The 2020 AFL carnival of AFL was benighted by the lockdown and cancellation of junior and second-tier footy in the eastern states, robbing the footy-loving public of a large proportion of the ever-increasingly popular pre-draft speculation and analysis of potential AFL talent.
In particular, the eventual number one draft pick, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, was denied the opportunity to showcase his immense talent against his peers as over a thousand prospects around the country endeavoured to put their names forward to be drafted.
What happened instead was that the media and AFL fandom focused on the unfairness of the close to consensus number one prospect being tied to a club on the basis of his ethnicity.
Not that anybody really framed it in those terms, yet that is what the decision to unhitch the Next Generation Academy (NGA) from the first round of the 2021 draft and also the second round from the 2022 draft onward comes down to – the next Buddy Franklin, Adam Goodes or Paddy Ryder will be on the block for any club to claim without their NGA club being able to match the bid because clubs didn’t want elite indigenous talent to be tied to one club.
By the same token, the Buddy comparisons might be perceived as a little lazy and somewhat casually racist. It is stating the obvious that Buddy is indigenous and full-forward has always been a very white position, so when another indigenous full-forward prospect came along, people were saying “is this kid as good as Buddy or is it all hype” before he’s even played a game. Would he have been compared to Lance Franklin if he hadn’t been indigenous? Probably not.
Footy gossip can be an echo chamber, so the innocence of comparing Buddy and Jamarra is just another product of the AFL industry manufacturing hype about a kid very few people have seen play live in person, therefore, the narrative has built around him that he’s the second coming of the great one without examining the othering inherent in the subtext.
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is going to be a generational talent, but rather than being a Sam Walsh-style instantly elite performer, he will take a few years to really get going even though he’s probably going to get a prolonged shot at senior footy in order to allow him to develop at the top level.
It should also be noted that JUH’s potential has been judged on the evidence of nine NAB League U18 games when he was a bottom-aged 17-year-old. He was not chosen to represent Vic Country, having underwhelmed as a 16-year-old for the Greater Western Victoria Rebels in 2018.
His body of work came late in the 2019 Oakleigh Chargers premiership run, scoring 24 goals in nine games, and he tellingly went from goalkicking forward to tall target outside 50 in the grand final that became the Matt Rowell Highlights Show.
As far as Buddy goes, he came along at the very end of the era of big goal-kicking full-forwards and a game style that suited him, but if he were to be debuting this season he’d never kick a tonne in a season or necessarily become a tall forward at all.
This is where the comparison to JUH becomes relevant because the Dogs are stacked for tall forwards and could play him up a wing or as a third tall with roaming licence, which is where Buddy would have still flourished and Ugle-Hagan has the most scope for immediate impact.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
The fact that Ugle-Hagan was NGA tied has yet again demonstrated that the AFL industry, including fans, has a problem with indigenous people getting special treatment. It surfaced during the Adam Goodes saga and now that this “boy” has had the temerity to get himself chosen as the number one draft pick and the AFL clubs rose up to ensure that no indigenous kid can ever do it again through the NGA program. Or migrant kid or child of migrant parents. Or kid who got lucky by accident of being born overseas to white Aussie parents. But those are just collateral damage.
Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater! The NGA program is meant to foster kids who are for the most part in disadvantaged situations, but by making the eligibility criteria so broad there are loopholes through which players can access assistance and direct intervention from clubs who do not come from either under-represented communities or disadvantaged backgrounds.
James Borlase found his way into the Adelaide Crows NGA program without being indigenous or the son of a migrant. He was just born overseas while his father worked for the Australian Wheat Board in Egypt, which makes a mockery of the system but means the kid doesn’t have to leave South Australia, even if he was drafted by the wrong club given his father was a Port SANFL premiership player that didn’t quite satisfy the father-son criteria (which is also flawed).
What clubs have done by making their representations of protest to the AFL Commission has significantly damaged the pathway programs for kids from multicultural and indigenous backgrounds, which clubs will now spend less money on due to the diminishing rewards. They may not have been racially motivated, at least there isn’t substantiated evidence of such a fraught charge, yet the consequences of the actions of these clubs in demanding changes are going to affect indigenous and migrant families the most.
Removing top NGA talent from the bidding system won’t solve the compromised nature of future drafts because Northern Academies and father-sons will still attract bids in the first and second rounds, NGA bids will still come in later rounds and free agency compensation will still blow the first round out into the mid-20s.
