South Adelaide Football Club’s secret to becoming a breeding ground for future AFL stars
A South Australian football club reveals the secret to its junior development success as a competition-best six players are named in the 2022 SANFL talent program.
Local Sport
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The South Adelaide Football Club will see unmatched success in junior development for the foreseeable future, according to talent manager Mark Clayton.
The now famed talent breeding ground has followed up its successful 2021 campaign – which saw number one pick Jason Horne-Francis, among others, selected to the AFL – by having six players enter the SANFL talent program for 2022.
Jack Delean, Tom Wheaton, Will Verrall, Jaiden Magor, Kyle Marshall and Tom Schirmer make up the six young guns aiming for an eventual AFL career.
Clayton said the club’s junior talent program had improved drastically in recent years.
“The success we’ve started having with our program has been beneficial because with that you attract more talent from around the state and with clubs in your local zone,” Clayton said.
“We invest a lot of time into our coaches and players and when you get good people and invest in good people you’ll get good results.
“Our mantra is to find good people and dedicate ourselves to them. If the players are good guys and work hard, listen and follow instruction, they’re going to develop really well, which is the same with coaches – if you invest in them they’ll put that approach back into the club.”
The club’s junior program – referred to as the “Panthers Football Factory” had been turned on its head throughout the better part of a decade, with Tony Bamford taking the keys between 2013-2017.
He along with president Neil Sharpe managed to establish better connection with local clubs and improve the Panthers’ approach to junior development and recruitment.
Since 2017, the work of Clayton and the coaches has seen the program’s success skyrocket – something which has been reflected in the recent premiership of the Panthers under-16s.
“We’re always looking at ways to improve our approach and develop the way we teach the players and the way we present our game plan in a way the players understand it,” he said.
“We set realistic standards for the guys and we’re also always looking at the whole person – not just on-field performance – because you get a good and hardworking footballer if you get a good person.”
Among South Adelaide’s AFL draftees this year were talented midfielders Jason Horne-Francis, Arlo Draper and Matthew Roberts.
Clayton believes the next crop of youngsters coming through can follow in their footsteps.
“We’re extremely proud of the guys who’ve been picked up, they’re all talented and hardworking and they all deserve it,” he said.
“We have three top age guys and three bottom age guys in the new six who have been selected for the SANFL talent program and have some under-16s who look pretty good as well so there’s potential for more AFL success.”
Clayton also said South Adelaide would do all it could to assist its selected talent in development and push them to achieve their draft goals.
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