AFL to consider bringing back recruiting areas for South Australia’s two clubs
ADELAIDE and Port Adelaide will be allocated half the state each as their development and recruiting zone under a plan to be discussed at the first AFL Competition Committee meeting.
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SOUTH Australia will be divided in two, with the Crows and Port Adelaide allocated half the state each as their development and recruiting zone under a future scenario to be seriously discussed at the first AFL Competition Committee meeting in Melbourne on May 10.
If the system was in place now, star young South Australian’s Jack Lukosius and Izac Rankine would be playing for the Crows or the Power next season, and Port Adelaide would have its old traditional recruiting ground of Port Lincoln and the Eyre Peninsula back as its zone.
Under the proposal, every AFL club would have a zone to develop and recruit from, with a similar draft bidding system to that which currently allows the the Swans, Giants, Lions and Suns to develop and recruit direct from the northern states.
“I like the idea of consistency,” AFL head of football operations Steve Hocking admitted to me this week. Hocking believes AFL junior development money would be better spent if AFL clubs become directly responsible for junior development and can reap personal benefit from its efficient use.
“There is a lot being considered it’s fair to say, and I think what we’ve seen is things stay status quo for a period of time, and I think what we need to do in my view is create better efficiencies” Hocking said.
Under the proposal, every AFL club would have a zone to develop and recruit from, with a similar draft bidding system to that which currently allows the the Swans, Giants, Lions and Suns to develop and recruit direct from the northern states.
And leading the charge for a return to zones in Victoria is the Collingwood Football Club and its influential president Eddie McGuire, who has been working with the AFL and the Victorian State Government on infrastructure and development ideas that could greatly benefit country Victoria and junior football.
“We’re keen on zones,” Collingwood chief executive Mark Anderson confirmed.
“We’re going to be in discussions around what zones make sense for us ... intuitively that area in the Diamond Valley is the heart and soul, but we’ve got a big partnership down in the Latrobe Valley now where we are doing a lot of work with the State government and local government; and we’d love to do a little bit more around talent development there, but it’s not our zone,” Anderson said pointedly.
Multiple ideas will be tabled for discussion at the May 10 meeting. The lifting of the draft age by one year and bringing back the old club-based under-17s or under-19s system, and allowing the Crows and the Power to field a junior team in a national under age competition, is another strong option.
That option is also heavily supported by Eddie McGuire and Collingwood, who have been lobbying for years to have their own under-18 team.
“There’s some discussions looking at that, so that’s certainly on the cards as well,” Anderson was happy to confirm.
The reason the return to zones and a totally revamped under-age development system is strongly tipped to eventually get the rubber stamp, is because of the massive money drain and resource waste that exists under the current under-18 systems.
In Victoria, kids have both the private school system and the TAC Cup doubling up with coaches and other resources like gymnasiums, doctors and physios.
AFL clubs all have the same resources available but are not not allowed to offer them for use to the kids who would benefit from spending time inside an AFL club and would love to wear a traditional AFL team jumper as a junior.
Hocking believes the entire AFL feeder system should be streamlined, and a national second tier or elite junior competition will eventually happen if he gets his way.
“How we are spending our dollars, what’s that look like back through the state leagues, and all those talent levels is high on his agenda on May 10”.
Hocking was also keen to point out that despite the scary reports that Port Adelaide’s Magpies could die if a national second-tier competition was to happen; that was not the case.
Hocking is a lover of strong tradition that works, and Port Adelaide’s Magpies link – and the Crows and Port involvement in the SANFL – is not mutually exclusive to any national competition idea in his eyes.
Adelaide Crow chief executive Andrew Fagan and Port Adelaide football manager Chris Davies are both members of Hocking’s handpicked competition committee. But more importantly, so is Eddie McGuire.
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