Sydney Uni + Collingwood U/18 Team

[shearer]

Cartman, i have coached at St George over the last few years and know that some guys have done both(played 18's in the morning) and then juniors in the afternoon. I did it many moons ago and the young blokes enjoy it.

I played a few guys in ressies this year who were still playing under 16's and as the saying goes, if your good enough your old enough.

As the senior club in the area we are always mindful of promoting the juniors and having a good relationship with the junior association.

[Roscoe]

Shearer - there were 4 under 16's at the St george Training session at

Kelso on Thursday night

[old man]

No but these clinics you speak of certainly wernt out at Bankstown, nor Holsworthy, nor sth Campbelltown nor Camden etc etc.

You also mention that the Uni isnt condusive to finding u17's and u18's which is true but SU is one of the more pretigious Unis in Australia and I would rank it with Melbourne Uni as probably the top two higher learning facilities in the country and as such would be a very attractive place for interstate students to study at and hence alot of the reason I suspect you are never short of players.

Whilst alleging no money changes hands which I dont care to dispute SU is in a position to offer non monetary benfits such as gym memberships, scholarships etc etc. In most work places these types of benefits would be subject to FBT and hence do have a monetary value.

I think most clubs though have a right to be concerned because we are talking about a team representing Collingwood under the guise of SU which may appear to young players as a way of attracting attention to themselves without subjecting themselves to the politics of rep football. The concern will be will every talented young kid with stars in their eyes decide to ditch their local club in favour of this new team and what damage will it do longer term to development work in local areas by local clubs?

By the way I think its a great coup and obviously alot of though and planning has gone into it to get it to the stage it is.

Yes, I appreciate that - but I don't know how SUANFC could be realistically expected to conduct junior sessions at Camden or Holsworthy, I would have thought the local clubs might be more appropriate. And I don't doubt that a lot of clubs do that - in fact, I would be surprised if East Coast, St. George etc. didn't send down senior players to help out with, say, the under 13s of the local clubs. It's part of being good football community citizens and helping to develop the game, which is something Sydney Uni takes very seriously.

I also agree with the advantages that SU does have in recruiting numbers - however, it's not just those who are first grade footballers coming to the club. For every potential senior or reserves player that falls into our laps, we have four or five guys who need to be taught how to handball which, I think, is the best aspect of our club. Watching the new players grow to love the game as much as the people who have loved it all their life is the undoubted highlight of any season recruitment wise. Again, I am sure a lot of clubs have the same experience, specifically UNSW and UTS.

As for benefits such as scholarships and gym memberships, yes, they are offered to a select few - however, that would entail no more than eight to ten university students and the dollar value is nowhere near as high as what players could get paid elsewhere. We lost a footballer last season who went on to be the B&F at his club - he was offered a contract by another club and went on to make the most of his opportunity. Good on him - he was a well liked player and nobody begrudged him moving on.

Anyway, the point is that having a team in the U18 competition has been a priority since the day the club was re-admitted into the Premier Division. Sure, it looks a little different today that what had originally been envisaged and we are grateful for that, but that doesn't detract from the outstanding work our President has done, along with the help of many others.

I can't believe what I have been reading. All Senior clubs in Sydney have Junior competitions that feed them players. All junior clubs put together an array of aged teams that they have recruited from the local area. They run clinics in a number of age categories, but mostly targeting the Auskick age. Then at age 17 they move on to their local Senior club (forget about TPP just keep it simple).
Where is the justice when a Senior club that has no input into any Junior competition can just decide to take the best from the City of Sydney and put together an U/18 team that will be so competitive it will probably take out a premiership?
As has already been stated, some boys will play Senior footy for Sydney Uni, and what happens in 5 years time when every year the 6 best juniors from Sydney all go the Sydney Uni and play Seniors. You end up with a pretty good team. Wow is this not so obvious!!!!!
What happens to the boys that were used only to "pad" out the team to get the numbers up, can they now go back home??
Sydney Uni has got a great future set out as long as we all do the right thing and attract the kids at auskick level, coach and nurture them, then hand them over at age 16 or 17.
If Collingwood want to look after these kids coach them by all means but don't make it so easy on yourself at the expense of Sydney U/18 football.
Run your own training nights and monitor the boys when they go back their Senior Clubs, get the legs working and go to a lot of football games, you might even see another potential player.
The Senior clubs would love for any player of theirs to get drafted and would bend over backwards to do the right thing by the player when it came to selection or suggested positions played.

