The Dolphins are probably freaking out the Broncos more than the Lions but about time I say. Can’t believe it’s taken this long to get a second team in the Brisbane region.
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Hard to believe it took them this long to start a second team in Brisbane. From the time I've spent in Brisbane, I noticed there was a decent amount of rugby league supporters that didn't support the Broncos and I have a feeling we're going to see a fair few of them jumping on board with the Dolphins.
I do think this potentially hurts the Lions because they are going to get less coverage as there is a natural bias towards rugby league reporting in Brisbane. So you'll have a Broncos segment, a Dolphins segment, possibly a Reds/Cowboys/Titans segment and then maybe a Lions segment if there's time but there's no doubt in my mind that the Broncos and Dolphins will get the majority of the coverage from the Brisbane media. Particularly if both teams keep winning.
What hard work?
Our academy does sfa work in developing the game, beyond getting it in to the local private school competition.
We pick kids from the local QAFL clubs, but they do all the hard work.
Big Red Machine
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The Dolphins get major points for just not being the ****ing Broncos.
You can continue to pretend like the Lions didn't put effort into the Moreton Bay area through their Burpengary experience but the truth is they did. Also, have you noticed a lot of your high end academy talent happens to come from the Sunshine Coast? Well, now you have genuine competition to keep those kids playing Aussie rules when the Dolphins come knocking on their door.
Would Eric Hipwood have stuck to footy if the Dolphins offered him (and probably some of his friends) a spot in their massive academy program? Perhaps Hipwood does stick to footy but then maybe another Sunshine Coast junior like Jack Payne decides to take the Dolphins offer. Do see what I'm getting at here? It's like the Kalyn Ponga situation all over again where he could have accepted the Lions academy offer but instead accepted the Broncos scholarship and wound up signing for the Cowboys.
Man you go way ott some times.
I didn’t continue to pretend anything, because I haven’t discussed Moreton Bay before.
It’s been discussed on our board a few times, but a very small group of posters (3 I believe). As a sh!thole that no one likes.
If you read our board (I don’t expect you to), we didn’t go out of our way to play up at Moreton Bay.
We played all over the place, because we took whatever ground was available to us. It’s been clearly explained by the club many times over the years, that before Springfield was completed, we struggled to find grounds to play on and train on.
Yes we’ve had talented kids come out of the Sunshine coast. By and large they’ve come from AFL aligned families. Many of our successful academy kids were trained by their dad for a large portion of their junior career.
As I mentioned before, our academy does very little in actually developing the game. You only have to read the QAFL board to get a good sense of that.
It’s very well known on our board (there’s interviews about it) that Harris Andrews club coaches had to beg the academy to include him as a 17 year old, because our academy weren’t interested in him.
It’s also well known, as Hipwood has told the story many times (I’ve heard it first hand from him at a Lions function), that he would have pursued cricket, if not for the academy.
And you’ve actually seen Hipwood right? No NRL club academy would take him. They’d be afraid of him snapping in half.
Jack Payne is a fair enough example, though we lured him over from athletics (he was a national level junior discus athlete).
Yes we compete for talented kids against other sports, but that goes for every sport and team up here.
I did a fair amount of research a few years ago in to the backgrounds of our successful academy kids (I looked at yours to), and the vast majority were from families with an AFL background, and in most cases, their families were from Victoria and WA, and had moved to QLD. Think Bowes and Keays, but that went for the majority of kids who had come through up until 2017.
This still holds true for many of our current academy kids. Many of our current better juniors come from families that have been involved in the QAFL for generations, have parents that coach at QAFL clubs etc. this has been mentioned quite recently on our board, in recent academy discussions, especially seeing as one of those posters is the father of one the kids, and his coach.
As I’ve mentioned before, sometimes your take on my club is waaaay off base, and comes across as an opposition supporter who takes every opportunity to have a dig at my club.
Do a forum search for Dolphins on both team boards, and take out the recent discussion on our board that Dan Rich is providing kicking coaching to the Redcliffe Dolphins, and the Dolphins get mentioned more on here than our board.
