Roos officially announced as Melbourne Demons

[ugg]

What is to stop other coaches from other opposition teams from poaching players from the Swans academy?

Academy players go through a bidding system similar to the father-son picks. It's different for Perris though because he is also a NSW scholarship holder and we could have placed him on the rookie list if we wanted to.

[wolftone57]

I don't know the ins and outs on how the academy operates, but you can't blame Paul Roos for using his contacts, expertise and experience to succeed in his new roll.

The Swans made the decision to marginalise Roos, by cutting his salary by 55%. The Swans Board are full of savy business operatives who know that people use their contacts, experience and expertise when they leave a firm!

This is simply business!

Get it right Matt, the AFL cut funding to the academy. That is why the Director and all the staff have had to have their salaries cut. The function of the academy is to develop NSW footballers to play in NSW so the Swans are not relying upon Victorian, SA & WA youth to top up their numbers all the time. In the long term it is envisaged these players would play at a variety of clubs but initially while the numbers are still small and development new it was hoped ready made footballers from the academy would swell the Swans ranks. The idea was to make NSW & Qld more self sufficient and not so reliant on the more traditional Aussie Rules states. What Roos is doing is diluting this pool and opening the academy up for plunder from any AFL club. This is tantamount to treason for an ex-director, very underhanded because he has inside knowledge of the players and the systems. What he is doing is basically ruining the purpose of the academy before it has even delivered it's second turn out.

the people who said he is doing the right thing by Perris, think again. Roos is only interested in the Melbourne Football Club as he is now head coach there. Lloyd Perris is only another tool for Roos to get a bonus third year, purportedly over a million dollars. perris is going to be a star there is no doubt about that no matter where he ends up but after all the money we spent on his development I would say what Roos has done is underhanded and quite disgusting given the position he just vacated.

[annew]

Anyone else think that since we now have Josh Francou as development manager or whatever that Crouch may be headed to the Demons to join Matthews and Roos

[R-1]

Here's the FAQ for the Scholarship program - Frequently Asked Questions - AFL NSW ACT - SportingPulse

Relevant bits:

Under the scholarship program your sponsor club has the explicit right to have first choice, once your son has met age eligibility requirements, to primary list or rookie list your son and, as such, if selected, your son would be required to go to the sponsor club, if he wished to play in the AFL competition.

If the sponsor club does not exercise the right to primary list or rookie list your son prior to the national or rookie draft, your son may wish to nominate for the national draft system in the same way as all other players. In the AFL, the National Draft system is the regulated process by which players are allocated to clubs on a sequential selection basis determined in priority order from the lowest finishing side to the highest.

[...]

A player can elect to not to accept a scholarship and place himself in the National Draft once he becomes age eligible. However that player will still subject to the ordinary operation of the draft and will not be certain of being selected by his preferred club.

Basically we get him if he wants to come. If we need to offer more money I imagine we will.

[wolftone57]

Something doesn't make sense with this story. How could Roos poach Perris if Perris was committed to the Swans because of the scholarship program? Why would he even try? I would like to get a bit more detail on this story.

The scholarship program was abandoned in favour of the academy Ludwig, three years ago. There were until 2 drafts ago several scholarship players still hanging around but none now. A scholarship player was bound to the club and could come from any state. Collingwood got several players from NSW for their scholarship program. But the academy is different, no club with an academy has Carte Blanche on the players in their academy. you have first choice but you must match an offer form a rival club or lose the player. That is where the academy system fails to meet it's vision of providing players to play in the Swans and making NSW footy self reliant.

[BillyRayCypress]

Very rarely post here these days but the above specific comments about Roos are offensive to the club and to me. Some of the slander that gets said on here is truly outrageous it beggars belief. Don't bother lecturing me about how right you are or how entitled you are to your opinion because I won't be reading it. And don't ever tell me to piss off.

I'm sure you'll have a peek and your comments regarding slander are slander in your opinion only. If you haven't noticed but we are simply repeating what Colless has said.

Your last sentence is not even worth commenting on as why would anyone bother.

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Probably the idiot that wanted to keep him away from Carlton - can't see why anybody is surprised that players or staff would want to follow him as he is a great coach and motivator - he was fantastic for our club and slagging him off is like booing a player who leaves the club - not very classy at all

I was on a tram in 2011 going to Etihad and chatting to a local Lady. She told me in quite significant detail what happened on the day that Roos ran on to the field in the junior footy game and how it differed to what he told everyone was his version. In fact his action prompted the AFL to bring in a rule for it.

He was happy when he was getting paid a ridiculous amount. Roos comments (or lack of) about it whilst "On the Couch" regarding the pay cut do reveal a great deal about his character. You reach the conclusion that it is "slagging". He said he would disclose the reasons but never did.

As others have mentioned already, it is not different to an employee having intellectual property knowledge of the business. Although this happens all the time in the AFL, when its done by someone held in such high regard by the Club then it certainly will burn relationships.

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I would hope that his contract includes non-compete / confidentiality clauses that specifically prevent him from using his information and contacts for this purpose. As others have said, the club has invested significantly in this initiative and paid Paul Roos handsomely to run it. It's a bit different to your standard 'coach knows the list of previous club scenario'.

There is also that little thing called 'ethics'. When I hire someone from a competitor, I make it a point of not asking questions that I would not want to answer myself. Skills and knowledge is one thing...inside information is another.