The next Jamarra Ugle-Hagan could be intentionally hidden in the colts division of the minor leagues in rural Victoria, SA or Western Australia and pass out of the opening rounds of the draft because they’ve been concealed from talent pathways as clubs seek to find competitive advantage by cheating the rules. It has likely happened before NGA came along.
Alex Davies would have been NGA eligible if he hadn’t been a Suns far North Queensland Academy player because his Mum is Japanese. Likewise, Joel Jeffrey was actually in the NT Thunder Academy until he was diverted through the Darwin Suns Academy program.
Blake Coleman was another indigenous kid who would have been in the NGA had he remained in his home area in the Kimberley instead of following his brother, Keidean, to Brisbane to do high school and join the Lions Academy.
Six players in the first round of the 2020 draft – including the two Suns preselected draftees who were rated first-rounders – were NGA or would have qualified for NGA if they weren’t already in the Northern Academies, with Sydney’s Braeden Campbell the seventh academy-tied player in the group of 28.
Three of those players are NGA-tied draftees, with Lachie Jones (indigenous) and Reef McInnes (Filipino) having bids matched under the program, would not have been able to have been matched had they been a year younger, thereby removing all of the welfare and development support they’d received over the journey.
Jack Peris, son of Australia’s first Indigenous gold medal-winning Olympian and dual-sport athlete, Nova Peris, has been coaxed away from athletics by St Kilda’s NGA program and has strong links with the indigenous players at the club who have mentored him. After the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, the Melbourne Grammar student goes into his draft year knowing that if he gets selected in the first round then the Saints won’t be able to match.
Will St Kilda be forced to use their first pick on him to avoid the possibility of a club selecting him after them in the first round? The prospect of an 18-year-old kid to have the promise of his pathway potentially taken from him is devastating. Maybe he will choose to concentrate on the Olympics and walk away from AFL, thereby making a complete mockery of the original intent of creating the NGA: to lure young athletes from other sports to footy. He is arguably the top prospect from the NT in 2021 and with a story like his he could be the main headline for all the wrong reasons.
Austin Harris is another Suns FNQ Academy talent who would have qualified for NGA due to his Thai heritage through his mother, Ticha. His father, Errol Harris, played cricket up to Sheffield Shield level and Austin had to make a choice between AFL and cricket when his scholarship came up. Not just any scholarship, but the coveted Troy Clarke Scholarship, which is the preeminent award for Queensland teen talent, so named after the scout who talent identified Kurt Tippett.
Aussie was just selected in the AFL Academy program, which makes up the top 21 prospects for the 2021 draft, after he won the MVP award at his U16s national championships. It seems like the Suns are going to have to match bids this year, but even if their star prospect is bid upon early they are in a position to easily match any bid.
The Suns Academy Class of 2021 runs deep and could again see four players drafted, or possibly more. One player who won’t be among them is McLoffty Gaidan, whose recent tragic passing highlights the need for extra resources in player development and welfare for indigenous kids in elite player pathways. Not fewer, as the recent AFL austerity measures will bring.
There isn’t any direct racial motivation or question about the underlying motivations behind the AFL tearing down the NGA pathway for the very top prospects. Yet the decision does discriminate because it treats indigenous and multicultural teenagers in the footy states differently to all youth in non-traditional AFL states. It is problematic because mainly Melbourne clubs want access to kids who they haven’t put any development into, as occurs in the open draft, yet it ignores the body of evidence that these young men need a greater level of assistance.
So what if the Western Bulldogs got lucky with gaining access to the best prospect in the draft? Sydney got the fifth-best by dint of being from their academy. It could have easily been the other way around. Collingwood will look to match a bid on their father-son prospect early in the 2021 draft, but if he was an NGA prospect instead they would likely lose him.
Then there’s Jamarra Ugle-Hagan himself. Has this whole debate put him at risk of tall poppy syndrome that Australians are so prone to falling for? Will he be booed like Adam Goodes if he speaks out on racial vilification or maybe just booed for a more flimsy reason? The Goodes experience held a mirror to AFL fandom and found it wanting, at a time when we thought the vilification of Robbie Muirs and Nicky Winmar was far behind, only to find it raising its ugly head to force one of the greatest players of the modern era into retirement and exile because he spoke out against racism.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Like all high-profile indigenous players, Ugle-Hagan will experience vilification both directly and indirectly during his career, but with the education and ongoing support of his club, such incidents will be able to be handled with the holistic approaches of NGA mentors and educators. Yet AFL austerity and disincentivising NGA will see much of that welfare and support trashed.
