AFL 2021: All the news ahead of Sydney’s Round 4 clash with Essendon at the SCG
Sydney’s youngsters have made history inside the first three rounds. Find out about the talents that have re-invigorated John Longmire’s side.
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The Sydney Swans’ barnstorming start to the AFL season has entered record-breaking territory.
Midfield bull Chad Warner’s Rising Star recognition this week means the undefeated Swans have become the first club to ever have three straight nominees in the 21-and-under award.
Warner follows the nominations of Sydney Academy products Errol Gulden and Braeden Campbell in the opening two rounds.
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that the 19-year-old West Australian, the No.39 pick in the 2019 draft, has re-signed for two more seasons in a coup for the Swans.
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Three nominations in four weeks has happened previously and many clubs have had back-to-back, but never three on the trot – something Warner’s pretty chuffed about.
“It’s pretty massive for the club, and it’s great to get that recognition for the young blokes, because we’re a very tight-knit unit,” he said.
“Everyone fits in and gets along really well and that helps with our performance as well, especially for Braeden, Errol and Logan (McDonald), who are all in their first year.”
The next challenge for Sydney’s crop of young guns is to surpass Gold Coast’s effort last year of having four players nominated in the opening seven rounds.
Promising key forward McDonald, last year’s No.4 draft pick, who’s kicked seven goals in three games, will almost certainly be the next cab off the rank.
Coach John Longmire had to pull Warner aside in his first pre-season for a friendly reminder about looking after his teammates, after he crashed into Robbie Fox in a one-on-one training drill.
Privately, Longmire loved it.
“I definitely remember that conversation,” Warner said with a laugh on Tuesday. “It was probably supposed to be more token pressure than what I did.”
After breaking through for two matches last season, Warner’s played every game this year and become an inside-outside threat who’s kicked multiple goals in each of the past two rounds.
He’s a long way removed from the kid who admitted to being jealous when close friend Dylan Stephens was named to debut last year, moments before he found out he was, too.
The bleached-blond, surfing-loving teenager took a moment on Sunday morning to soak in the euphoria of beating reigning premier Richmond the previous day.
“I was talking to Sam Wicks and we were both saying that when everything settled down the next day, we realised how big of an achievement it was,” Warner said.
“To win by 45 points was even better – it was an unreal feeling. We’ll keep riding the wave, but you can’t start getting complacent.”
SYDNEY’S CYGNETS
Nick Blakey: Provides line-breaking run off a wing and adds to that with a damaging left foot. Is flexible enough to play an inside role or up forward as well.
Braeden Campbell: Powerful runner with an unerringly accurate left-foot kick. Stationed at half-back in his debut season but likely to graduate to the midfield.
Errol Gulden: Smart, creative half-forward with good goal sense who has the potential to develop into a midfielder.
Tom McCartin: Growing into a key defensive role that he assumed last year after starting as a forward. Strong overhead and has become a very good interceptor.
Logan McDonald: Talented key forward with a high work-rate who likes to get on the move. Still has plenty of physical development to go.
Justin McInerney: Had an interrupted pre-season, but the hard-running wingman has picked up where he left off from his breakout campaign in 2020.
James Rowbottom: Powerful athlete who’s already proven he can match it as an inside midfielder. Can play on a wing or across half-forward as well and is considered a future leader.
Dylan Stephens: Hard-running, hybrid midfielder who managed eight games last year. He was pushed out of the side after a pre-season head knock, but he’s back in the selection frame.
Chad Warner: Physical, inside midfielder who relishes the contest and stands out with his ability to break away from a congested situation.
Sam Wicks: Another Academy product who built his game on defensive pressure and work-rate, but has added a scoring punch to his arsenal this year.
‘NO ONE WANTED HIM’: SWANS SLAM ACADEMY CRITICS
Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham has lashed out at critics of the club’s academy system, adamant the league would have to disband the father-son system before it watered down the Swans’ talent pathway.
Pridham told the Herald Sun Victorian clubs bleating about Sydney’s development were always silent about the huge advantages of their own father-sons and next generation academies.
He said Geelong and Collingwood had accepted huge concessions regarding the draft and cost of living without complaint from rival sides.
Sydney must bid for their players in the same way as the father-son system, having injected $10 million into their own academy over 11 years.
The Swans have only drafted or rookied 13 of the 3000 players to go through that system, with Pridham saying the criticism was tired and predictable.
