Academy’s were until Sunday afternoon when I was putting my son on an aeroplane at Tullamarine!
I noticed about 50-60 Academy lads roaming the airport and I just presumed they were AFL Academy lad!
Then it clicked they were all Gold Coast Suns kids and that’s when I actually realised how lopsided this academy setup is for everyone one else.
Sure it is great for the growth of the game up North but when AFL are paying for this that is what makes it so unfair especially when The Sun’s picked up 4 of these lads in last years draft and they have all been playing.
Cooper Hodge in my opinion should not be available to Brisbanes Academy they are getting enough leg ups from the AFL.
Rant finished!
On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
I noticed about 50-60 Academy lads roaming the airport and I just presumed they were AFL Academy lad!
Then it clicked they were all Gold Coast Suns kids and that’s when I actually realised how lopsided this academy setup is for everyone one else.
Sure it is great for the growth of the game up North but when AFL are paying for this that is what makes it so unfair especially when The Sun’s picked up 4 of these lads in last years draft and they have all been playing.
Cooper Hodge in my opinion should not be available to Brisbanes Academy they are getting enough leg ups from the AFL.
Rant finished!
On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
Don't tell that to Damien Hardwick who said cue violin “All the (talk around the Suns) Academy stuff … well you know what, we do need some advantages because we haven’t had an advantage for a long time at this footy club.”
There was an article of top 25 prospects for the 2025 draft. Gold Coast have another 4…Don't tell that to Damien Hardwick who said cue violin “All the (talk around the Suns) Academy stuff … well you know what, we do need some advantages because we haven’t had an advantage for a long time at this footy club.”
FB19
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FB19
Premiership Player
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So we need to get our hands on more second round picks and trade them for suns early picks then.
I am at the stage now where footy players my age are RETIRING from the game....
HedgeFund
Norm Smith Medallist
Every year in Victoria 12 regional elite programs bring in 150 kids to try out for their U16s and U18s programs.
Those kids get whittled down to 30 for u16 and 50-70 for u18 in the regular season. A total of 80 - 100 per program.
Means there's 960 - 1200 elite junior footy players in the Coates League talent programs. They travel to/from training from home every week and play within their own state. This is overseen by AFL Victoria.
Qld & NSW have a fraction of the infrastructure and capability to provide for their u16 and u18 equivalents. Hence the Academy system (which is overseen by AFLQ and AFLNSW in conjunction with the Qld / NSW clubs.
If you want to be an AFL player, the best place to be born and raised is still Victoria - by a very long way.
After that, it's SA and WA where they at least have SANFL U19s as a breeding ground prior to draft day.
Northern states don't compare as they have so much competition from rugby.
Hot Cheese Rioli
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That's not the point though, as I understand the original post. The point is that Gold Coast have direct access to their academy players. The Victorian lads go into the open draft.
HedgeFund
Norm Smith Medallist
...that's because GC have direct responsibility for developing those kids.
They don't get to be as good as they are if GC aren't developing them - do they?
Hot Cheese Rioli
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You're 100% correct and that's the sticky point to all this. I've said similar in a post a few months back in relation to young Hodge and the Brisbane academy - you could argue that the player he becomes at draft age, is largely down to the work the Lions have put into him.
The AFL fund it and therefore they should have direct responsibility for developing the kids. Maybe that's the answer.
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Here's an uneducated question?
Why can't we , or any other club, have first dibs at the potential draftees from our very own zone without any restrictions about at what pick we get them on? No academy player should be available to be bidded or picked until the second round of the draft.
Why can't we , or any other club, have first dibs at the potential draftees from our very own zone without any restrictions about at what pick we get them on? No academy player should be available to be bidded or picked until the second round of the draft.
they are allowed the opportunity too
we ware not allowed the opportunity too
it's a bs system ...compromised and manipulated
HedgeFund
Norm Smith Medallist
The VFL Zoning System was scrapped in the late 80s once the national draft came in.
Those of us old enough to remember might recall the suburbs of Melbourne and areas of country Victoria were allocated to each VFL club. Myself and a few mates played u17s (a couple then graduated U19s) for Hawthorn, whilst other guys at school played for Fitzroy or Collingwood depending on where you lived.
Even then, the VFL clubs were 70 - 100 years old and none of us ever thought of playing rugby.
The creation of the draft and the u18s League in Victoria saw an end to Zoning down here. It was the right move.
VFL then AFL clubs based in Victoria quickly trimmed their lists, got rid of u19 programs, the reserves became a hybrid competition and it started to become about the top tier only. No AFL clubs whinged about not being able to run u19s programs - they happily handed it over to AFL Victoria.
People who want us to go back 40 years be able to recruit from a Zone just because fledgling clubs in rugby dominated states get that opportunity are to an extent missing the point.
It’s not about being equitable (though it actually redresses clear imbalances) between clubs in various states - it’s about maximising interest and making the game as strong and prominent / dominant nationally as possible.
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Lawsy
All Australian
It won't be long until the participation rate of kids aged 12-17 playing AFL in NSW and QLD exceeds that of League according to AusPlay (government information and knowledge sharing platform for Australian sport).
Once that happens, there will be real debate about the concessions the Academies are afforded.
I'd go out on a limb and say that in SE QLD, the Sunshine Coast through to the Gold Coast, the number of 12-17 year old kids playing AFL already exceeds those playing League. There is a population of +3.5million of which all kids are eligible for the 2 QLD club academies. It is a big leg up already with many of the more recent family arrivals coming from southern states who've historically followed AFL (me included).
It is still needed, more-so I believe in NSW, but if the AFL wanted to tweak a few things related to eligibility, they'd have a lot less casual supporter backlash to the perceived unfairness.
Once that happens, there will be real debate about the concessions the Academies are afforded.
I'd go out on a limb and say that in SE QLD, the Sunshine Coast through to the Gold Coast, the number of 12-17 year old kids playing AFL already exceeds those playing League. There is a population of +3.5million of which all kids are eligible for the 2 QLD club academies. It is a big leg up already with many of the more recent family arrivals coming from southern states who've historically followed AFL (me included).
It is still needed, more-so I believe in NSW, but if the AFL wanted to tweak a few things related to eligibility, they'd have a lot less casual supporter backlash to the perceived unfairness.
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