Gold Coast boss Mark Evans and GWS coach Adam Kingsley on academy list rules, disadvantages across the competition
Gold Coast CEO Mark Evans and GWS coach Adam Kingsley are united in their view that their access to northern academies should remain unchanged given other disadvantages their clubs face.
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Gold Coast officials left Tuesday’s league briefing unshaken in the view that northern academy list rules should remain unchanged unless significant progress is made to mitigate the inherent disadvantage interstate and expansion clubs face.
It is expected the AFL will change the current rules around father-son, northern academy and next generation academy bidding while also revamping the Draft Value Index, with final recommendations to be put to the AFL Commission in early August.
The majority view among attendees was that any changes to the current system should not be implemented ahead of this year’s draft, given clubs had already planned well in advance under the current system.
And while the Suns would welcome that, they remain firm in the view that academy access should be expanded – not retracted – across the league for any clubs willing to invest the time and resources into building a fruitful pathway program.
And if said access is limited, then the AFL should also seek to rectify other inherent competitive balance concerns, lest the Suns lose their only genuine advantage.
“Our position was there aren’t too many things that advantage the Suns in the whole system and it would be wrong to address just one thing,” Suns CEO Mark Evans told this masthead.
“So we would be advocates for keeping the eligibility and the acquisition criteria the same for northern academies, but making it better for clubs that have next generation academies so that they get access to the players that at the moment they are excluded from unless they are outside of pick 40.
“So long as they do the development of the player, they should be able to get the player. Make sure you are running meaningful programs to attract and keep kids in the game. If they do the work, they should have access to those players.
“The bidding system we’re advocates for keeping that similar to the way it’s currently operated.”
As reported by the Herald Sun last week, Evans this month submitted a detailed document to the AFL titled “Summary of Advantage and Disadvantage” that highlighted the challenges clubs like Gold Coast and GWS in particular face in a league littered with competitive inequalities.
Evans’ submission detailed 15 key factors that underpin competitive advantage in the AFL and why only one factor – the northern academy program – applied to his club.
The Suns feel that without knowing what further checks and balances might be made to accommodate other areas of competitive disadvantage, such as travel and fixturing, they cannot have an opinion on whether mooted changes to academy eligibility are fair or otherwise.
Gold Coast’s draft haul of four first rounders last year through its academy access put the Suns in the crosshairs of rival clubs and is likely what led to expedited discussion around the draft bidding process.
But the Suns would feel incredibly hard done by if their only area of strength was handicapped, while the other 14 areas of competitive concern as detailed by Evans in his submission are not also considered.
Evans said he had not received a response from the AFL in the wake of his submission, nor did he necessarily expect to. But he hoped the detailed summary helped illuminate exactly why the Suns were so strongly opposed to limiting their academy access, given all the other disadvantages they faced as an interstate expansion club.
The club has built its Suns Academy program from less than 100 participants at its inception to more than 1000 and contributes north of $1 million per year to help develop future AFL caliber talent.
KINGSLEY DOUBLES DOWN
Giants coach Adam Kingsley has doubled down on the comments from club CEO David Matthews around the AFL’s Academy system, labelling the current debate as “a little misguided”.
It follows Matthews’ suggestion on Wednesday that Victorian clubs lobbying to change the Academy bidding process for clubs in the northern states are overlooking the importance of growing the wider talent pool for the competition.
Having spent the majority of his coaching career in Victoria, Kingsley believes he is uniquely placed to understand the challenges of the AFL market in Sydney.
And not even two years into the role, he has already seen how vital it is to celebrate the Academy program for clubs such as GWS, Sydney, Gold Coast and Brisbane.
While the Giants certainly have their largest foothold yet in the Western Sydney market, Kingsley argues that the amount of work left to do means more time and effort needs to be put in the market to truly make Australian rules the national game.
“I think the debate around it is a little misguided,” Kingsley said.
“I’ve sat in that chair down in Melbourne and you need to come up here and understand that there’s really no one in Western Sydney who plays our game or supports our game.
“It’s two and a half million people. That’s the last area within Australia that is a significant growth opportunity. So, we need to invest in that area and we need to invest more than what we currently do.
“If we can do that, then I think the game reaps the rewards through finances, but also through participation and player availability. The more kids in Western Sydney playing the game, the more opportunities we have to pick those guys. But so do the Melbourne clubs because ultimately we still have to match bids on them and pay a fair price to get them.
“We need to increase participation. And the more (local) kids we take or Gold Coast take, the more Victorian kids there are to stay in Victoria and play for them.
“I think we need to broaden our vision around what’s really important and try and do our best to maximise that growth, participation and make the game better.”
Kingsley also suggested that for clubs like the Giants and Suns, having regulated access to Academy talent is crucial because they are still some distance away from being able to take Father-Son talent.
When a club like Carlton could finish in the top two this year and still have access the Camporeale twins, Ben and Lucas, who are considered two of the better players in the draft crop, being able to match bids on Academy players is a way to provide some balance to what will always be a slightly unbalanced system.
“We don’t have that luxury, if you want to call it that,” Kingsley said. “I think it’s a great system the Father-son, but we don’t have that opportunity yet.
“So, I think the Academy is quite similar in a sense. The role of the Academy is to grow the game in a region where it’s currently not really seen as a competitor to NRL or other sports like soccer.
“It’s absolutely critical that we invest in this.”
The Giants were already heavily punished at the end of 2016 when the Albury and Murray River region was removed from their Academy zone due to a perceived influx of talent from Victorian clubs.
A potential crop including Will Setterfield and Zach Sproule sparked the move from the AFL with the concern that too many young generational talents from the region were ending up at a club in Western Sydney. Combined, the two eventually played less than 20 games for the Giants.
Others like Harrison Macreadie, Kobe Mutch and Max Lynch were never taken by the club and are already out of the AFL system.
In his comments earlier this week, Matthews indicated that it would be his preference that the Albury-Murray region was reinstated as part of the Giants’ Academy zone.
Harvey Thomas was the most recent player to graduate from the Giants Academy to the AFL after being selected last year at pick 59. However, it’s clear the club still heavily invests in the Albury region, with their first-round pick Phoenix Gothard and category B rookie Nathan Wardius both hailing from the area.
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