And Frankston Dolphins get mentioned more than the Redcliffe ones.
And Frankston Dolphins get mentioned more than the Redcliffe ones.
What you're saying just isn't true. The Lions were involved in the $13 million AFL precinct creation at Burpengary and committed to playing AFL preseason matches as well as AFLW games there. I think they also played some NEAFL games there too. It's not like this was a short venture that happened 10 years ago and hasn't been seen since - your AFLW team was playing there as recently as October last year! Here is a link on your club's website with your own General Manager talking about how important they think it is to give back to the Moreton Bay and how they were appreciative to have the support of the local council up there:
And here is another article that shows your club was genuinely considering setting up its training and admin base in Brendale (instead of Springfield), which also happens to be in Moreton Bay:
Sure but that doesn't mean they'll stick with footy if someone else with a strong local presence comes knocking at their door with a seemingly more attractive offer. Look at Darren Lockyer for example - his old man played Aussie rules for Morningside and Darren seemed destined for the same sport when he was a standout junior playing for Springwood but he ended up becoming one of the greatest rugby league players of all time instead. So you can't just say because a junior comes from a footy family it guarantees they'll stick to the sport. Callum Mills is another example of a kid from Sydney who also came from a footy family but quit in primary school because all his friends were playing rugby union and he wanted to play with them.
Luckily for the Swans, Mills got coaxed back into footy by his neighbour but for every Callum Mills that finds his way back to footy/sticks to it in NSW/QLD there's probably 20 Tom Trbojevics who most likely would have made the AFL if they stuck to it but get seduced by a different sport for whatever reason. We've seen it in our academy with the likes of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow (now with the Dolphins) and Tamuri Wigness (now with the Brisbane Bullets) choosing other sports instead of remaining in our academy. But you can't deny how much a difference a local presence can make for these juniors when they are deciding which sport to pursue and the Dolphins are most certainly going into the northern Brisbane/Moreton Bay/Sunshine Coast regions with established and well resourced local programs.
I just used Hipwood and Payne as examples because I know they are from the Sunny Coast but what you're suggesting isn't really a factor anyway because a lot of these kids are going to make these decisions around the 12-14 mark and you would have no way of knowing that a guy like Hipwood's body would turn out that way. And even if it was a factor I would point you to Josh Hall's who had a similar body to Hipwood (197cm 87kg) and he converted to rugby league when he played a season with Penrith's NSWRL team without any concerns so it's probably not as much of a factor as you think.
I'm not denying that the majority of the successful northern academy graduates come from footballing families originally from a southern state, but I am pointing out that more competition in your academy zone means you are less likely to attract/retain the best athletes. Just think of the Ponga sweepstakes but add in another rugby league club chasing his signature on top of the Broncos, Cowboys and Storm. You can throw the Reds in there for good measure too.
If you don't think the Dolphins are going to have scouts showing up to U12 Aussie rules representative games in the Brisbane/Moreton Bay/Sunshine Coast region with the intention of luring the talented ones into their own academy then you're kidding yourself.
Just going to reply to your last paragraph because the rest is again, ott.
I never suggested anything of the sort. I didn’t even address it, or allude to it. So no one is kidding anything.
I did say our academy does sfa in terms of growing the game.
I have bolded it, because that was the key point of my first post, that addressed your post.
If you really want to read what those involved in QAFL clubs think of the Lions academy, head over to the QLD AFL page, and read through any of the season threads.
It’s pretty sad reading for a Lions fan.
As for Moreton Bay, what part of “we didn’t have a training base” do you not understand?
We were a club with a “no fixed address” training base.
Of course we were happy to take handouts and government funding for anything, that got us anything. What ever agreements we had to sign off on were just part and parcel of the funding.
It didn’t mean we were committed to growing the game anywhere.
There was a lot of b!tching and moaning from supporters about Moreton Bay, just like there has been a lot (torrents) of b!tching and moaning about Springfield.
