Gold Coast Suns academy operations and talent ID co-ordinator Kade Nanscawen: ‘We’re interested in remote NT talent’

EXCLUSIVE: All young talented footballers in the Territory can set a realistic goal of playing for the Gold Coast Suns.That is the view of the club’s academy operations and talent ID co-ordinator after running his eye over the Michael Long Cup.

Darwin Buffaloes product Mal Rosas Jr made his AFL debut for the Gold Coast Suns on Saturday. It was a reward for 18 months of hard work at the Suns Academy. He was the first Territorian to debut with the AFL team from its newly-established NT academy zone program. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

ALL young talented footballers in the Territory can set a realistic goal of playing for the Gold Coast Suns.

That is the view of the club’s academy operations and talent ID co-ordinator Kade Nanscawen after his recent visit to the Top End to run his eye over the Michael Long Cup.

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The competition featured five under-15 boys’ teams of 24 players. Those teams consisted of players from Alice Springs, East Arnhem (Gove, Milingimbi, Galiwin’ku and Groote Eylandt), West Arnhem (Wadeye, Gunbalanya and Tiwi Islands) and the Darwin region.

And the Suns insist their visit to the Top End was not just for lip service.

“I was really impressed with the raw talent on display. There wasn’t much coaching or structure – just a lot of talent on display,” Nanscawen told the NT News.

“We identified 10 or so players for our academy from these games.”

The Suns are serious about investing their time and resources in the Territory.

And it is not just Top End players on the club’s radar.

“It’s all over the Territory. If we see players who we think can help us moving forward then we’ll look at them closely,” Nanscawen said.

“Even if that just means we get them down here to play ­locally in our system.”

Action from the 2021 Michael Long Cup. Picture: AFLNT Media

Former Darwin Buffaloes star Mal Rosas Jr is one of those players.

The 19-year-old spent 18 months in the Suns Academy before making his AFL debut against Brisbane Lions at Metricon Stadium on Saturday, finishing with six disposals in his team’s 73-point defeat.

“Mal and (former Wanderers star forward also in the Suns Academy) Joel Jeffrey are unreal young men,” Nanscawen said.

“We’re starting to reap the rewards from getting them into our academy and with how hard they’ve been working.

“Mal’s hard work is starting to pay off with him being the first young man in our academy from Darwin to make his AFL debut.

“And Joel has been impressing us at VFL level.

“We’re also happy with (former Waratah young gun) Ned Stevens’ progress in our academy. There are massive opportunities for female Territory footballers as well, with (former Palmerston star) Janet Baird making her AFLW debut this year.

“The plan is to get six Territory women on our AFLW list in the next couple of years,” Nanscawen said.