[stellation]

Forgive me for being a bit dumb here, but there are kids playing u18 footy in Sydney that aren't listed by Collingwood aren't there?

[tara]

Forgive me for being a bit dumb here, but there are kids playing u18 footy in Sydney that aren't listed by Collingwood aren't there?

Stellation there are only a few kids listed on the scholarship scheme by the Pies. The point people are concerned about is that the more talented kids from the various regions of Sydney alledgedly received a letter inviting them to be part of the Collingwood under 18's Acadamey at Sydney Uni thus potentially creating a rep side of their own and stripping other clubs of talented players that they had spent time developing.

[ShortHalfHead]

Having heard a list of selected players, It is fairly obvious that Uni are not interested in picking their side from local feeder clubs. Seems that they have little intention of trying to include any "average" or "less than average" players in the team from their local junior clubs which will come back and kick them in the head.

Yet, the AFL three months ago assured people that the idea was dead in the water.

[The Spoiler]

Forgive me for being a bit dumb here, but there are kids playing u18 footy in Sydney that aren't listed by Collingwood aren't there?

Only at the moment........ Look at their Rugby model and all will be revealed!

[tara]

Are you suggesting tara that it is wrong for blokes to want to play at the highest level they can?

Seems a little different to the topic of this thread.

As I said no Im not but hey would it surprise you to know that Sydney Uni's under 18's are in the Challenge Cup and not Premier Div? Debunks all the myths I suppose.

[Roscoe]

Agree 100% colesy - why the 2nd tier comp for 18's instead of the best

Why not instead revert to a redbacks type format where say all 16 AFL clubs nominate 2 players who are 16/17 tp play in the premier competition rather than just Collingwood playing in the 2nd tier competition ??? Lets discuss !!

[tara]

Agree 100% colesy - why the 2nd tier comp for 18's instead of the best

Why not instead revert to a redbacks type format where say all 16 AFL clubs nominate 2 players who are 16/17 tp play in the premier competition rather than just Collingwood playing in the 2nd tier competition ??? Lets discuss !!

Roscoe you probably would have heard already some of the alledged promises made to your two boys now training at SU. Surely they will now be somewhat bemused knowing that they could have stayed home with their mates and played challenge cup or Prem Div at the Dragons.

Student I could understand the reasons I was told for you playing three teams in 2nd Div in 07 and then two in 2008. You didnt have the resources to make a real go in first Div despite having an abundance of numbers - fair enough. Whats the excuse this time?

[tara]

Pace you must be happy to see you 18's dropping in standard?

[Pace To Burn]

Agree 100% colesy - why the 2nd tier comp for 18's instead of the best

Why not instead revert to a redbacks type format where say all 16 AFL clubs nominate 2 players who are 16/17 tp play in the premier competition rather than just Collingwood playing in the 2nd tier competition ??? Lets discuss !!

For the same reason, they would win the comp most years or at least smash most of the sides and def stop one club making the finals. I still havent seen any real suggestions as to why these talented kids need to be in one side. Surely it is better for all clubs to have the talent at there disposal,as i said earlier some of these kids have already played fist grade this year (three at our club) and uni will surely put them into their ones which negates the whole arguement of them playing in a controlled enviro etc etc. As has been said by others all clubs would be happy to play kids in positions that will help them in their development and im sure could even tape games to provide collingwood with footage to see how the kids are going. This whole thing just seems like it is solely to make it easier for Rod Carter to do his job and for uni to strengthen their ranks. Ya cant blame them, but its still a very bad idea.

[Pace To Burn]

Pace you must be happy to see you 18's dropping in standard?

See above. We will lose three first graders if this goes ahead. One that is an absolute gun who played his first game this year at 16 at CHB and was BOG and also was BOG against the Minor Prems playing on an Ex AFL player.

[Henry]

See above. We will lose three first graders if this goes ahead. One that is an absolute gun who played his first game this year at 16 at CHB and was BOG and also was BOG against the Minor Prems playing on an Ex AFL player.

Not sure what pressure, if any, the Collingwood Academy is putting on the boys to align with SU in 09. They've still got to submit a clearance to leave their current club and you may find many decide to stay where they are and play Prem Cup instead of Challenge Cup.

[YoungKanga]

looks like just another reason to hate the pies....