How exactly did we not get Ryan Davis?

[Robbo]

Facts are Robbo that trying to pick talent at 17 years of age is hard, at 14 or 15 it's nigh on impossible

I agree it's very hard. So how does a club on the other side of the country do it?

I think we've been caught napping here. They've stolen him from under our noses. We've loaded our rookie list with 2 or 3 NSW no hopers while one of the very few NSW kids who will probably make it has been pinched by a club in Perth.

[premiers05]

I agree it's very hard. So how does a club on the other side of the country do it?

I think we've been caught napping here. They've stolen him from under our noses. We've loaded our rookie list with 2 or 3 NSW no hopers while one of the very few NSW kids who will probably make it has been pinched by a club in Perth.

Other clubs are here often looking at local talent. This weekend Essendon are inviting talented young players to a try out day with a view to a scholarship. As far as I know the swans rely on falling over the talent rather than an active recruitment program.

I am not from Victoria so how do youngsters there or in SA or WA get recruited? Do they just rely on feeding up to the draft or is there a program of talent development.

[liz]

I agree it's very hard. So how does a club on the other side of the country do it?

I think we've been caught napping here. They've stolen him from under our noses. We've loaded our rookie list with 2 or 3 NSW no hopers while one of the very few NSW kids who will probably make it has been pinched by a club in Perth.

Hang on. So one player was punted on by one out of 15 other clubs at age 15, so far has one league game to his name, and the Swans have been caught napping? The law of averages says that a handful of the players who graduate through the scholarship programme will become handy AFL players. Some may even become very good AFL players. But the way the scheme operates, it is simply not possible for the Swans to monopolise the local talent. There is a limit to the number who can be signed each year, for a start. And then there are 15 other clubs offering the sky to these kids. They are not all going to want to choose Sydney over other clubs.

Maybe you should wait and see how Ryan B-N, Matthew May and other Swans scholarship holders current and future turn out before making any judgements. Not to mention the fact that you're conveniently "forgetting" Craig Bird.

I hope to goodness we're not going to have metaphorical wrist slitting every time a NSW boy plays a game with another club. We should just wish them well and hope as many as possible go onto have good AFL careers and enjoy the fact that our local area is starting to produce a trickle of decent talent. We do not have exclusive first dibs on that talent any more than the WA clubs had access to players like Franklin, Gumbleton or Myers. Or for that matter, any more than the Victorian clubs had access to Malceski, Veszpremi or Moore.

[Triple B]

We should be rejoicing.

Finally WE may be the beneficiaries in the 'want to go home' syndrome.

Other clubs develop them and after a few years, some may want to return home. Never been in the position before, so it can only be good.

[DST]

As far as I know the swans rely on falling over the talent rather than an active recruitment program.

I am not from Victoria so how do youngsters there or in SA or WA get recruited? Do they just rely on feeding up to the draft or is there a program of talent development.

That is total cr@p, we have the same recruiting structure as any other club.

Stuart Maxfield (who I spoke to a couple of weeks ago about this) has spent many months within the scholarship area ans has just recently signed two further 14/15 year olds that he had assessed as potential future players.

We do as much or even more with talent indentification witin NSW as any other team, but we are not going to be able to see everyone or claim them.

If anything the issue will be if we pass on a number of kids who turn out to be senior footballers with other clubs. If that happens we should be worried that our recruiting program is not identifying the correct kids. But this is 5 years away before we will know the results.

DST

[swansrock4eva]

I agree it's very hard. So how does a club on the other side of the country do it?

I think we've been caught napping here. They've stolen him from under our noses. We've loaded our rookie list with 2 or 3 NSW no hopers while one of the very few NSW kids who will probably make it has been pinched by a club in Perth.

Liz has hit the nail on the head with her response. You also must remember there are hundreds of kids out there who fall within the age, location and schooling boundaries set out within the scholarship program criteria. It is very very possible that the Swans signed one of the kids they have signed in preference to Davis because they saw something more in the other kid than they saw in Davis, and saw it as something that could fit in with their future plans - this is exactly the same process that comes into play when drafting kids in November. Every club is looking for something specific out of their picks and that something isn't necessarily the same thing as every other club once picks 1-3 are out of the way.
Also, just because Davis has seemed to start to come up goods for one club, doesn't mean he'd have worked out at any of the other 15 clubs (including Sydney) had they signed him instead.

Good on Ryan and West Coast for their success so far, but I wouldn't be criticising the club for having "missed" out on one kid. If you're going to do that you also need to do it every time a kid we could have taken in the draft but didn't makes his mark on the AFL.