RWO Game Day Thread - Round 9 - June 4-5

[Pmcc2911]

I know a couple of people at the Bombers and I put some of the questions raised earlier to them and this is my interpretation of their response.

?North Shore realised like many clubs across different codes that to have a sustainable, successful senior club you need a strong successful under age team (18?s, 19?s or 21?s) feeding players into the senior team.

Like many overnight successes the plan began 5 years ago with 16 players and a new coach and relied on the goodwill of the junior clubs in allowing permit players to help out with numbers to get a team on the park.

The aim was to create an environment based on discipline, teamwork and a bit of fun and the club has not wavered from that over the years.

The last plank of the plan was put in place this year with the establishment of a Div 2 team. The aim of the Div 2 team is to enable players who otherwise would not be playing footy to have a game and to develop their footy skills.
The majority of players in the two 19?s teams are local juniors ranging from academy kids to kids who haven't played for a couple of years. They have also unearthed a couple of kids who have never played before that have some real talent.

The club does recruit amongst its junior base and this year has seen a couple kids from out of area come down looking for a game. Recruiting is all very well but unless you have the environment that the kids (and parents) like and enjoy then no amount of recruiting will keep them.

North Shore have really lifted their game in terms of engaging with the junior clubs to strengthen the relationships. They estimate each year across the junior clubs about 20-30 U/17?s never play football again after leaving juniors and they want to minimise that number. One thing is for sure with age level footy you have to constantly be developing your pathway as half of your team moves on every year.

They see St George as the model in developing and retaining young talent in the senior grades to be consistently competitive and see themselves as probably 2-3 years behind St George in that respect.

This year is probably the first year where there has been an number of ex 19?s move into the senior grades and they are contributing to the improvement in results there. Also there are a number of 19?s who regularly play seniors or reserves to help in their development, this also enables everyone in then 19?s squad to get a game each week.
They prefer the younger players (17?s and below) to play primarily with their junior club and only play 19?s games from time to time. In fact there are a couple of 19yo who they see as too big and too good for U/19's so they play seniors exclusively.
Their policy is only the bigger bodied 19yo should play seniors and would probably never play a 16yo in the seniors. I think even Callum Mills only played 1 or 2 senior games as 17 yo."

[barracuda]

Hi Pmcc2911,

Thanks for getting this clarification. North Shore have done a great job and is seeing the well earnt rewards. I thought the comments regarding the younger players in seniors was interesting, as I think the swans academy states or implies that a player worth drafting should be getting senior games at 16 or 17. Clearly Mills indicates that is not true. I am not sure if the "bigger body" policy of North Shore quite rings true. I saw Wicks and Osborne playing for Manly prems against North shore, and they are both around 180cm and probably 70kgs. They were being covered by guys like darcy baron hay at times and didn't seem to be having too many problems. I think they both kicked 2 goals each in what ended up being a comfortable win for manly.

Thanks again

[Pmcc2911]

You are probably right about the academy guys being directed to play seniors by their academy masters, although I think most don't play seniors until they are in their 18th year.
In their 17th year they typically play u/19's (probably all sorts of exceptions though).

[saviour01]

Well done to North Shore.

We are similar with the bigger bodies second year 19s for div 4 but some of the smaller guns do get a go in div 1 if they are up to it. More likely to get hit off the ball or something with the club umpires in div 4 where as div 1 is a decent standard of footy.

[mrns]

Thanks Pmcc2911, Does the GSJ or the NSW AFL analyse player registrations and transfers, to determine where the player lives relative to the target club, or to determine where academy players are moving?

If the GSJ or NSW AFL identify unusual volumes of transfers, say a large number of swans academy, or lots of players from areas outside the club area, will they intervene in the transfers on the basis of achieving a fair competition?

There is nothing wrong with recruiting in any form, if a club is not doing any, they can only blame themselves at the end of the day. Good on North Shore for dedicating volunteer hours to improve their football club. I hear they aren't just looking to secure players but improve the standards at local clubs by being involved with them on a regular basis.

[Footy Barista]

North shore are swans academy side end of story....they are putting in the effort now thanks to the damage they did about 7 years ago when they won under 18s 4 years in a row.......of those premiership teams there are probably 6 players left...I think they are doing a good job reconciling the damage they did back then, I personally think Manly gave them a wake up call by winning the flag twice with their former 18s players.....helps having a good relationship with the swans too which manly don't have due to the giants crap

[Coastal Boy]

Looking from the outside in, the criticism of the academy model centres around the fact they only care about the AFL and drafting players. They don't care where the local talent is actually playing and whether they are ripping the guts out of traditional local junior teams to play in another team because it's of a "better standard". This is all great for the AFL and possibly the player if they get drafted but not good for anyone else.