“Collingwood have five father-sons and another on the way and two next generation academy picks,” he told the Herald Sun.
“We have outrageously rookied a kid like Sam Wicks who no one else picked. Go figure. As for Geelong if you talk about advantages, my god they have (Patrick) Dangerfield, Jeremy Cameron, (Gary) Rohan, (Isaac) Smith, they are in a town that houses the Geelong Falcons. They have players keen to play there and it’s so cheap to live there. They are spending 300 bucks a week to live in an eight-bedroom house. The bottom line is it has never been a level playing field.
“So anyone who is attacking us and wants to see anything happen to the academies, you could say goodbye to the father-son system.”
Geelong coach Chris Scott said on Monday night he supported generating young talent in NSW but said the question was how much Sydney paid in draft value.
“If we look through it logically, a lot of the population is in Sydney and a lot of the talent is there and if they can harness the sporting talent – I think most of us would know who played when we were in Year 10 or 11, the best cricketers were also the best footy players, who are best rugby players,” he said.
“I think the key question for the competition is ‘what price do they pay?’’
The Swans secured best mates Braeden Campbell (pick 6) and Errol Gulden (pick 32) as academy selections this year, with Gulden’s father saying he wouldn’t be playing AFL if not for the academy.
Pridham said the only reason the academy system was introduced a decade ago was because there were barely any players being produced from out of NSW.
Carlton’s Luke Parks made his AFL debut this week having graduated from the Sydney academy.
“No kids were getting drafted from NSW or Queensland. So you have got to develop talent. They go into the draft and people can pick them up and if they don’t, they forever hold your peace,” he said.
“We have 780 kids in the academy. 480 are boys and the rest are girls. We have had 3000 kids through academies. And less than half of one per cent make their way to the AFL. So the rest go to local leagues, they umpire, some go to play SANFL or WAFL. Everyone has an academy and we actually do something for our kids.
“Strategically it’s pretty important and there was noise about it which is why the AFL brought in a bidding system. We have had some very limited success in winning three games and then clubs start throwing stones.
“The thing that has always frustrated me is that if you look at things through a Victorian lens, if it is seen to have advantaged non-Victorian clubs it’s an unfair advantage.
“If it benefits a club like Geelong or Collingwood, it’s tradition. Like the father-son system.”
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan backed the northern academies system last month.
“The debate in Victoria has been the price you pay. I think the success of the academies is there for everyone to see.”
WILL BUDDY RETURN FOR DONS CLASH?
Sydney coach John Longmire has all but confirmed superstar forward Lance Franklin will return to the Swans’ line-up for Thursday night’s SCG clash with Essendon.
They avoided the temptation to back the 34-year-old up against reigning premier Richmond on Saturday, after he played his first match in 19 months a week earlier.
Not even Franklin’s absence could stop Sydney’s momentum, with Longmire’s men rolling to their third straight victory in a remarkable start to the season.
The logic was simple: by resting Franklin at the weekend, it meant he’d have a significant break after both his first game and Thursday night’s match, given the Swans won’t play again until Saturday, April 17.
“You’re always tempted to play great players, let’s be clear with that,” Longmire said.
“You always want your best players playing, but we sat down a month ago, and regardless of where the results were at, we just felt that was the best way to go about it.
“After his first game, it allows him time to train and allows him time to strengthen his hamstrings, his groin, the areas he needed to, in the gym.
“He couldn’t play the Saturday and Thursday nights back-to-back after five days – that wasn’t going to be a possibility – so in the end, the decision is really made for us, when you look at all the facts.”
Franklin instead completed a training session on Saturday, and again on Monday, as he prepares for his second appearance of the season, with Longmire saying he’s been “pulling up well”.
It will mean both of the ex-Hawk’s games this year will be at the SCG, but the coach brushed off the relevance of it.
Hayden McLean looms as the most vulnerable player if, as expected, Franklin returns.
The other player to watch is important midfielder James Rowbottom (knee), who’s missed the past two games with bone bruising. He’s no certainty to face the Bombers, either.
Longmire was predictably “rapt” with his players’ performance in upsetting the Tigers by 45 points, but wary about an Essendon side that thrashed St Kilda on Saturday night.
“They’ve got a number of younger players, similar to us, and they were fantastic,” he said.
“St Kilda is a finals team and they’ve come out and won by 75 points. We watched them over the weekend and they played a great style of footy.
“It’s terrific – two teams coming off good wins, back here at the SCG, in front of what we hope is a great crowd.”
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