Draft 2016

[Levii3]

i suspect not many of the Riverina based players from the GWS academies down south would have been present ?

the sydney based GWS academy players don't seem much chop yet

The Riverina boys hardly spend anytime with the academy I think Matthew Kennedy only spent a month or less training with them

[Ludwig]

The Riverina boys hardly spend anytime with the academy I think Matthew Kennedy only spent a month or less training with them

The AFL are sure to rein in the GWS draft advantages if it results in a league domination. Right now, their team looks chocked with talent, but they still are yet to make the eight.

Besides the go home factor, a natural attrition will take hold when A-Grade players that can't make the senior team want to move on to other clubs for better playing opportunities. This too has already happened. A natural balance will eventuate in due course.

I feel we have more in common with GWS than not and hope they develop into a strong club. 2 good Sydney clubs is not only good for the competition, but also helps to counter the Melbourne domination of the AFL.

[Mug Punter]

Has GWS actually done anything in western Sydney yet? It's what they were created for but since day one they seem to have just kept drifting further east.

Hopefully a couple of our U18s become draft worthy as like an earlier poster I feel we are starting to accumulate a few list cloggers. 2016 is a big year for these players to either rise or be cut.

GWS have done stuff all in western Sydney, typified by the fact that when Campbelltown, once the powerhouse of the league, were close folding GWS chose to rebrand with, of the clubs in Sydney, MANLY!!!! WTF, these guys have no idea.

Aside from some rebranding of local clubs where they buy off their history with a bag full of silver they are actually a destructive force in local Sydney football, aslk anyone who used to be involved with the Bankstown juniors what they think of GWS.

Their academy is a mere recruitment zone and making that even worse is the fact that they are able to recruit kids that are based in Melbourne.

My view is that unless you are in the NSW-ACT TAC Cup programme for your final year you are simply not eligible as an academy choice.

I actually think the AFL have massively under-estimated the GWS depth and that by the end of this season the genie will be out of the bottle. They'll get 3 or 4 first rounders including a couple of academy kids they don't deserve and they'll go close to winning it in 2017 and by then they'll have a list with, seriously, over 25 first round draft picks. No clubs can compete with that unlevel playing field and I can seriously see them winning 4 or 5 flags over the next decade.

And that will be a true embarrassment for the AFL because they don't have genuine supporters yet, many of their "fans" don't even really know the rules. We love a winner in Sydney but it will be just a joke for the league. And also bear in mind they'll be propping this mob up financially as they are probably 20 years away from being viable financially

And despite my anti-GWS tone I'll be loving it because the AFL's chooks will have come home to roost. And we can all sit back and watch the fur fly because Eddie and co will spit it like never before and there will be nothing they can about it

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The AFL are sure to rein in the GWS draft advantages if it results in a league domination. Right now, their team looks chocked with talent, but they still are yet to make the eight.

Besides the go home factor, a natural attrition will take hold when A-Grade players that can't make the senior team want to move on to other clubs for better playing opportunities. This too has already happened. A natural balance will eventuate in due course.

I feel we have more in common with GWS than not and hope they develop into a strong club. 2 good Sydney clubs is not only good for the competition, but also helps to counter the Melbourne domination of the AFL.

What can they do, make them sit out the first round of the draft for being too successful? I don't think that could stand up in court. The horse will have bolted

The only thing they could do is tighten up their academy region and player availability but I suspect it will be at our expense...

[mcs]

I actually think the AFL have massively under-estimated the GWS depth and that by the end of this season the genie will be out of the bottle. They'll get 3 or 4 first rounders including a couple of academy kids they don't deserve and they'll go close to winning it in 2017 and by then they'll have a list with, seriously, over 25 first round draft picks. No clubs can compete with that unlevel playing field and I can seriously see them winning 4 or 5 flags over the next decade.

And that will be a true embarrassment for the AFL because they don't have genuine supporters yet, many of their "fans" don't even really know the rules. We love a winner in Sydney but it will be just a joke for the league. And also bear in mind they'll be propping this mob up financially as they are probably 20 years away from being viable financially

And despite my anti-GWS tone I'll be loving it because the AFL's chooks will have come home to roost. And we can all sit back and watch the fur fly because Eddie and co will spit it like never before and there will be nothing they can about it

I completely concur with what you are saying Mug - if they actually reach their potential, they are on track to win multiple premierships, given the ridiculous levels of depth they have, and the ongoing ability they will have to plunder a very rich part of the country in the Riverina. That's without even thinking about the ability to trade out high quality players to fill any needs without really weakening another part of the team. They'll want to win several Premierships in coming years, for if they don't, they are all but guaranteed to become an abject failure.

[mcs]

Besides the go home factor, a natural attrition will take hold when A-Grade players that can't make the senior team want to move on to other clubs for better playing opportunities. This too has already happened. A natural balance will eventuate in due course.

The great advantage GWS will have for a sustained period is that there is so much A grade talent sitting there that they can let players go to get better playing opportunities, safe in knowing they will get good value for the player, and an ability to restock and go again. If it is managed well, it'll be a long time before this effect disappears (I.e. it'll need multiple fails at the drafting table to really dilute the impact of this). No other club, not even Gold Coast, have that benefit - which is further helped by their Riverina recruitment zone.

[Markus26]

GWS should be banned for trading for the next couple of years because they can't have everything

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I agree though that their depth and ability to replenish stocks is scary.

