Why no Indigenous recruits??

[Bloody Hell]

Let them mentor a white player.
Or an Asian player, or whatever.
Kind of implies a sense of racism in only wishing to mentor a player with the same skin colour.

It's for the same reason Inuit Eskimos don't raise their children to be Bushmen of the Kalahari.

Nowhere is it stated that they want to mentor Aboriginal boys only.

[annew]

I believe that the players selected have to go through intense interviewing to identify whether they would be able to adapt to Sydney (the city not the club), so it does not just come down to their skill level. I am sure our recruiters are able to identify from this which players they would be better drafting. I believe that Sydney is a daunting prospect for any young players and let's face it Sydney itself do not have many great AFL draftees let alone indigenous draftees and therefore we are not able to entice the draftees we may want. It is a myth in my opinion that all the young hopefuls would be happy to just be given a chance - as is obvious when you read the book The Draft. When I read this book I felt that Cyril Rioli wanted to stay within Melbourne as that was where he was based at the time - only my opinion but I am sure it has some merit.

[ernie koala]

Let them mentor a white player.
Or an Asian player, or whatever.
Kind of implies a sense of racism in only wishing to mentor a player with the same skin colour.



I've read the whole thread, and all the reasoning's behind your point.
The point of fact is that the club will select what they consider to be the best possible player left to be selected when the club's pick is up.
That is exactly what the supporter of the club expect.
Your implication is that a less skilled Aboriginal player should be selected over another player simply because he is Aboriginal and therefore has some sort of skill advantage over white players.

Racism...give it a break. If you can't see the benefit for a young Indigenous player to be guided and mentored by one of his own, then you don't understand the obvious deep connection that Indigenous people of this country feel for eachother. In fact I've just been listening to Leon Davis on SEN talking about the importance of having support from other indigenous players.
Secondly, I never implied that a less skilled Aboriginee be selected over others . If your going to make these ridiculous statements, read what was said in the earlier posts, and at least be accurate.

[Jewels]

Secondly, I never implied that a less skilled Aboriginee be selected over others . If your going to make these ridiculous statements, read what was said in the earlier posts, and at least be accurate.

Sorry, as I read it, that is exactly what you implied.

It is a myth in my opinion that all the young hopefuls would be happy to just be given a chance - as is obvious when you read the book The Draft. When I read this book I felt that Cyril Rioli wanted to stay within Melbourne as that was where he was based at the time - only my opinion but I am sure it has some merit.

I was going to post the exact same thing. I also got that feeling about Rioli after reading "The Draft".

[ernie koala]

Sorry, as I read it, that is exactly what you implied.

I don't get this...Please, quote me where I have implied that a less skillful Aboriginee be selected over others... I simply haven't. What I have said, is that our recruiters should take a punt on some Indigenous kids, just like they do with others. If I am impling anything, it is that our recruiters appear to take a conservative approach towards recruiting Indigenous players, and therefore recruit less skilled white kids over Indigenous kids. (The opposite to what you say I'm impling )There are many possible reasons for this approach. One may well be because of the challenges of relocating and settling Indigenous players are greater than for others. Which is what this debate was originally about. ie Using the fantastic resource of two Indigenous team of the century players, who wish to mentor and guide some young Indigenous players. Surely if you read my earlier posts, it is clear this is what I'm talking about.

[ROK Lobster]

Gwilt is not Aboriginal. I don't think Nahas is either.

But they are both indigenous to somewhere.

[Nico]

Maybe the swans scouts should go up north and pick up some untapped talent from Darwin. The AFL is stoopid for picking the Blacktown Bogans over a team from Darwin. They don't even have to physically go ... they can watch games on NITV.

With Goodesy and MickyO doing some mentoring (while they still can) ... who knows what sort of star will emerge in the future.

If they're putting their hands up ... the club should do something.

Maybe by saying what they said they are telegraphing the clubs intentions.

Also it doesn't mean they have to be playing to mentor a player.

