Academy games 2023

[dejavoodoo44]

Allies midfield got on top again, to push the margin out to 84-35. The Tasmanian duo of Sanders and McKercher were the main drivers. Sanders is strong and skilful in traffic, while McKercher is a bit more outside. Also impressive was Jake Rogers, another highly rated Suns prospect. He'll probably play as a nippy small forward at AFL level, but he is very elusive and creative when attending stoppages. Cleary continuing to do well. O'Sullivan having a strong game in defence.

[dejavoodoo44]

Handy little flick by big May in traffic for that McKercher goal.

[i'm-uninformed2]

May had some good moments in the last quarter. A few nice taps to advantage, a nice give off inside f50 by hand to create a goal, and closed quickly to spoil a likely mark to Vic Metro when in defence. It’s hard to analyse from the limited camera work, but he also seemed to cover the ground well. He looks likes he’s got a few good traits to work with.

[dejavoodoo44]

Ended up a convincing 99-55 win for the Allies. Blew them away in the first quarter and were marginally the better side for the rest of the game.

In the last quarter, Kirk got to play more inside mid and was pretty good. May had a variety of effective touches in the quarter. Some taps to advantage, a nifty score involvement, a strong contested mark and couple of effective pressure acts. Cleary didn't seem to spend much time on the ball in the last, but had a few useful possessions. I thought he was our best overall, with 29 disposals, many of them contested and a fair few tackles and pressure acts.

[dejavoodoo44]

May had some good moments in the last quarter. A few nice taps to advantage, a nice give off inside f50 by hand to create a goal, and closed quickly to spoil a likely mark to Vic Metro when in defence. It’s hard to analyse from the limited camera work, but he also seemed to cover the ground well. He looks likes he’s got a few good traits to work with.

Whoops, just more or less repeated what you said here, as I hadn't noticed this post when I posted.

I don't think he's got a high top speed, but I suspect he has good endurance. At academy level, he does the majority of rucking and gets to contest after contest. And he might be deceptively quick off the mark, as I've seen him lay crunching tackles on midfielders, in much the same way that Mumford and Pyke used to punish mids that underestimated their mobility.

[707]

Prepare for another round of Academy Vicwhinging after Allies beat Vic Metro so convincingly.

Sanders and McKercher from Tasmania will be interesting selections, will they drop in the order due to the likely go home factor if Tasmania votes to have a side. How are those small town politics playing out?

Gold Coast going to need a bucket load of points and a bucket load of list vacancies to match top 3-10 bids.

[Thunder Shaker]

Gold Coast going to need a bucket load of points and a bucket load of list vacancies to match top 3-10 bids.

As it stands currently, Gold Coast have 3977 draft points, consisting of pick 7 and eight later picks. I'll assume they trade out provisional pick 7 for later picks of the same value.

Matching a bid at pick 2 cost 2014 points, and matching a bid at pick 3 costs 1787 points. Matching bids at these picks would leave them with 176 points. I doubt they would have much trouble with bid matching.

[dejavoodoo44]

Prepare for another round of Academy Vicwhinging after Allies beat Vic Metro so convincingly.

Sanders and McKercher from Tasmania will be interesting selections, will they drop in the order due to the likely go home factor if Tasmania votes to have a side. How are those small town politics playing out?

Gold Coast going to need a bucket load of points and a bucket load of list vacancies to match top 3-10 bids.

And it's usually such pointless criticism. I mean, even if each academy produced two or three AFL quality players each year, all that really means, is that in ten to fifteen years, the majority of the lists of the NSW and Queensland clubs, will be made up of players from NSW and Queensland. Much the same as the majority of players currently with Victorian clubs are from Victoria. Which in turn means that the dreaded go home factor becomes increasingly irrelevant.

And the Suns do have a really nice haul this season. Walter has spells in games where he's hugely impressive and is going to be a beast. Attacks the ball with a vengeance, can roost the ball a long way, likes to punish defenders when they get the ball and could easily be taken at pick 2. Really liked Rogers today, too. Very elusive and creative in traffic. While the commentators had Read as BOG. I'm not entirely convinced by his ruck work, but he's an athlete and has skills. Both of those two could get a bid in the top ten.