[Ludwig]

What can they do, make them sit out the first round of the draft for being too successful? I don't think that could stand up in court. The horse will have bolted

The only thing they could do is tighten up their academy region and player availability but I suspect it will be at our expense...

The great advantage GWS will have for a sustained period is that there is so much A grade talent sitting there that they can let players go to get better playing opportunities, safe in knowing they will get good value for the player, and an ability to restock and go again. If it is managed well, it'll be a long time before this effect disappears (I.e. it'll need multiple fails at the drafting table to really dilute the impact of this). No other club, not even Gold Coast, have that benefit - which is further helped by their Riverina recruitment zone.

I agree with all those who have commented that GWS have been handed a tremendous and long lasting advantage to build the strongest list in the AFL and I have made similar comments myself.

That being said, I think it is worth considering:

1. Having the list with the highest draft picks doesn't necessarily translate into success. I believe Carlton had the most 1st round draft picks on their list last year, excluding the expansion clubs.
2. GWS have yet to even make the eight, let alone play in a Grand Final, so perhaps we are getting ahead of ourselves. They do have the talent to be serious challengers over the coming years, but let's see what actually eventuates.
3. We know the AFL want to have a successful competitive 2nd team in Sydney. Is this such a bad thing? It would seem good for Australian football in general to have a truly national competition, drain some of the power away from the Melbourne establishment, and build an entertaining rivalry between the 2 Sydney teams that we see in the traditional aussie rules cities. It's something, as a Swans' fan I am looking forward to.
4. If GWS do in fact become a powerhouse, rest assured, concessions such as the Riverina will be taken away by Eddie and friends.
5. Salary cap and playing list concessions for the expansion clubs are coming to a close. Once these things are the same for all clubs, then GWS will face the same problems all clubs face in retaining star players wanting higher pay packets. A lot of the talent drafted by the expansion clubs has left and will continue to drift away. Talent-wise, GWS will come back to the pack in due course.

I do expect GWS to up there competing for championships in the not too distant future. It doesn't bother me. I'm not a GWS supporter, but I am looking forward to it nonetheless. I don't look at it as something to be feared, but rather something that is good for football in Sydney and therefore good for the Swans as well.

[liz]

I have less of an issue with the Giants having the Riverina as a development zone than some. Despite the line being trotted out that it is a traditional AFL zone, those making this claim then trot out the likes of Wayne Carey and Paul Kelly as supporting evidence, ignoring the fact that these guys started their AFL careers more than 25 years ago. If you actually look at the numbers recruited from Southern NSW for the decade before the academies kicked in, they are pretty pathetic for a region that is supposedly an AFL zone. Most of those who have made it onto a list have so via a rookie list, and there aren't that many established players. Harry Cunningham would probably be in the top 5!

I do have an issue with players who are in the Victorian TAC Cup system being eligible as academy players. The whole mantra of the academies - and this is important for their ongoing credibility - is that they are providing much needed development infrastructure in regions where there was none, or where it was a huge way behind the equivalent infrastructure in the more traditional recruitment regions. Having said that, it has really only become a talking point due to Hopper. Our very own Dan Robinson spent at least one year of his schooling in the Melbourne public school environment. I don't know if he played TAC Cup too. Still, I do think that should be nipped in the bud.

One observation about the apparent riches available to the Giants (and to some degree the fact that Sydney unearthed both Heeney and Mills within the space of a year) is that it just goes to show what a complete @@@@ up the AFL competition as a whole has made of developing talent in NSW (and Queensland) over the past 15 or so years. Within a few short years of properly investing in the region (via the clubs, because the AFL was seemingly incapable of doing it themselves), look at both the numbers of AFL-list worthy players have emerged and the quality at the top end.

The main problem I see with the Giants having their exclusive access to the Riverina regions is that while they have a steady flow of low hanging fruit they can get up to scratch from that area, there is nothing to encourage them to properly focus on their other areas that have a stronger need for development. The real success of the Giants' academy will be when they unearth a Jacob Hopper type in Bankstown or Cabramatta.

[Mug Punter]

The main problem I see with the Giants having their exclusive access to the Riverina regions is that while they have a steady flow of low hanging fruit they can get up to scratch from that area, there is nothing to encourage them to properly focus on their other areas that have a stronger need for development. The real success of the Giants' academy will be when they unearth a Jacob Hopper type in Bankstown or Cabramatta.

As the fastest growing area in Australia it is ripe for development if done properly but an abject failure if not....

I can see them perhaps getting no discount for the Riverina district and the requirement for players to be in the NSW-ACT TAC Cup program for the year of drafting and before. I'd actually offer a greater discount for any Western Sydney products because that region's development is so far behind the rest of the field and the AFL needs to have a separate strategy for that region because the NSWAFL is grossly incompetent

[troyjones2525]

In other actual good news Academy turns the tables - sydneyswans.com.au

I didn't see the young kid mentioned who we have nabbed who is a potential Rugby star! Can't remember his name but there were a number of articles last year about him. Is he playing with the U16's ?

[WauchopeAnalyst]

I think it was Tyrell or Tyrone. I think????

[rb4x]

Tyrell Mayfield

[Nico]

Does Collingwood have an unofficial academy. I thought I read an article that mentioned Collingwood's academy. If it is unofficial then they should fall into line with the northern states.