Let the academies "review" commence

[dejavoodoo44]

If my memory serves me correct, Darry Cresswell's two boys is in the same boat. I remember someone posted a little while back an article about Darryn Cresswell who has married an African woman and lives in North Melbourne's Tassie NGA zone. He was hoping at the time to get his boys into the Swans Academy so they can get away from North's clutches, as they're both keen Swans fans to boot.

Reports so far, suggest that the clubs have been a bit half-arsed, in setting up their NGAs, so I doubt if Darryn would be under any compulsion to send his kids to a NGA. That being said, if one of them turned out to be AFL standard, I assume that there would be some sort of struggle between North and us.
Now I'm wondering, if it's possible for an ex-player to nominate an academy for their kids, if they're outside the club's zone?

[Markwebbos]

If the argument in favour of academies is that they bring new young talent into the game that wouldn’t otherwise play...

Then only those players should have academy benefits attached, which I would suggest, means we were fortunate with Blakey as he was always going to play at a reasonable level.

You could propose a F/S system for coaches (why is it only players?) as a counter to that.

It’s obviously hard to know 100% a players intentions but I would say any F/S players are probably the easiest to judge.

There’s no way Cresswell’s sons should be academy players but the same surely applies to Blakey.

[Markwebbos]

There’s also the benefit of drafting an academy player that they are a known quantity and you can spend their academy years entirely on preparing them for AFL.

Unlike TAC cup etc you could even argue it’s in a clubs interests for their academy players to be as low profile as possible in their draft year.

[wolftone57]

If the argument in favour of academies is that they bring new young talent into the game that wouldn’t otherwise play...

Then only those players should have academy benefits attached, which I would suggest, means we were fortunate with Blakey as he was always going to play at a reasonable level.

You could propose a F/S system for coaches (why is it only players?) as a counter to that.

It’s obviously hard to know 100% a players intentions but I would say any F/S players are probably the easiest to judge.

There’s no way Cresswell’s sons should be academy players but the same surely applies to Blakey.

There is a difference. Blakey has been a member of the Academy since early teens. With Creswell his sons would have had to come from wherever he was coaching as late teens to join the academy. They are not eligible anyway because they do not live within the academy zone. Nick Blakey did live within the Academy zone. Not only that, up until he was able to join the Academy he was in the same boat as Heens or Mills in that he could have ended up playing any code or basketball even.

Yes his father was a champion VFL player but so was Kizza's father a champ at NRL.

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[Bloods05]

The NGA academies are nothing less than legitimised racism. It gives AFL boys with a different heritage a massive leg up over their competitors.

For pity's sake.

[stevoswan]

The NGA academies are nothing less than legitimised racism. It gives AFL boys with a different heritage a massive leg up over their competitors.

I would never call a 'redressing of the balance' to allow more kids from a persecuted and under privileged section of our society racism. You're comment however.....

Please desist.....

[Nico]

Why don't they add a clause where if a father coaches a club for 100 games plus then his son would be able to nominate that club. I don't know how many there would be, but there are many players who played less than 100 games for a club or played over 100 games split between 2 clubs. So in Blakey's situation his father has been on a senior coaching panel for many games. The father of the Reid brothers played less than 100 games. Yes he didn't coach but what if he did. The sons of Roos would have been eligible. Just a thought.

[Meg]

I think the discussion above re Cresswell’s sons has got a bit confused. While I am not 100% confident of the facts either, I think Cresswell must live in regional Victoria (he has a two-year contract to coach the Wangaratta Rovers, and spent the previous four years coaching the Wodonga Raiders). He is now in a second marriage and has at least one young son from that marriage.

I think his two sons from his first marriage live with their birth mother in Tasmania. They are in North’s NGA and eligible for the draft by North because their birth mother has an indigenous background.

Under current rules, when the boys reach draft age they could be eligible for North through their NGA or for the Swans as a F/S (as Cresswell played 244 games for us).

That would put them in a similar position to Bailey Scott who came through the Gold Coast academy but was also also eligible as a F/S for both North and Geelong, as well as Nick Blakey.

Scott chose North through the F/S route. Blakey chose us through the Academy route.

In the attached article (May 2018), Cresswell said “It would be fantastic if they (his sons) could play for the Swans one day." Also Beatson is quoted as expressing interest in the boys joining the Swans academy. Whether their mother would support that is not discussed.

Swan father-sons developing in Roos academy - AFL.com.au

[Doctor]

Jake Niall's language is quite inflammatory in that article, which is most unprofessional. The facts are that neither Heeney nor Mills would have made it to the AFL without the Academy. Nick Blakey would have had to have found a way to develop here or go to Victoria to train. What our academy gives us is access to the same level of professional coaching that kids in Vic, SA and WA have always received. It's that simple. Without that it goes back to well meaning parents and part timers doing the best they can without support.

[Bleed Red Blood]

I'm also curious whether under the current rules if a father/son can also be eligible to be drafted via a NGA? If so, I assume he'll have the same option to choose between the two? You'd think if the AFL did bring in the above rule it would also apply to NGA even though it's really free compensation compared to the Academy development system.

Yep and what a scam it is. Chris Johnson of the Lions kids are in Essendons NGA. Also a South Aussie, can't remember the name or whether he played for Crows/Port, kid was born while overseas and now eligible for a NGA as well as F/S.