Ideally the club wanted something in Brisbane. We couldn’t get it.
Look at all the positive media there is from the club about Springfield. All the positive spin, and all the “this is best we could get, isn’t it great” talk.
Yet there’s always been inside word that the playing group hate the travel, and hated the idea of the travel. And that’s extended to staff, if word is to be believed.
Maybe it’s gone over your head here, but I’m not defending my club here.
All I am saying is my club does the bare minimum, especially where the academy is concerned, because we don’t have the $$$.
We don’t do anywhere near the amount of work that GC does in terms of the academy growing the game.
Again, go and ask those on QAFL board. The vast majority of posters there are actively involved in the clubs, and have strong opinions on the Lions and our academy.
I'll get back to your original post later but you realise that article was written by the Courier Mail's Andrew Hamilton? That means he would have written it for the Courier Mail and the paper in Adelaide would have been able to publish it as well because they all fall under the same umbrella.
Completely forgot to respond to this but the Dolphins won again and are now on the top of the NRL ladder. Underestimate them at your own peril.
Just going to reply to your last paragraph because the rest is again, ott.
I never suggested anything of the sort. I didn’t even address it, or allude to it. So no one is kidding anything.
I did say our academy does sfa in terms of growing the game.
I have bolded it, because that was the key point of my first post, that addressed your post.
If you really want to read what those involved in QAFL clubs think of the Lions academy, head over to the QLD AFL page, and read through any of the season threads.
It’s pretty sad reading for a Lions fan.
As for Moreton Bay, what part of “we didn’t have a training base” do you not understand?
We were a club with a “no fixed address” training base.
Of course we were happy to take handouts and government funding for anything, that got us anything. What ever agreements we had to sign off on were just part and parcel of the funding.
It didn’t mean we were committed to growing the game anywhere.
There was a lot of b!tching and moaning from supporters about Moreton Bay, just like there has been a lot (torrents) of b!tching and moaning about Springfield.
Ideally the club wanted something in Brisbane. We couldn’t get it.
Look at all the positive media there is from the club about Springfield. All the positive spin, and all the “this is best we could get, isn’t it great” talk.
Yet there’s always been inside word that the playing group hate the travel, and hated the idea of the travel. And that’s extended to staff, if word is to be believed.
Maybe it’s gone over your head here, but I’m not defending my club here.
All I am saying is my club does the bare minimum, especially where the academy is concerned, because we don’t have the $$$.
We don’t do anywhere near the amount of work that GC does in terms of the academy growing the game.
Again, go and ask those on QAFL board. The vast majority of posters there are actively involved in the clubs, and have strong opinions on the Lions and our academy.
I’ve no idea what the club thinks about league, and it’s certainly not a sport I give any thought to.
My guess is we put the minimal amount of effort and money in to our academy, just in case someone does come through our zone, so we can get priority access to them.
The one area we have put some effort in to, is developing the game in the AIC schools. (Don’t know if there are any AIC schools down the coast).
Maybe this is where we see the future of our recruiting locally. Especially as league isn’t played in the private school system. Apparently 1800 boys played afl this year at AIC schools.
Otherwise we appear to be happy going to the draft, and trading in best 22 players.
I do admire what the Suns academy has achieved, and the kids they have coming through. Should hold you in good stead when Tassie come in and compromise 2 or 3 drafts.
No Gold Coast schools in the AIC. That's essentially the second tier Catholic inter-school competition full of Brisbane schools and one based in Ipswich. We do however have a private school in the more prestigious and historic GPS competition and TSS does quite well in the rugby union and cricket GPS competitions but fortunately for our sport, just having one GPS school based on the GC means rugby union doesn't rule the sporting landscape the way it does at the school level in Brisbane. We have our own APS competition of elite private schools who do compete in an AFL competition each year and the Grand Final is held at Heritage Bank Stadium each year. All Saints is the front runner in that competition and they've produced some serious AFL talent like Nick Riewoldt and Kurt Tippett. Even Taylor Smith is a product of Coomera from that competition.