The talent and character of the kid have so far stood up to public scrutiny. He’s got spunk and charisma to go with exceptional ability, which it has to be a testament to the Western Bulldogs that they’ve identified and groomed him to get to this moment, rather than an undeserved hand out to a random kid based on his ethnicity. Now kids following his path are likely to be largely abandoned by the 15 NGA clubs.
Greater Western Sydney also has an NGA zone in the Riverina that used to be part of their Talent Academy zone, but it was too productive to limit the area south of the Barassi Line to one club, even if it is in NSW. It begs the question if GWS can have an NGA zone granted as an exception to remedy unfairness, why can’t the whole scheme be decoupled from particular areas and re-assigned across the country?
Instead of an academy for all multicultural people, just make an academy for indigenous players in remote areas and create other programs for children of migrants or urban indigenous kids that aren’t hitched to draft compromise.
The AFLW has a brilliant system where academies are set up by every club and players get to designate which states they are willing to be selected in. Girls and women from all backgrounds are given access to development and welfare support, especially those relocating from rural areas and those engaged in education pathways. Even AFL clubs without AFLW teams, such as Hawthorn and Port Adelaide, produce graduates who end up getting drafted in whichever state they nominate.
The NGA thrives in the women’s competition and has dramatically increased the quality of each draft, which in turn boosts the standard of the competition itself. Obviously, due to the length of the season and pay disparity, these reforms were necessary, but it just throws the entire system into sharp relief.
In their headlong scramble to attempt to mollify certain clubs and stakeholders over perceived draft compromise, the AFL has encroached the mark by creating an unfair academy pathway system that discriminates against young boys and men on the basis of their ethnicity and location. Indigenous youth need the NGA pathways investment to be able to give them a level playing field and ensure they are fully prepared for life in AFL no matter what level they end up playing.
Educator Edmund Rice started out with the philosophy that marginalised people just needed a hand up, not a handout. That’s what NGA represents. A hand up. Not a handout.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Tom Lynch walked straight into 2 premierships. He hasn't been better at all, he's just had better teammates. Dion Prestia learnt his midfield skills running around with a bloke named Gary Ablett. Remember him? Germball also walked straight into a Premiership. Peaheart Caddy left after 2 seasons. Geelong realised he was a dickhead and flicked him to Richmond where he also walked straight into a flag team. He remains the only Suns player drafted in the first round not to play out a contract extension. The fact is, Prestia and Lynch were developed at the Suns and played their best footy at the Suns. Prestia got 13 Brownlow votes across 7 games in 2014, but after his knee injury in 2015 he has never been quite as good. Lynch kicked 66.34 and polled 11 Brownlow votes in 2016 and has not been that good ever since after doing his PCL in 2017. He's getting elite supply at Richmond and goals come easy. In 2016 he averaged 15 disposals, but at Richmond just 10. A lot of his goals are just Joe the goose over the top gimmes. The team didn't make them better. They just did their jobs in a team that needed their skillsets. What did they earn? As a young Suns player said to Lynch the night the playing group stripped him of the captaincy and sent him packing from the club - "Anything you achieve now won't be because you've earned it." Captain Bedwetter cried and ran away. Your argument that premiership make them better players contradicts the whole premise of your initial argument that they got better after leaving. Their team was better. As players they haven't got better. They got poached at their prime! The theory about Gold Coast players not being developed to their potential has been disproven. What does carry weight is that they probably weren't given elite strength and conditioning, which led to injuries, which led to claims that players got better when they left. The guy in charge of strength and conditioning now is Alex Rigby, who was the physio and is the son of the club doctor. He has taken their training up several notches to the point where the ex-Geelong and ex-Richmond players say it's the toughest they've ever experienced. The club completely changed personnel in 2017 and what you saw in 2020 was just the beginning of what will emerge from substantial changes to everything the club does to ensure future success. For some reason I thought you were an anti-AFLW person. Sorry about that. I'm a big fan and the Suns AFLW program has raised the club's profile. It closes a circle that began when the Suns academy was producing talent for other clubs to benefit from and will continue producing players who will in several cases find their lives taking them interstate where they will play for an opposition club. In terms of culture, having the women's team competing really brought a new kind of supporter to the club and it is no coincidence that they broke the membership record by converting new and returning fans. I don't know if you watch women's rugby league or rugby union, but most of the players are not suited to Australian Rules. There are only 2 converts from rugby in the AFLW and they both play for Carlton.