Hopefully the allegation (if that is the right word) is not true, but if it is, my estimation of Roos has dropped considerably. The fact is that his ethics are on show for all the footy world to see. Let's wait and watch and see.

I doubt his contract had that as they would have trusted him not to do that. To have a dummy spit over a 55% pay cut when you're being paid well over what the position requires.

I would like the Club to disclose who was responsible for paying him $300,000 for that role. If a Government minister appoints a mate in a similar manner, there is usually all hell to pay. There is Roos asking for contributions for the Swans Academy from hard working members and were we just funding his salary?

[R-1]

The scholarship program was abandoned in favour of the academy Ludwig, three years ago. There were until 2 drafts ago several scholarship players still hanging around but none now. A scholarship player was bound to the club and could come from any state. Collingwood got several players from NSW for their scholarship program. But the academy is different, no club with an academy has Carte Blanche on the players in their academy. you have first choice but you must match an offer form a rival club or lose the player. That is where the academy system fails to meet it's vision of providing players to play in the Swans and making NSW footy self reliant.

I don't think the academy vision is to help the Swans (or Giants, Suns and Lions). If it was just to help us, we'd get straightforward zone selections. It's more generalised footy imperialism, increasing the pool of draftable kids for the AFL as a whole, all the while building up the sport's visibility and popularity in these growth regions and enticing talented kids to join and stick with the sport. We're just the mechanism to make that imperialism happen, with "first dibs" being the incentive.

[wolftone57]

I don't think the academy vision is to help the Swans (or Giants, Suns and Lions). If it was just to help us, we'd get straightforward zone selections. It's more generalised footy imperialism, increasing the pool of draftable kids for the AFL as a whole, all the while building up the sport's visibility and popularity in these growth regions and enticing talented kids to join and stick with the sport. We're just the mechanism to make that imperialism happen, with "first dibs" being the incentive.

The academies have a twofold role but the main reason for them existing is to grow the regions and as you say encourage Aussie Rules to be played by all and sundry. But it was envisaged that the North Eastern clubs would be more reliant on local talent and would be happy to draft that talent. In doing so the region grows and the more involvement in the sport there is the more the AFL and eventually the other clubs benefit. But in the developmental stages it was envisaged the local clubs would benefit from the limited availability of local talent coming through the academy. To pay for the development of the players and not have more right to them than other clubs would be ridiculous.

[Ludwig]

The scholarship program was abandoned in favour of the academy Ludwig, three years ago. There were until 2 drafts ago several scholarship players still hanging around but none now. A scholarship player was bound to the club and could come from any state. Collingwood got several players from NSW for their scholarship program. But the academy is different, no club with an academy has Carte Blanche on the players in their academy. you have first choice but you must match an offer form a rival club or lose the player. That is where the academy system fails to meet it's vision of providing players to play in the Swans and making NSW footy self reliant.

I thought Lloyd Perris was the last of the scholarship players and the rest now come under the new protocol. Is this correct?

Is it true that as scholarship player the Swans can choose to place him on either the rookie list or primary list at the club's discretion and Perris must accept this if he wants to play on an AFL team? In other words, he cannot reject our choice and go into the draft.

[R-1]

Nah, players can always go to the normal draft (check post #109).

[Meg]

The words below are the introduction on the 'Academy' tab on the Swans website. They certainly lead the reader to believe that the Academy is developing young players to be Swans players. And that has certainly been the impression given when donations have been sought for the Academy.

"The QBE Sydney Swans Academy is one of the most exciting and ground-breaking initiatives in the history of the AFL.

The Academy has just completed its second year in the pursuit of the long-held dream at the Sydney Swans - to nurture boys as young as nine years old and shape them into future Swans players. Through this process we are also tangibly increasing the opportunities for NSW players to play at an elite level.

No longer will the Club be solely reliant on competing with every other AFL club for the diamonds in the national draft. Now the Sydney Swans can find their own gems amongst the 3.9 million people in the Club?s NSW zone, and use the Academy?s world-class resources to polish them into home-grown players who will proudly wear the red and white."

[R-1]

That's *our* purpose but it's hardly why the AFL permits the recruitment concessions.

[Ludwig]

Nah, players can always go to the normal draft (check post #109).

The first paragraph in your post 109 says:

Under the scholarship program your sponsor club has the explicit right to have first choice, once your son has met age eligibility requirements, to primary list or rookie list your son and, as such, if selected, your son would be required to go to the sponsor club, if he wished to play in the AFL competition.

Doesn't seem like the player has the option to go elsewhere. I am missing something?

[0918330512]

Maybe this is just me but isn't this just doing the right thing by his new employer?
Roos is now Melbourne coach and we have to accept that, if he had just been appointed our coach from, for example Collingwood, then I would be disappointed if he didn't at least try to lure their best talent to us, it's simply good business.

Tom Hafey = Greg Williams, Bernard Toohey, David Bolton & they even tried Andrew Bews. He also got Craig Davis away from Collingwood.
Wasn't too much objection from Swans fans then ...

Still don't like Roosey making Melbourne the new Swans

[Matt80]

Like to wish Roos the best and thank him for his contribution to the Swans.

We may lose some players and personnel, but we will always bounce back. We have great personnel at the Swans and will recover from any loss! If some people want to go to Melbourne, let them go with dignity. The Swans will replace them and continue to thrive!