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.

[dejavoodoo44]

Hopefully this latest talk, is a few journalists repeating the position of some of the more loudly disgruntled clubs, rather than any firm commitments from the AFL. While I know that the AFL can do plenty of stupid @@@@, after being urged to do so by self-interested Victorian clubs, I doubt if the AFL executive, with people like Harley and Swann, will introduce policies that will totally destroy the academies. With their experience in Sydney and Brisbane, there's a fair chance that they realise how important the academies are for the development of players in NSW and Queensland. And just maybe common sense will prevail.

[dejavoodoo44]

And on actual football, here's the Rookie Me scouting notes for the game.
Scouting Notes: 2026 Summer Series - Swans Academy vs. AFL Sydney U22 - Aussie Rules Rookie Me Central https://share.google/sMXJpzK2gEzkzNpLY

[dejavoodoo44]

There's three academy games against the Giants at Blacktown today. The first is an U16 game that starts at 11am.

Instagram https://share.google/2d1taJJLeYkDrUBvf

Looks like all three are on YouTube through Sportscast Australia.

[dejavoodoo44]

The U17 game is at 1pm.

Instagram https://share.google/zVvccLU4nqa0hV55P

And the top end game is at 3pm.

Instagram https://share.google/zZHd8auZjR5K4tBIq

Looks like we're missing Will Jenkin this week, but our form in the Summer Series has been a fair bit better than the Giants, so we should get a win.

[dejavoodoo44]

In the U16 game, we're behind 27-51 at half time. Generally GWS have been a bit better at putting the ball to the advantage of their forwards. They're also winning a fair few clearances, due to taps to advantage from a big lump of a ruckman.

I haven't seen most of the players before, but Dametto and Titmuss seem to be useful mids, while Trickey looks like a key forward with a bit of pace and ability. The only player I recall seeing before is Micheletti, who played as an underager in the last U16 championship, and was the tiniest player I've seen run out for the academy. He's still tiny, but he does have some skills.

[dejavoodoo44]

Ended up a convincing 78-38 win to GWS. Generally they gave the impression that they're more physically developed country kids, who perhaps have been playing the game just a little bit longer.

[dejavoodoo44]

In front 33-7 at quarter time. Hard to know who's having a good game, as whoever was doing the camera work, seemed unaware that you could zoom in to make identification easier. Clifton kicked a nice goal grabbing it out of the ruck. Underager Macri has been looking sharp up forward. Smith and Blackwell-Smith both seem to be going well in midfield.

[dejavoodoo44]

We're now in front 53-14. Our pressure has been much better than theirs. Clifton got another goal, after taking a strong mark on the lead and converting from 50. Griffiths got one after some strong work from Blackwell-Smith, who spoilt, roved and then hit the target at pace. Probably won't watch the second half, as the camera work is annoyingly mediocre and for much of the time I'm not sure who's who.