2dogz
Roar Rookie
Taking the piss can be fun. Casual racism is kinda low
Boo
Guest
Didn't like the Jamarra no 1 deal had a huge impact on the picks 30 plus .IMO maybe if an eligible player is nominated the club that has bidding rights to him / her should surrender there picks at the discretion of the original bidding club .So in the Ugle - Hanson deal the Bulldogs picks don't evaporate Adelaide gets them to use as they see fit .
Cracka
Roar Rookie
Most of the things you say need to happen are already in place. hasn’t happen yet and according to others has been in place from the start, just hasn’t worked, but like you I hope they turn that talent they have into the next level. AFLW is a different game to the mens, in a sense, but I believe will have only positive effect now and in the future, I say this as a AFLW club member I’m very proud to watch the ladies run around, they play in a way that is in some respects better than the mens comp for me, they have more attitude. Now players who have left and improved, now before we go into war, lets be fair we play for premierships and players play a role to achieve that…please don’t do the stat rubbish because I can tell you now Bob Skilton said he would hand back all of his Brownlow medals for a premiership, so stats mean nothing in a game that hands out 1 prize… so Prestia – premiership player. Lynch – premiership player. Caddy – 2 time premiership player. all have been better in Richmond colours than GCS colours and thats a fact, no way anyone can say winning a premiership is a lesser than coming second in a BF at GCS.
Ditto
Roar Rookie
The reason I googled the above information was that despite the peculiarities of the NGA system, I don't understand why any of the clubs would be disgruntled with it's actual and potential outcomes. The only thing I can think of is that some clubs could be unhappy with their zone capabilities. The Horsham example only gave up 2 candidates, but the Western Bulldogs zone also includes Ballarat, the third largest city in Victoria with an indigenous population of 1.4%. Geelong is 1% indigenous and Melbourne 0.5% indigenous. Asian and African migration may have weighting issues as well, that upset some clubs.
Ditto
Roar Rookie
According to the 2016 census, Horsham had a population of 19642, 48.8% was male and 1.5% was indigenous. Of this population, 1190 were aged from 10 to 14 years of age (Ugle-Hagan was 14 in 2016). If we assume equal amounts of 14 year olds as there are 10, 11, 12 and 13 year olds, then there were 238 14 year olds, 48.8% are male - 116 candidates, 1.5% indigenous - 1.74. If we round that up, then the guesstimate amount of indigenous males, born in 2002, living in Horsham is 2. One of which is JUH.
Ditto
Roar Rookie
As an Adelaide supporter I'm not complaining about the NGA system as it stood in 2020. Despite the Western Bulldogs usurping the number 1 pick. Adelaide still got the number 2 pick and the system delivered two well credentialed footballers to the club. The controversial selection in James Borlase and indigenous prospect Tariek Newchurch. As NGA's they were listed as category B rookies, a category that exists outside the salary cap. Basically the club has all the advantages of having two players on their list, but they take up no space on it and as far as the AFL are concerned arn't paid.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Most of the things you say need to happen are already in place. Stuart Dew, Rhyce Shaw and Josh Francou were at Sydney together. Our list management GM was at GWS and Richmond before that. The CEO Mark Evans was an AFL handpicked appointment. Chairman Tony Cochrane regularly gives the Eddie’s McGuires and David Kochs black eyes in the media in defence of the club. They’ve even turned the local media from vultures to hand fed pigeons. The head of the women’s program, Fiona McLarty, has been involved in promoting AFL in Queensland for longer than the Suns have exist, while the AFLW coach David Lake has developing young male and female talent in Queensland for even longer. I don’t think we should further debate AFLW because you are coming from a vastly different angle and I have very strong opinions about it. Unless you want to talk about it in a sense of how it contributes to club culture, in which case I’m here all day for it. I’m interested to know which players you have observed who left the Suns and got better. It is a claim I’ve heard often, yet nobody can back it up. The only players to have shown improvement are tall forwards and rucks, which is a natural progression. The overwhelming majority of players who are delisted never play again - Trent McKenzie is the exception, but even he hasn’t improved. Josh Caddy? He’s known locally as Peaheart.
