GWS Giants receive dual boost to future

The Blacktown Advocate recently ran this story: http://blacktown-advocate.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/little-giant/ The Little Giant, about a 12 year old refugee kid from Sierra Leone who is absolutely killing them at every sport he tries playing, and who has already caught the attention of AFL talent scouts. Good to see the local paper running with such a story, and good to see that their category title for the game is: "Australian rules/footy".

Here is a recent video interview with Israel Folau about his upcoming AFL career with GWS. He seems a humble sort of guy and all that stuff. We wish him well. Link-- http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8187434 The GWS financial membership number is about to reach 2010 it appears. Very hard to judge if that is ok or not at this stage after 2 months after official launch.

Another young signing for GWS, this time from Corowa, represented NSW/ACT at U16 and U18 lelel: http://www.afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=106407 "You're always told NSW isn't a footy state and there are a lot of setbacks compared with Victorian clubs, but now there is a genuine chance for NSW players to really make it in the AFL."

The Giants have just added two more 17 year olds to their squad - They are both from South Australia taking their total to 27. The article confirmed they had 27 players which means the young player from Pennant Hills has been dropped. So the answer is currently no to any locals being in their group.

Koops, You posed a good question how many local GWS boys on their list - We had a look at their list of 25 players and came up with the following-- Currently 19 listed on their website plus the 6 recruited in the recent Rookie Draft = 25. The club recruited Stuart Turner on July 28 from the local Pennant Hills club originally from Westbrook junior footy club who also announced the signing. However he is not on the website so was he dropped??? To answer the question - We are not sure ATM The rest of the list (25) Southern NSW - 6 Vic 6 SA 4 NT 3 WA 2 Tas 2 ACT 1 R/League 1

I would imagine that their membership would approach around 15 to 20 k (including ACT 5k), but possibly more, when the membership marketing campaign kicks in aroung 14 months. But, what more impressive is the amount of kids coming through the local Sydney comp drafted onto AFL lists, unheard of a couple of years ago for Sydney football. Name AFL Sydney Club AFL Club Aidan RILEY Wollongong Adelaide Blake BRAY Western Suburbs Carlton Scott REED Pennant Hills Collingwood Trent STUBBS East Coast Eagles Collingwood Tom YOUNG Sydney University/Campbelltown Collingwood James WEBSTER North Shore Essendon Mark MCVEIGH Pennant Hills Essendon Will LANGFORD UNSW/ES Hawthorn Jack MAHONEY Wollongong Hawthorn Will SIERAKOWSKI St Ignatius, Riverview/North Shore Hawthorn Jackson FERGUSON Pennant Hills St Kilda Lenny HAYES Pennant Hills St Kilda Paul BEVAN Western Suburbs Sydney Swans Nathan GORDON East Coast Eagles Sydney Swans Kieran JACK Pennant Hills Sydney Swans Eugene KRUGER East Coast Eagles Sydney Swans Jarrad MCVEIGH Pennant Hills Sydney Swans Lewis ROBERTS-THOMSON North Shore Sydney Swans Dylan ADDISON St George Western Bulldogs A couple from the gong, but a Wollongong senior team does play in the Sydney comp. I am not sure how many local GWS boys are from the Sydney area, perhaps someone knows.

Thought the Ausse Rules fans on here may be interested in a radio interview with GWS coach Kevin Sheedy this morning on Perth Sports Radio. Some highlights -- The GWS financial membership in Sydney now over 2000 (No breakdown given) and Canberra settled at 5127 members. All of the Cotorie groups (Sponsors etc) were about 80% full which he was pleased with. That is a great effort for a new club in non-heartland. He jokingly made the comment that the GWS team was the first U19 squad he had coached except for the presence of Folau and Giles from Adelaide. He has to keep his Assistant Coach Mark Williams ( Port Power AFL Premiership Coach) from not pushing the young squad too hard - Reminding him that they were not full blown AFL players. Sheedy praised the management group of the club - Very exparienced in the business world and Aussie Rules footy culture. Finally he declared that in 10/25 years or so GWS would be one of the bigger clubs in the AFL, and he also thought that some of the Melb clubs would not like that at all. However he did add a rider- GWS was going into the unknown say compared with the Gold Coast Suns who had some Southern expat support in their area. Sheeds is always good value in a media interview. However still not understood north of the Murray River it seems sometimes.

Pip, why don't you call yourself "Bend the Truth" instead?

Soccer being the dull boring sport that it is, has done well to get all those participants. Must be all the flouride in the water.

I'd prefer it not be called 'Champions League', but firmly beleive this is great step for the development of the game. It has taken perhaps two decades for the AFL to establish itself, and still is in some parts, but this has meant the second tier of VFL, SANFL & WAFL has been ignored by AFL HQ. Not only will the bigger state clubs like Centrals, Subiaco,North Ballarat gain a national outlet via Foxtel, the non tradtional state comps (NSW/QLD) can grow in stature in time. Not sure about including GWS in 2011 over a NSW/ACT club, but I guess its about profile until they hit the AFL in 2012.

Yes there are a lot of indigenous boys and girls playing football in Australia - in fact it is the biggest participation sport in Australia and almost double the number of players as Aussie Rules.

I think you will find that Richmond will be doing some work around Nth Qld, if they lock some games in at Cairns.

Australia's Indigenous population prefers fast, skilfull, exciting and physical sports like League and Australian Football

I believe the percentages of indigenous players playing AFL compared to NRL are roughly the same 10 - 11% (playing at the elite levels). Here's a snapshot of indigenous involvement in Australian Football / AFL. Source: http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/sport/#ixzz16WuJ3Z6j •The AFL's Indigenous programs reach more than 87,000 Aboriginal people or 36% of Australia's Aboriginal population. •25 Australian Football Indigenous academies operate across the country. •Four AFL clubs engage with Aboriginal communities: Essendon (Wadeye), Geelong (Gove and Groote), Richmond (Alice Springs) and Collingwood (Katherine). •189 Indigenous players play AFL/VFL football. •72 players are on AFL club lists, an historic record. •Indigenous football players make up 10% of the AFL competition, another historic record. •14 Aboriginal players have played 200 games or more, 7 more than 250 games, one has reached 300 games (Gavin Wanganeen). •156 Indigenous players have made their AFL/VFL debut since 1980. Only 23 did so prior to 1980.

Then how do you explain so many indigenous players playing rugby league and AFL buying a polynesian rugby league player Folau?

Of course then you get athletes likeAdam Goodes who could make it in either rugby code had he been brought up on it

thats correct - more than league but similar percentages (about 10% or so) Would be good if this event (which has been around for some years) was held yearly and rotated around Australia

I think it's fair to say that the typical indigenous body type is more suited to an endurance game like Australian football, just like the the typical Polynesian athlete is more suited to a power game like RL. Love the indigenous players that make it to the AFL - they often have the X factor and do very exciting things on the field.

AFL has more indig players, but not by much considering AFL has alot more overall players

I think that Aussie Rules has more indigenous players than Rugby league in the whole of Australia. Also it's more appealing because it allows a free spirit approach to the game. However, I am wondering if there are more indig players in the NRL?