GWS Giants have stranglehold on New South Wales AFL heartland

JARROD Brander is the key forward you’d love your club to draft.

Jarrod Brander snaps at goal. Picture: Supplied

JARROD Brander is the key forward you’d love your club to draft.

At 195cm he’s quick on the lead, a strong contested mark and reliable set-shot.

Those who sing his praises say the Geelong Grammar boarder is every bit as exciting as St Kilda’s Paddy McCartin at the same age, the 2014 No. 1 pick a graduate from the same school.

The Bendigo Pioneer grew up in Wentworth, an Aussie rules town near the South Australia border, and his parents now reside 20 minutes down the road in Mildura, Victoria.

Like the sound of him charging out of your club’s goalsquare one day? Well, forget about it.

Brander is in the contentious GWS academy and likely to join the burgeoning club in the 2017 draft.

This year’s horses has bolted.

Some clubs fear two of the best five kids in the 2016 pool will belong to the Giants.

They will plunder a clutch of academy stars that were largely developed in fertile footy areas, despite their postcodes belonging to NSW.

But the fight for fairness in future drafts, starting with Brander’s, is on.

Jarrod Brander taking set shots at goal. Picture: Supplied

Last season Brander slotted six second-half goals to inspire Geelong Grammer to a comeback APS football victory and kicked 28 goals as a Year 10 scholarship holder.

And it’s not just the teenage goalkicker, recovering from knee surgery, who is on the Giants’ radar next year.

There’s Albury ball magnet Charlie Spargo, the son of former North Melbourne and Brisbane Bears player Paul Spargo.

There’s Jack Powell, regarded as an Isaac Heeney clone, ruckman Nathan Richards and key forward Alex Paech.

There was Jacob Hopper and Matthew Kennedy last year, both of which were early picks and had limited contact with the Giants’ academy.

And there’s only a slim chance of the Giants missing any good ones.

The new points system was meant to force some academy stars to other clubs. But as the ladder stands, GWS already holds picks 6, 14, 17, 30 and 32 this year.

And they will continue trading talented kids for future picks, with Cam McCarthy, Adam Tomlinson and James Stewart chances to change homes come October.

“There will always be someone to trade because no one’s happy playing seconds up there,” one chief recruiter said.

So come November’s draft you can bank on the Giants already holding enough points to afford this year’s academy stars as well as next year’s.

As Geelong coach Chris Scott said: “It’s more the concern about what might be coming”.

“Yes, they’ve got a lot of talent. But the prospect they’re going to get more is disconcerting for a lot of recruiters”.

Sydney worked hard to convert young gun Isaac Heeney from NRL heartland. Picture: Getty

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire’s ranting and raving might wear thin on some, but even coach Nathan Buckley reckons these kids are now coming from established footy heartland.

In short — the large Riverina section of the GWS academy isn’t imperative to growing the draft pool because it is now a hot spot for talent.

Brander didn’t grow up in rugby league heartland and he wasn’t hypnotised into kicking a Sherrin instead of shooting hoops by the Giants.

He was raised 400km from Adelaide, 570km from Melbourne and 1100km from the NRL town of Sydney.

In fact, those at the TAC Cup wondered Tuesday if there was even anywhere to play League in Wentworth.

Also a gun fast bowler, he grew up like almost any traditional prospect — cricket in the summer, footy in the winter.

The Swans got Heeney on the cheap but deserved him after investing in the Newcastle kid’s conversion from rugby to footy at a young age.

And, to its credit, the GWS academy did propel Harry Cunningham to the Swans and Logan Austin and Dougal Howard to Port Adelaide.

Jason McPherson, who recently resigned as regional manager of Southern NSW, maintains the academy is crucial for providing an AFL pathway to country kids.

But when just about every single club is up in arms about GWS farming traditional footy heartland you know something giant is brewing.

“Yes, they’ve got a lot of talent. But the prospect they’re going to get more is disconcerting for a lot of recruiters”.

Geelong coach Chris Scott

WHY CLUBS ARE ANGRY

“After one wave there is the next wave that comes crashing on the shore, and so on, but at the moment there is a tidal wave building somewhere offshore,” former Hawthorn list chief Chris Pelchen said in 2010.

“They are going to keep staying in every draft by tipping out players they can’t keep to somebody who will give them a sub-10 pick. So it’s going to be on-going, not just for this year and next, they are going to stay in drafts at the top end for 10 years to keep the dynasty going,” former Adelaide recruiting boss Matt Rendell said.

THE NEXT WAVE

Which young stars GWS can nab this year

(Giants enjoy a 20 per cent discount in the first round and 197 draft points thereafter)

WILL SETTERFIELD (AIS)

187cm midfielder

Albury/Sandringham Dragons/Caulfield Grammar

Range: Top-10

Plays like: Ryan Griffen

HARRISON McREADIE (AIS)

196cm key position

Henty

Range: Top-10

Plays like: Harry Taylor

ZAC SPROULE (AIS)

197cm key position

Albury/Murray Bushrangers

Range: Top-20

Plays like: Nick Riewoldt

AFL to review generous GWS zone with another five top-30 talents GWS-bound https://t.co/mj77vXREFm @ClarkyHeraldSun pic.twitter.com/GjbAQb6ZXk

— Sam Landsberger (@SamLandsberger) May 3, 2016

TODD MARSHALL

197cm forward/ruck

Deniliquin/Murray Bushrangers

Range: Top-20

Plays like: Tom Boyd

HARRY PERRYMAN

184cm midfielder

Collingullie

Range: Top-20

Plays like: Joel Selwood

KOBE MUTCH (AIS)

187cm midfielder

Gol Gol/Bendigo Pioneers

Range: Top-40

Plays like: Brandon Ellis

MAX LYNCH

200cm ruck/forward

Albury/Murray Bushrangers

Range: Top-50

Plays like: Max Gawn