NSW players and the rookie list

[Robbo]

What's with all the NSW based players being added to the rookie list each year? I appreciate that it's good for the game in Sydney to have local boys on an AFL list but IMO if we dropped the obsession with drafting players from NSW our rookie list would probably be stronger.

I have only seen blokes like Beckmans and Terlich play one game of footy, but from what I saw from them that day, there are about 15 blokes in the WAFL alone who are under the age of 20 who would be more worthy of a spot on our rookie list.

[Triple B]

I have only seen blokes like Beckmans and Terlich play one game of footy......

Well, that should make u an expert on their pros and cons then.

[hammo]

I think we get to have a larger rookie list because we can list more NSW players.

But yes, generally NSW kids don't have the skills or ability as teenagers brought up with the game in other states.

[satchmopugdog]

Yep..both the Lions and us get more rookies as long as they come from eachdeveloping market state

[liz]

What's with all the NSW based players being added to the rookie list each year? I appreciate that it's good for the game in Sydney to have local boys on an AFL list but IMO if we dropped the obsession with drafting players from NSW our rookie list would probably be stronger.

I have only seen blokes like Beckmans and Terlich play one game of footy, but from what I saw from them that day, there are about 15 blokes in the WAFL alone who are under the age of 20 who would be more worthy of a spot on our rookie list.

The Swans are allowed three extra rookies over other clubs (other than Brisbane, who get the same deal) but these have to be used on NSW boys. So suggesting we shouldn't focus on NSW lads totally misses the point.

And making up your mind based on one game is ridiculous anyway, as BBB has suggested. It's unlikely you'd have thought much of the senior prospects of Barlow or Jack (technically not a "local" rookie, even though he was a local lad) even if you'd seen all of their games in the first half of their first rookie seasons. Smith looked pretty innocuous for the first half of last year before showing massive improvement in the second half of the year. (Not a local rookie at all, but still demonstrates the danger of making up your mind too quickly.)

The whole idea behind this quota of three additional players is that it gives opportunities to players who haven't had the advantages of the intense TAC Cup system or playing in the strong local SANFL and WAFL, and therefore won't be as well advanced as their counterparts from other states.

[satchmopugdog]

That's what I was trying to say.

[CJK]

The Swans are allowed three extra rookies over other clubs (other than Brisbane, who get the same deal) but these have to be used on NSW boys.

This

[floppinab]

Any advantage we might've had by getting priority access to locals and then wharehouse them on the Rookie list has been made pretty much redundant since the introduction of the Scholarship Scheme. Any player with a ice cubes chance in hell of making it into a Best 22 will be snapped up by this scheme.

It does allow us to give our Scholarship holders a longer chance to make it by having extra room on the Rookie list but that's about it.

[liz]

Any advantage we might've had by getting priority access to locals and then wharehouse them on the Rookie list has been made pretty much redundant since the introduction of the Scholarship Scheme. Any player with a ice cubes chance in hell of making it into a Best 22 will be snapped up by this scheme.

It does allow us to give our Scholarship holders a longer chance to make it by having extra room on the Rookie list but that's about it.

That's only half true. Certain areas of the state are carved out of the scholarship scheme - primarily those around the Riverina where there has always been a strong football presence. The ACT area is also excluded. Barlow, Bruce, Terlich, Rowe all come from areas where they wouldn't have been eligible for a scholarship (although this year the area's been slightly extended and Barlow possibly would be, apart from his going to school in Melbourne).

I think 4 rookies were taken by other clubs this year from the scholarship scheme. So yes, that is 4 potential rookies that weren't available to us. Walker and Bird would almost certainly have been drafted anyway, were it not for their scholarship status.

The overall aim, though, is to give more opportunities to local lads from non-traditional areas. It's not to give the Swans or Lions an advantage, even though that might be a small by-product. Brisbane have probably benefitted slightly more with the number of senior players they have found from local rookies. At the moment, the Swans' count is Barlow and maybe Bevan (can't quite recall when the scheme came in and whether Bevan was taken under it or was just a "normal" rookie).

[Robbo]

The weagles got a kid from NSW in the last draft. He looks like being an absolute star.

[liz]

Ryan Davis- he was a scholarship player.

Apparently the Swans came close to rookie-ing his older brother, Dean, a few years back after he won the rising star award in the SFL. But he ruptured his ACL in the weeks leading up to the rookie draft and so didn't get his chance.