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In a major positive for AFL in the northern states, Sydney Swans Academy graduate Isaac Heeney has emerged as a potential superstar of the future.
Heeney comes from Newcastle, a rugby league heartland that has reared some of rugby league’s greatest players – including Immortals Andrew Johns and Clive Churchill.
The fact Heeney is playing senior AFL for the Swans and was touted as a top-three draft pick is a massive win for the code.
It was laughable when Collingwood president Eddie McGuire claimed in February that the Swans Academy threatens to “destroy the game”.
It was even more laughable when he said, as reported by The Age, “They have got the equivalent, and this is understating it, of 600 father-sons, but I’ll give you the kicker – 600 father-sons who can play.”
Really? 600 father and sons – if that’s the case, there should be more than two AFL clubs in NSW. Never mind the fact some of those kids at the academy are 10 years old!
In the five years the Academy has been in operation, prior to Isaac Heeney Brandon Jack had been the only player to have played senior footy for the Swans – 17 games since his debut in 2013.
The question to ask club bosses from traditional AFL states is: how do you propose to grow the game in NSW and Queensland? New Brisbane Lions and former Carlton CEO Greg Swann has discovered it is not as easy at it looks.
How can it possibly “destroy the game” if kids in Queensland and NSW begin to fill the national draft? In previous years there were barely any draftees from either state.
Heeney’s first three games for the Swans has seen him live up to the hype and expectation, wowing supporters, commentators and onlookers alike, and earning a NAB Rising Star nomination against Greater Western Sydney last Saturday.
The 18-year-old’s blistering attack on the ball has drawn comparisons to Sydney Swans champion Paul Kelly. There are some very striking similarities, not just in the way they play the game, but for the fact both players could have been lost to another sport.
Kelly made no secret his sporting hero was Eastern Suburbs Roosters halfback Kevin Hastings, and that he loved rugby league. He had also played against Canberra Raiders legend and current NSW State of Origin coach Laurie Daley.
The only difference is Kelly was a product of the Riverina, which is one NSW region with a strong Australian football history – Wayne Carey and John Longmire come from there – however rugby league’s own history there is just as strong.
How these facts are overlooked by those criticising the academies is perplexing.
How McGuire can overlook these facts is even more astounding, considering he is well educated as far as NSW, Queensland and rugby league go – his beloved Channel Nine has been rugby league’s broadcaster for 23 years!
To see the academies as anything other than a positive does not do justice to the bigger picture regarding the growth of the sport in NSW and Queensland, nor to how the academies will end up benefitting all clubs.
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