We also have another inter-school competition with the public schools which is probably the strongest of them all and is often headlined by state champions PBC and Helensvale, but we're starting to see the emergence of other public schools in Varsity, Southport and Miami. Overall, Aussie rules at the school level is in a pretty good position on the Gold Coast and I'd say the one thing we need to work on is lifting TSS's ban on playing our sport so they can also become a feeder school for us.
As you pointed out, the situation in Brisbane is very different. The best junior athletes in Brisbane are very likely to receive a scholarship to attend one of the seven prestigious GPS private schools and go down the rugby or cricket pathway, or basketball in more recent years. We saw that with Karmichael Hunt when Churchie gave him a scholarship to play union for them, despite only playing rugby league beforehand. That's nowhere near as much of a concern for us because it's just one school and TSS can only hand out so many scholarships when compared to the seven private schools that run the game in Brisbane.
We seem to have strong synergy between the QAFL clubs and public school levels with PBC having their own club and adjacent school with an excellence program as well as Helensvale High's excellence program which often often takes in players from the Labrador Tigers. There are many AFL players who have gone through those two pathways like Dayne Beams, Sam Gilbert, Rory Thompson, Connor Budarick etc. The Surfers Paradise Demons do seem to have a good relationship with the adjacent Benowa High and we've seen a few players come through that pathway like Dayne Zorko and Daniel Merrett but I'm of the belief that Benowa should take footy more seriously and become one of the heavyweights at the state level like PBC and Helensvale. Probably the most disappointing is the Broadbeach Cats and the adjacent Merrimac High because Broady has been very strong in the QAFL lately but Merrimac doesn't seem to be doing very well at the school level. Maybe that will change soon - we can only hope.
It feels like everything is in place for us to consistently churn out high level academy talent but obviously that also comes down to how much money we as a club dedicate to it. I know we committed more to our academy pathway a few years back and it looks like we're about to reap the rewards this year and next so hopefully this is the start of something good. Fingers crossed.
Anyone else frustrated to see North and the Saints play with the passion and structure that we can’t seem to muster even with a vastly superior list. Much to be said for a coach that backs what players bring rather than lists all their faults
If we don't start playing with the same urgency soon, both North and St Kilda will smash us.
We had the option of three tried and tested coaches that all have exceptional credentials (Clarko, Lyon and Brad Scott) and were all on the market at the same time and we decided to renew the contract of a guy who’s coaching record sits at 29 - 75.
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KaySwizzle
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It’s a big assumption to think that any of them wanted to come to the Gold Coast.
Lyon loves the media. Scott just came off a big job in Melbourne. Clarko may want to be involved in anything Tasmanian when that opportunity arises, and as such the Gold Coast Suns run contrary to that in both location and as an AFL expansion club which “robbed” Tasmania of a licence.
By the same token, top players are available every year. Don’t see them coming up to our sunny clime either.
I think it was fairly well spoken in the media that the AFL would have helped get Clarko across the line if we'd wanted him.
Lyon wanted to coach again, and he was willing to leave Melbourne for Perth previously so I cant imagine the Gold Coast would be different.
Brad Scott played for almost 10 years up in Queensland you can almost be assured he has roots up here.
its not even in the same ballpark as coaxing players. They were three options that all wanted to coach again that were all gettable and we stuck with the guy who in 5 years at the helm hasn't provided ANY success.
I get we're only 1 game into the season but it feels like another horrendous Gold Coast mistake again.
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Bailey Humphrey paying $81 for the rising star atm
KaySwizzle
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Has some very media loved competition is Sheezel and Ashcroft.
Am a big fan of his though. High impact player!
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Sheezel, Ashcroft, Owens clear.
My choice is Owens but doesn't have the fan base to hype it up enough
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Owens is an out and out star. Love watching that kid play
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He can do it all, sad that Alex Davies is the same size but doesn't have half the talent and desire
