Academy games 2026.

[dejavoodoo44]

Ended up an impressive 89-17 win to the lads. Top scorer with three goals was Isaac Luke, and he probably had a few assists with some slick handballs in traffic. One of his goals was an excellent snap from about 30 metres out, running towards the boundary to escape his pursuers. His pursuit of his opponents was also very good and he got another from a HTB free. Starting to resemble Rosas.

Guy Jenkin got a couple goals, playing mainly half forward flank. They might have decided to make it easier for observers, because Will Jenkin was playing mainly behind the ball. Although Guy may have been a bit underdone, as he was subbed off at around three quarter time. Anyway, Guy was very handy up forward and Will was even better as a rebounder. He had a hand in a lot of incisive ball movement.

Speaking of rebounding, McGroder had probably the best game that I've seen him play. It's very enjoyable watching him decide to take off from defence, with the aim running as far as he can through the midfield. With his speed, he's very hard to catch and a couple of those forays ended up as goals. They seem to have decided that half back is his position and that seems to be paying dividends, as he appears to be reading the ball better. Although he can still go flying past the ball at pace. His kicking was good today, as well.

All our defence was good today. Morahan dispatched pretty well everything that came his way, although I think he's overage. And while Beavis probably didn't get many touches, his opponents got less. There was also some nice rebounding from Medved. I hadn't seen him before, but he looks very speedy, with some nice skills.

Another player who I hadn't seen before, but who also had a good game, is Patrick Smith. Looks like a combative, big bodied mid, who might improve as the season goes on. Blackwell-Smith was probably our best midfielder today. Got plenty of contested possessions and also ran hard between the arcs to make himself an option. Meyrick, Meaney and Mok also did plenty of good things. Ruckman Clifton also did well, but wasn't dominant like the previous week. While in the forward line, Pignatelli, Delaney-Fielding and Griffiths presented well.

And while I've been mentioning individuals, the team defence was generally very good. AFL Sydney often had a hard time getting the ball out of defence, and when they did, getting clean ball through the midfield was even more of a challenge. While from the second quarter onwards, our ball movement was often very good. Lots of guys running with purpose, lots of good options being taken and plenty of targets being hit. The sort of performance that has me looking forward to our next match against the Giants.

[imuninformedtwo]

And here we go. The fools who run the VFL are going to remove the discount and limit clubs' ability to bid on players by tightening the number of picks they can use.

Why the hell the Swans would continue to bother investing in the Academy is beyond me.

But the bit of this I've never understood is how Academy players - which are the consequence of a multi-million dollar a year investment in developing the talent pool, which is now seeing players go to clubs beyond their home state - are treated the same as someone whose mum and dad had a root years back, and dad played for a club.

What a farce of a system.

https://x.com/FOXFOOTY/status/2031293726102798361?s=20

[KSAS]

With the new bidding changes for F/S & Academy players, my understanding is that you can only match round 1 bids with 2 picks. Plus the removal of the 10% discount as mentioned above.

i can live with the matching bid changes. as this eliminates entirely using a bunch of low end junk picks. But agree with uninformedtwo above, that the 10% discount should remain as there is a big difference between spending big $$$$ to develop players in non football states v free luck of the draw F/S.

Without the discount it makes it very difficult for the Northern clubs to draft multiple Academy players in a single draft. This is perhaps is what the AFL want for Academy players to become more gettable for other clubs (as with Carmichael).

The unfair comparisons goes even further, in that the Northern Academies are more likely to produce players on a yearly basis to varying draft ranges v F/S which are relatively seldom per club.

The Northern Academies are very important in ADDING players to the draft pool in an ever expanding AFLcompetition. We might be close to the tipping point for the Northern Clubs not to continue investing if they can no longer bear all the fruits of their $$$$.

No mention of the NGA's , which should be abolished as they are proven to be a complete rort. (Just ask Gerard Healy).

Edit:: Have just learned the top 4 teams will be slugged additional 30% tax to match points for 1st round bids on F/S or Academy players!!!!

Gerard Healy is rightly rubbishing this on SEN as i type. Citing Isaac Heeney wouldn't have bothered joining the Academy and been lost to Rugby League.

Predictably, all the Vic media this is fair.