Expansion Should Tasmania be granted a Northern States style of Academy?

[Cleric]

Once the Tasmanian team comes into the league, and their draft concessions are over, should they also have an academy with the same access that Qld and NSW clubs do?

I actually think it's more Important that they do than the Northern States do.
Let's be honest, very few Victorian, SA or WA kids are going to want to stay long term in Tasmania. They are going to need to have a good percentage of local kids in their side to stop the talent drain that will come.

There is maybe one or two kids drafted from Tasmania a year, and there hasn't been a genuine super star from there in many years.

Once the Devils get up and going, it will have a massive growth in kids wanting to play, and they need to be able to capture those kids for their team.

What say ye?
Now, regardless of if you think they should have one, do you think the AFL will give them one?

 

[stallon]

Nobody should have a northern states style academy.

I think they will get one

 

[MF]

They're guaranteed to spend their first decade or so in a perpetual state of developing and losing all their young talent to Victorian teams just like all the northern clubs did in their inception.

It will be hard to develop a competitive list without one.

 

[Cleric]

They're guaranteed to spend their first decade or so in a perpetual state of developing and losing all their young talent to Victorian teams just like all the northern clubs did in their inception.

It will be hard to develop a competitive list without one.

I think it's going to be harder for Tasmania to retain players than the NSW and Qld clubs.

 

[Freomaniac]

I think it's going to be harder for Tasmania to retain players than the NSW and Qld clubs.

This is where the AFL needs to step in and invest money in the Tassie state league. Its 2024 now. How many Tasmanian players are gonna be drafted?

Tasmania will come into the AFL in 2028.

There should be 18-20 year olds plying their trade in Tassie. 4 years of development means a bunch of 22-24 year Olds coming through

 

[RUNVS]

Probably yes as I think Tasmania is going to have massive retention issues, even more so than clubs like Gold Coast and Western Sydney. I think they will even struggle to keep actual Tasmanians at their club as a lot of younger Tasmanians move to the mainland.

 

[powerrrrrrrrrrrr]

If they do we may as well just scrap the draft completely.

 

[Walshawk]

Yes they should. But with no discount on the points system. Need to pay full and fair price. It is an AFL state afterall, the academy is needed only to help retention.

 

[MF]

I think it's going to be harder for Tasmania to retain players than the NSW and Qld clubs.

I tend to agree. Even though they're moving away from friends and family at least Sydney, Brisbane & the gold coast have some appeal to many young players. Not so sure about Tasmania.

 

[Sphynx]

The entire premise of the Northern Academies are around player retention (even though they double dip in the draft pool with non NSW/QLD players), then hide behind things like "for the good of player development in their states" like players were never developed or drafted prior to their involvement.

Given Tasmania will find player retention far harder than someone moving to Sydney or Brisbane to live, absolutely they should.

There should be zero Academies, NGA, F/S, but if any team needs it, it's this Tasmanian side ahead of everyone else. In fact COLA incentives probably make sense for Tasmania for the first decade to incentivize players to move and settle there.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

This is where the AFL needs to step in and invest money in the Tassie state league. Its 2024 now. How many Tasmanian players are gonna be drafted?

Tasmania will come into the AFL in 2028.

There should be 18-20 year olds plying their trade in Tassie. 4 years of development means a bunch of 22-24 year Olds coming through

That would be the state league the AFL is disbanding at the end of this season.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Probably yes as I think Tasmania is going to have massive retention issues, even more so than clubs like Gold Coast and Western Sydney. I think they will even struggle to keep actual Tasmanians at their club as a lot of younger Tasmanians move to the mainland.

Because there are no jobs in Tassie beyond entry level, state government, and tourism.
I suspect the retention thing won't be such an issue. Its not like AFL players are permitted to spend too much time clubbing, etc. which some on here seem to think is a deal-breaker on its own.

Clearly some will want to go to a big city if they can, some will adapt, a few will prefer the smaller town lifestyle, and some will be pursuing an AFL career wherever they happen to be.
Would it be worth Tas preferring players from country areas, to suit the small town lifestyle? Probably not.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I think this would help

TAS - Ireland to Island

With all the talk of how Tassie will struggle to produce or retain enough players, why not give them access to a huge "zone" that exists that won't actually hurt other clubs? Could one way to help Tassie be to give them exclusive access to Irish players who want to come to Australia as an...

www.bigfooty.com

 

[sexyhunk]

No but yes they will.

 

[BF Tiger]

Tassie need something. I always was of the thinking that a sweetener for any club that might have re-located to Tassie was first access to all Tassie talent.

 

[basashi]

we need to align all clubs on the same deal as much as possible

 

[Dangerousfield]

Will be interesting to see if all the Tasmanians playing elsewhere go back to be part of the inaugural team. I'm certain the AFL will have some powerful incentives at hand for Tasmania to get them.

A Tasmanian academy is certain to be in the bag of assistance to get the club up and competitive quickly

 

[Billy ray]

Yes and also cousins-sons priority.

Herherher

Yes they should have anything that helps with retention because it will be a problem

 

[Nugett]

Each state and territory should have its own academy. With each club having to nominate a certain number of players that academy.

 

[Sherrinator]

You would think that they would do OK getting older players who are keen on settling down like Geelong. Similar sized cities. Mightn’t work for the fancier WAGS I suppose.