Cracka
Roar Rookie
The AFL rushed to set up the Suns, but that is now in the pass and it is what it is, the Suns need a Richmond like culture, what that means and looks like at the Suns will be different, but in some respects the same, models are quickly followed by other clubs within the AFL. I understand the money side of things that the AFL hand over from the media rights to the Suns each year, but put that to one side as again thats just what it is. As for the AFLW we have to put that to one side as well, as I think the QLD/NSW sides have a bigger advantage over the rest of Australia in that they have a big female base of rugby players, who may move codes. The Suns go to the draft and pick up kids like all club and have that chance to develop players for the elite level, now how well have they done that? How many players have come and gone from the Suns list and not improved at other clubs? not all but some have. I still see the biggest issues for the Suns is going to be retaining players when a Sydney or Geelong come knocking at the door and say to a young player hey come down and have a look at what we are doing, look at our way of doing things and this what we want to do for you, will the Suns have in place a club culture and training that can complete off the field as well as the …better ran/more experenced clubs in the system? I think thats what they need to do very fast, I think it was Jonathan Brown, who said when he went to Brisbane, that the players and coaches felt it was them against the rest of the world attitude that helped drive the Brisbane culture and in the end to 4 grand finals, they had poor training facilities, no money to update equipment etc along those lines, but they had a culture that drove them, I remember David Parkin talking about the Carlton side of 1994, 1995 and 1996 period, how it was a player driven culture and I think over that period of 1994 until 1996 they had a lot of wins, but this was player/coaches driven. The Suns administration need to be bring in the right people to help drive a culture at the Suns, the hand-up from the AFL will not address their real needs as a footy club, in my opinion and who and how they do that, well thats up to them I know if I had the answers I would be in a better paying job than the one I’m in now, lol. I look at the Suns list and see so many players that remind me of a young Brisbane list in late 90’s or a Bombers list in the early 90’s, they have the players, but do they have the right people to take them the next step, maybe. Well hope they do..
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
At the end it all, you and I just disagree on one fundamental point: indigenous and migrant kids are discriminated against by this decision to unhook the NGA from the opening rounds of the draft. The caveat I illuminated in the article is that these kids in Northern Academies are still supported, as it happens equally with “Anglo” kids, however, even that support was cut during Covid. Therefore, indigenous and multicultural kids from traditional AFL “heartland” areas are being discriminated against because of their location. You made this point yourself, but I think you’re splitting hairs when you try to lay blame on “Anglo” families who let down their own kids. These problems in society are intrinsically important regardless of ethnicity, however, cutting off support for one group because another group is at risk is just bloody minded. You have to remember that there are whole sections of Australian society who have been “others” since colonization began. Catholics were treated as sub-human until quite recently because the first Catholics to come to this country were convicts and that stigma has chased them through our brief history. “White” migrants who came with nothing have bred generations of people into ghettoes where some have finally become successful, but for the most part struggle. The AFL is better than most sports at recognizing this, yet we still live in a society where people see a Jamarra Ugle-Hagan make it to the big time and want to tear down the system that helped him get there. Thank you for your input to the debate. It has been insightful and you aren’t all that far from my position. Help is needed on more than just a sports industry level to give people the hand up needed to make our society more equitable. Yet the very concept of equity means that some people need more help than others.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
As we were discussing... You’ve made a thoughtful summation that I can respond to from my insight, but it is really just the optimistic side compared to your pessimism, when really what will happen is somewhere in between. Thanks for not being a cynic. 1) Keeping players has been the priority of the new regime. They didn’t lose a player to a rival bid at all in 2020, despite the list size cuts and imperative from the AFL to draft Academy players. The list is now stacked and competition to avoid being moved on in October will be fierce. That is in stark contrast to years in the past where top talent left and players who should have been delisted remained, while recruits through trade and free agency were mainly fringe quality. There have never been this many Queensland/NT/PNG players on our list before. Very similar to the Lions in 2001-2004. Some NSW as well. SA players have never left the Suns and several delisted SA players remain on the GC. Some players families have relocated to the area, such as Ben Ainsworth and Lachie Weller. I’m very confident that this trend has been arrested. 