AFL Academy loophole may lead James Borlase, son of Port Adelaide premiership captain Darryl Borlase, to Crows
The AFL created its Next Generation Academies to boost its pool of multicultural players. But a loophole in the system could put the son of a Port Adelaide great in the hands of bitter rival the Crows.
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The son of a 246-game Port Adelaide premiership captain is in line to become a Crow via a “staggering” loophole of the AFL Next Generation Academy system.
James Borlase, a key defender whose father Darryl won four SANFL flags with Port, including as skipper in 1998, is generating significant interest from recruiters, but Adelaide has access to him in this year’s draft as an African-born player in its zone and can match rival clubs’ bids.
The Egypt-born 18-year-old is ineligible to join Port as a father-son selection due to Darryl falling short of the required minimum of 200 games before the Power’s AFL entry in 1997.
Port and the SANFL listed Darryl on 201 games after the 1996 state league grand final but that included Escort Cup clashes, which the AFL did not count towards his total – 167 matches.
James, who was a member of the All-Australian under-15 team in 2017 and last year played in the under-17 “futures game” at the MCG on AFL grand final day, was born in Cairo in 2002 when Darryl was working there for two years with the Australian Wheat Board.
The family returned to Australia several months after James was born, initially residing in Melbourne, before coming back to Adelaide to live in Netherby, in the inner-southern suburbs.
James has emerged through junior ranks at SANFL club Sturt, which is aligned to the Crows via under the NGA program.
He would have been in Port’s NGA if he had grown up just two streets southwest.
An interstate club’s recruiter, who did not want to be named, said developing the son of a former SANFL captain was not the purpose of the academies, which were introduced in 2016.
According to the AFL website, the NGAs aim to grow participation in under-represented parts of the community and increase the talent pool of indigenous and multicultural players.
“If you’re at the Crows, you’d be saying ‘that’s just the rules’ regarding Borlase, but if you’re at Port you’re going ‘that’s just ridiculous’,” the recruiter told News Corp.
“When the AFL brought this whole program in it was all about giving boys born overseas or boys with parents born overseas an opportunity to play AFL footy.
“This is staggering in some ways that Borlase falls under that system, but it’s the system.”
James has played 10 reserves matches for Sturt over the past two seasons while splitting time between the club and Prince Alfred College, where he usually lines up as a forward.
Standing 191cm and 88kg, he has a striking physique with wide shoulders and long arms.
His mum Jenny – Darryl’s wife – is a three-time Netball World Cup winner for Australia and 1998 Commonwealth Games medallist.
The Borlases did not want to comment for this story.
But in a YouTube interview in March, James said he could not remember anything from his time in Egypt.
He said it would have been “lovely” to follow in his dad’s footsteps at Port, but he just wanted him to have the best opportunity to play football.
“It is what it is and we can’t do much about it now,” James told “Into the Fire”.
“Sometimes (Dad) likes to show us the tapes of some of his better games but he’s quite modest and doesn’t like to talk about it too much.”
James said he had enjoyed his involvement with Adelaide, including training at the club in December, but the Crows “haven’t given away too much” about possibly drafting him.
He said he modelled his game on two All-Australian backmen: Richmond’s Dylan Grimes and Crow Daniel Talia.
Sturt football manager Chris Trapp said the club spoke regularly with recruiters about James, who might play league football this year.
“He’s been super for us,” Trapp said.
“He’s obviously got nice physical attributes and is really composed with ball in hand, and has just fitted into the senior program really well.
“He’s certainly getting a lot of interest.
“We meet regularly with (Crows academies manager) Jarrod Meers … and they’ve looked after him well, and I suppose it’s just the way it is with the alignment.
“I’m sure Port are probably disappointed.”
James played in the college competition for Prince Alfred on Saturday, kicking three goals in a season-opening 93-point win over Rostrevor.
PAC’s director of co-curricular activities Troy McKinnon said James, the First XVIII’s deputy vice-captain, had significant talent.
“James is a leader in our program and this has come about through great character and intent to help the team and represent the college well,” McKinnon said.
AFL rules state that players qualify for the NGA if they are born in Africa or Asia, have a biological parent born in one of those two continents, are indigenous or are from a government-defined culturally and linguistically diverse population.
The league acknowledges some players, including Borlase, qualify for the academy outside the intent of the rules, but accept they are almost unavoidable outliers to attaining a greater good – deepening the talent pool from non-traditional backgrounds.
An AFL spokesman said a committee evaluated NGA prospects and the league’s general counsel, Andrew Dillon, had to approve them.
The spokesman said there were examples where eligibility rules did not cover every possible scenario, but players still had to go through a bidding process where other clubs could determine their market value.
Adelaide also access to North Adelaide goalsneak Tariek Newchurch via its NGA this year.
The Crows did not want to comment.
Port challenged the AFL ruling on Darryl’s games count before and until 2018.
That year, Power football manager Chris Davies called Darryl a club great and said Port was disappointed James did not qualify as a father-son selection.
CROWS LUCKY TO GET FIRST ACCESS TO PORT FATHER-SON
Recruiting guru Matthew Rendell has backed the AFL’s contentious Next Generation Academies, saying although this year’s draft will be “massively compromised”, the development program’s “greater good overshadows any outliers”.
The league introduced the academies in 2016 to grow participation in under-represented parts of the community and increase indigenous and multicultural talent, bringing some players into the game who might be otherwise unlikely to make it.
Players qualify for the NGA if they are born in Africa or Asia, have a biological parent born in one of those two continents, are indigenous or are from a government-defined culturally and linguistically diverse population.
Clubs are allocated zones from which they have priority access to eligible players but rival teams can bid on them at the draft.
Rendell, who lost his job in Collingwood’s recruiting department this year due to cost-cutting amid the coronavirus pandemic, estimated about 15 of the top 30 prospects in the 2020 draft could be tied to clubs via either father-son links, the northern academies or NGAs, including possible No. 1 pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan with the Western Bulldogs.
Last year Fremantle secured Liam Henry via its NGA, while six players were selected through the system in 2018, including top-15 choices Tarryn Thomas (North Melbourne) and Isaac Quaynor (Collingwood.
Egypt-born James Borlase – the son of four-time Port Adelaide premiership player Darryl Borlase – is among prospects a chance to be taken further down in this year’s draft and is tied to the Crows.
Rendell said 18-year-old key defender Borlase was an NGA outlier because he qualified outside the intent of the rules, but he believed the overall system was “reasonably fair” and hoped it continued.
“The intention (creating them) was right and it’s worked out pretty good,” Rendell, who was a former Adelaide recruiting manager, told News Corp.
“I didn’t mind the idea … and it throws a bit of excitement into the draft with bidding.
“It’s a massive compromise to the draft but with the bidding system, you pay a reasonable price for it and anything that brings kids in that may be massively disadvantaged I think is a good thing.
“People will be blueing this year about Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, but the Bulldogs are going to have to pay a price and lose their second and third-round picks because of it.”
Rendell said the Borlase case was lucky to get approved by the AFL committee that assessed NGA prospects.
“They’ve knocked back a few over the time but this one got through,” he said.
“On face value, you think it’s odd.
“But the greater good (of the system) overshadows the outlier every time.”
Adelaide also has priority access to goalsneak Tariek Newchurch (North Adelaide) through its NGA this year, while Lachlan Jones (Woodville-West Torrens) is aligned to Port.
Both players have indigenous heritage.
Rendell said this year’s draft was deep and he expected some players tied to clubs via either the NGA, father-son or northern academies “might go out further than what they really should”.
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