Why no Indigenous recruits??

[Bleed Red Blood]

I think Nathan Krakouer at 39# is an absolute steal, I think he will be a very, very good player.

[ROK Lobster]

I'm slow, have very little skill, virtually no awareness....where do I sign??

Do you have cousins named Gary and Nathan?

[Donners]

Here are some players from the last 4 years, missed not just by the swans, by most clubs..
Cyril Rioli.......pick 12 draft
Alwyn Davey....rookie list
Arran Davey.....rookie list
Danuel Pierce....rookie list
Andrew Lovett....rookie list
Nathan Krakouer....pick 39
Eddie Betts......pre season draft
James Gwilt ...pick 63
Josh Gibson.....mature rookie
Micheal Johnson....pre season draft

Would hate to have a couple of these guys on our list.

I think you could build a pretty substantial list of non-Aboriginal players we have missed as well.

I think racial background should be irrelevant when it comes to selection - it should be about the needs of the list, playing ability and character, whether the player is black, white, or purple with green polka dots.

[ernie koala]

I think you could build a pretty substantial list of non-Aboriginal players we have missed as well.

I think racial background should be irrelevant when it comes to selection - it should be about the needs of the list, playing ability and character, whether the player is black, white, or purple with green polka dots.

You either haven't read the reasoning at the start of the thread or you've missed the point.

[Bloody Hell]

I think you could build a pretty substantial list of non-Aboriginal players we have missed as well.

I think racial background should be irrelevant when it comes to selection - it should be about the needs of the list, playing ability and character, whether the player is black, white, or purple with green polka dots.

In an ideal world perhaps - we don't live in an ideal world.

The point I was trying to make in my previous post, was I think alot of clubs see aboriginal players as too hard to develop and stay away from them, since they can pick known quantities that grew up in the suburbs.

The Swans have a good record of selecting good players at the bottom end of the draft. When was the last pick used for an aboriginal player?

[ernie koala]

Do you have cousins named Gary and Nathan?

I've been outed..

[Donners]

You either haven't read the reasoning at the start of the thread or you've missed the point.

The reasoning being that Mick and Adam wish to play a mentoring role to a young Aboriginal player. That would come at least fourth in the priorities I listed.

I understand the reasoning just fine, I'm just not sure it is worth spending a valuable pick simply to fulfil that wish. Maybe a rookie pick, but certainly not a national draft pick.

[Bloods05]

Perhaps you could identify which indigenous footballers the Swans have overlooked?

Cyril Rioli was drafted after Pat Veszpremi, I believe.

[Bloods05]

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

[AnnieH]

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.

[ernie koala]

The reasoning being that Mick and Adam wish to play a mentoring role to a young Aboriginal player. That would come at least fourth in the priorities I listed.

I understand the reasoning just fine, I'm just not sure it is worth spending a valuable pick simply to fulfil that wish. Maybe a rookie pick, but certainly not a national draft pick.

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.

[Triple B]

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

Neither is Josh Gibson

[Primmy]

I love this, I was wondering why we have had so few indig boys added to our list recently. At that post it was all a matter of "oh, yeah, hadn't thought of that". Good. This is useful discussion.

So many play league, so......well you blokes, go get us a Preston Campbell, or a Peachy, or a Blacklock please.

[ernie koala]

Neither is Josh Gibson

Noted....I'm with you on the Hannebery train, he's one recent recruit who looks really promising.

[CureTheSane]

It was interesting to read Goodesy's thoughts, bemoaning the fact we have no young indigenous players coming through, and his and Micks desire to play a mentoring role.

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.

Our recruiters have missed countless opportunities over the past 5 years (the Roos era), and time is fast running out to take advantage of having 2 fine veteran players wanting to take on this role. (Both in the Indigenous team of the century.) I for one, hope our recruiters see this as an opportunity and get out there and find some indigenous boys, with pace and skill, to put onto our rookie list at least.

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.