[undy]

Maybe by saying what they said they are telegraphing the clubs intentions.

Also it doesn't mean they have to be playing to mentor a player.

Bingo - exactly what I was thinking.

I love the x-factor that MOL, Goodes and some of the other indigenous players bring to the game. I'm not sure that a premiership winning team needs some x-factor if they are sufficiently classy in the regular skills department but it makes a game much more enjoyable to watch.

I have noticed a lot more evasion tricks this year from LRT, Mattner and others. Better fakes or exploiting the momentum of the opposition to get past them - maybe MOL has opened up his box of tricks a little already.

[CureTheSane]

Sorry, as I read it, that is exactly what you implied.

Me too.

What I have said, is that our recruiters should take a punt on some Indigenous kids, just like they do with others.

See the words "take a punt" indicate that you advocate taking a risk.
Drafting the most suitable and desirable player when the selection comes up is not risky, it is simply picking who they see as the best player available.
You want them to select another player, and indigenous player, rather then the best player available at the selection time.
This is clearly a player which the club would rate is inferior to the clubs requirements.

For the record, I couldn't really give a toss if the club decided to recruit an indigenous player for the sake of his purported skill set.
As we all know, it's one big lottery in the end.
The first picks sometimes go crap and the later picks sometimes star.
Just don't think it will happen.

[CureTheSane]

Racism...give it a break. If you can't see the benefit for a young Indigenous player to be guided and mentored by one of his own, then you don't understand the obvious deep connection that Indigenous people of this country feel for eachother.

Firstly, you are right.
I cannot understand the deep connection that indigenous people feel for each other.
Partly because I am not one, and partly because the government couldn't be bothered caring enough to educate me and our youth etc adequately.
If a while player were to come out and say that he wished to mentor only a white player, he would be hung drawn and quartered.
As stated previously though, I misquoted when saying that the two in question only wanted to mentor an indigenous player.

[reigning premier]

The other reasons I wrote were to do with the swans need for players with speed, skill and awareness, which an extremely high percentage of indigenous players possess as their skill set. And the fact that our drafting history over the last 5 years has produced very few players with this skill set. So assuming the draft is a punt, why not have a punt on some indigenous kids who may help balance our disiplined, hardnosed, conservative style with some more pace, skill and unpredictability. Having said that, having Mick and Goodsey to mentor is a very important resource in making such punts more likely to succeed.

Sounds like a typical stereo-typing racist comment to me.

[ROK Lobster]

I got a slap on the wrist for starting a thread like this once. I think the "R" word was used then. Apparently I implied that the Swans recruitment strategy has been racist - that hard work over talent may have excluded blackfellas from getting a look in, based on prejudice and the notion that an Aboriginal wont give it 100%.

[reigning premier]

I got a slap on the wrist for starting a thread like this once. I think the "R" word was used then. Apparently I implied that the Swans recruitment strategy has been racist - that hard work over talent may have excluded blackfellas from getting a look in, based on prejudice and the notion that an Aboriginal wont give it 100%.

"ROK Lobster" was the R word?

As in "ROK... You tool"....

[ROK Lobster]

"ROK Lobster" was the R word?

As in "ROK... You tool"....

Perhaps the R word is Report - for personal abuse. Expect a holiday RP!

[ernie koala]

See the words "take a punt" indicate that you advocate taking a risk.
Drafting the most suitable and desirable player when the selection comes up is not risky, it is simply picking who they see as the best player available.

As we all know, it's one big lottery in the end.
The first picks sometimes go crap and the later picks sometimes star.

You just don't get it, or don't want to get it. Yes I do advocate taking a risk, as you say yourself, "it's a big lottery". Whether a player is white, yellow, brown, green or black makes no difference, it's still a punt. ie The recruiters obviously don't know which players are going to be successful, if they did we'd have a team of champions with no duds. So why not take a punt on a few fast and skillful Indigenous boys to add to the mix?..Particually when we have two of the very best Indigenous players to of played AFL on our list, who are keen to help them.