It'll be interesting to see if the draft gurus start adjusting the ratings of the Allies players upwards, now that they look like winning the championship. McKercher, Sanders and "our" Connor O'Sullivan, could also be rated top ten.

[dejavoodoo44]

And after another very good game today, perhaps our Caiden Cleary will get into the top twenty? I read a Rookie Me article the other day, where they justified not having him in the top twenty, by saying that his kicking wasn't quite up to scratch. Since I never noticed that as a problem before, I kept an eye on it today. It seemed fine, both in hitting short targets and long kicks to forwards while under pressure. Perhaps they used some faulty logic and decided that because the majority of his possessions are short handballs in traffic, then there must be something wrong with his kicking??

[707]

Sssssh, Cleary's kicking is not up to scratch, that's the line I want promulgated, keep him down the draft order so we can get at least two bids in on other players before having to match.

This is seriously impressive by the Allies, going to be a lot of them at the pointy end of the ND. We've currently got pick 6

[dejavoodoo44]

Sssssh, Cleary's kicking is not up to scratch, that's the line I want promulgated, keep him down the draft order so we can get at least two bids in on other players before having to match.

This is seriously impressive by the Allies, going to be a lot of them at the pointy end of the ND. We've currently got pick 6

Hopefully we can improve our ladder position and still get Connor O'Sullivan, who's my main hope for our first pick. The latest power rankings have him at 12, but he might improve after today's effort. While the service to the Metro forwards often wasn't that great, he looked to be reading the ball better than them. Which lead to both some timely intercept marks and some strong spoiling. But I was actually most impressed when he ventured up the ground. He looked like a smooth moving and skilful winger. His total package seems ideal to me. A Swans supporting, 198cm key position player from Albury, who can bolster our weakened defence, then effectively rebound and who is apparently also leadership material.

[i'm-uninformed2]

And after another very good game today, perhaps our Caiden Cleary will get into the top twenty? I read a Rookie Me article the other day, where they justified not having him in the top twenty, by saying that his kicking wasn't quite up to scratch. Since I never noticed that as a problem before, I kept an eye on it today. It seemed fine, both in hitting short targets and long kicks to forwards while under pressure. Perhaps they used some faulty logic and decided that because the majority of his possessions are short handballs in traffic, then there must be something wrong with his kicking??

I’ve only seen bits of him so this is more a question than an observation - does his kicking have penetration? Some of what I’ve seen suggests he floats them a bit, but maybe that’s unfair. I guess if I had a point of comparison, is he more Chad or Rowbottom? Both are sound kicks, but Chad has more punch and impact, while Rowie can be neat and sound.

[dejavoodoo44]

I’ve only seen bits of him so this is more a question than an observation - does his kicking have penetration? Some of what I’ve seen suggests he floats them a bit, but maybe that’s unfair. I guess if I had a point of comparison, is he more Chad or Rowbottom? Both are sound kicks, but Chad has more punch and impact, while Rowie can be neat and sound.

Hard to answer, as I've never really paid that much attention to it before today. But my impression is that a lot of his kicks are shorter spear passes, that generally find the target. A couple of times today, he did roost it longer when under pressure and did find the forward contest that I assume he was aiming for, around fifty metres away.

[dejavoodoo44]

This is Rookie Me's scouting notes for the U16 academy match against the Brisbane academy. I watched a fair bit of the match and the Lions seemed to be the stronger side, despite a comeback early in the final quarter. I got the impression that they'd been more focused on building AFL ready bodies. Whether that's actually the case, I don't really know?

Scouting Notes: 2023 AFL U16s - Lions Academy vs. Swans Academy - Aussie Rules Rookie Me Central

At 11.45am today, the U16 side is playing the Suns at Southport Sharks. It's probably going to be streamed by Cluch TV (their spelling) and maybe a link will pop up on the Swans academy Facebook page.

[dejavoodoo44]

Thought I'd wander down to Sharks to have a look at the game. It's a perfect day for football; sunny, 22°, with a gentle breeze going across the ground.

Unfortunately, we're well behind at the half, 34-13. I only arrived just before quarter time, my impressions so far is that we're winning a lot of clearances, but not taking advantage, as we're missing forward targets and the Suns are hurting us on the rebound.