AFL clubs take aim at GWS Giants’ fertile Riverina recruiting ground

AFL clubs say unless Greater Western Sydney’s talent academy is stripped of the Riverina goldmine the Giants will have little incentive to grow the game.

Riverina product Jacob Hopper marks in front of Giant Jeremy Cameron. Picture: Mark Evans

AFL clubs say unless Greater Western Sydney’s talent academy is stripped of the Riverina goldmine the Giants will have little incentive to grow the game.

Club heavyweights are at loggerheads with the Giants and AFL, adamant the Riverina has always been a fertile recruiting ground.

One expert pointed to the Riverina Team of the Century, which was selected by inaugural GWS coach Kevin Sheedy last year.

“There is no shortage of captains or Brownlows, there is plenty of leadership and goal power,” Sheedy said of the team which boasted legends Wayne Carey, Paul Kelly, Shane Crawford and John Longmire.

Adelaide captain Taylor Walker is just one of the many AFL stars to have grown up in the Riverina. Picture: AAP

Another club figure said it would be fair if the Giants’ zone was shrunk so that from Temora down to the Victorian border and beyond was in the open draft.

“The Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast zones have produced next to nothing over history,” an angry senior club official said last night.

“It wouldn’t be 10 per cent of what the GWS zone has produced and that needs to be explained.

“In 2012 (GWS’s first season) what were the players that had come out of the GWS zone? They would have Tex Walker, Tom Hawkins, Luke Breust, Isaac Smith, Kieren Jack, Brandon Jack, Matthew Suckling, Justin Koschitzke — it just goes on and on.

“Historically (the Riverina) has been a massive producer for the AFL.”

Possible No. 1 pick Will Setterfield is developing at Caulfield Grammar and TAC Cup club Sandringham Dragons this year, but will be drafted by the Giants because of his Albury postcode.

The Herald Sun knows of one GWS academy player whose primary skill development across several years consisted of one 30-minute session with an ex-AFL star.

But Giants coach Leon Cameron said the zone fury was a kneejerk response to his side’s watershed win against Hawthorn.

“One thing I will say is that the AFL made a great adjustment last year on fair value and the bidding system for the academies,” he said.

“You can’t get much fairer than that.”

William Setterfield (left) spoils a marking attempt. Picture: Jason Sammon

Most clubs now accept that Sydney and Brisbane’s academies have added to the talent pool for the good of the game, but argue the Giants are simply farming players already bound for the draft.

But GWS chief executive Dave Matthews said that simply wasn’t true.

“Every time we get a kid from New South Wales or Canberra on to our list, it effectively deepens the pool and frees up more Victorians for Victorian clubs,” he said.

“I just think it is good for the game that there is talent coming out of New South Wales, because that is the overall objective.”

The Riverina could produce more draftees than South Australia this year with the Giants likely to have five top-30 talents available.

“Until they produce someone out of western Sydney or (non-AFL areas) it’s just not a legitimate academy,” another club said.

“There’s more indigenous people in west Sydney than any other place in Australia but they’re not going to put any work in while they’re pulling them out of the Riverina.”

“If they lost the Riverina they might actually develop the game instead of letting soccer take over.”

The Riverina Team of the Century wasn’t lacking star power.