2) Club Culture is a fascinating subject that I’m deeply interested in. It has taken 10 years to establish traditions and cultural norms at the Suns, with many years of poor accountability and scandals within the playing group, which in turn highlighted poor leadership from the club itself. Much of this was overcome by the player exodus and renewed recruitment drive as well as the replacement of key figures running the club, with a new chairman, CEO, coach, And GMs of footy and list management. However, the bones were always there for the club’s culture to emerge with stalwarts like Jarrod Harbrow, Sam Day, Rory Thompson, Alex Sexton and Dave’s Swallow leading the playing group through difficult times. The other thing about culture is that you can’t manufacture it, but you can manipulate the conditions for it to incubate. Too much to go into here, but a pile of work has gone into this, with the Suns Academy and AFLW two examples of how club identity and passion has been fostered. 3) Grand Finals are ten year projects. Richmond famously made their bold ten year plan when they already had their core of players drafted from before the Suns entered the comp. Their gradual rise attracted A graders and their list management has been second to none in building the team that has been so dominant. The Suns haven’t been given everything on a platter like the Giants were given. The original setup was poorly conceived and instead of rectifying the mistakes, the AFL just went about setting up GWS in a far superior manner, throwing the Suns under the bus in their mission to avoid having two expansion teams failing. The proof of that is in the depth of the concessions, which far from delivering a flag, have been a necessary hand up to ensure the club is competitive on the field and that that field is level with the other 17 teams. It is inevitable that opposition clubs will come hard for the Suns emerging stars. They’ve done it before. Richmond has won flags doing it. But the Suns can now fight back, as they have in free agency and trade recently. The club doesn’t make as much money as the heavyweights, but that’s exactly why the AFL gives all clubs a big chunk of money and the Suns get extra to carry out the important task of promoting the game in Rugby League mad Queensland. In addition, the club’s sponsorship went up by over $6 million from 2018 to 2019, so the AFL will gradually kick in less each year as equalisation continues across the country.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
*you’re
Cracka
Roar Rookie
So people not from your country are simple....wow you are such a simple person you are really scary........oh like a Thylarctos plummetus... WCE I was born in Dampier and supported Claremont FC, just beause I speak a different language doesn't make me any different to anyone else in this great country I was born in you RED NECK ...you poor simple C%£T
Cracka
Roar Rookie
So for me and this is just me looking in from the outside, but I believe no club can win a premiership without a great management group, the club now in the modern game needs great admin and here is the problem. so point form… 1) Will GCS be able to hold onto its young players without having to pay over….No, other clubs will offer their players overs to get them out and GCS will have to make a decison, a GWS type of decison. 2) Will the Admin build a Richmond type culture at the club ….Maybe, but I don’t think they will as too many good kids in one group and money, offers, playing opportunities will start to get the better of some. 3) Long term will the hand-up speed up a Grand final birth or slow it down….Slow it down, but may get them in one, good luck if they do. GCS need a great management team, great coaches, great doctors etc that help build a culture, when you look at the current GCS list I see a young Brisbane list just before they won 3 premierships, with all the extras that clubs get, this might not be the helping hand they need in the long run, in fact it may work against them.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
This might just blow your mind insensate, so make your you're sitting down. China pours endless yuan down the Rugby toilet and yet the sport remains unpopular, with the national team ranked 80th among Rugby countries. Firstly Sydney Swans spend $2 million on junior development in their half of NSW, compared to $5 million in China. Rugby Australia just lost its major sponsor, Qantas and had to cobble together a $100 million 1 year deal with Stan :laughing: which is less than 20% of the AFL deal. Australian Rules Football is played in many countries and has a growing number of affiliated international governing bodies, AFL Canada, Danish Australian Football League, BARFL, AFL Japan, ARFLI, Nauru Australian Football Association, AFL Thailand, New Zealand AFL, USAFL, AFL South Africa, AFL PNG, AFL Samoa, Tonga Australian Football Association and AFL Germany. The league also has working relationships with bodies in additional countries, who have sent, or may in future send, teams to the International Cup. In 2010, a European association of 18 Countries was founded which later re-branded as AFL Europe. In 2021, there will be 207 AFL games plus 70 AFLW games, 3 2nd tier competitions with their own broadcast deals and semi-pro salary caps, with games played in all 6 states and both territories. The AFL is the biggest sport industry in Australia and it is growing exponentially.
mrl
Roar Rookie
Rugby is the fastest growing game on the planet..the Chinese government, pre covid, pumped $5million into junior development. They did this to keep up with Japan. USA, Canada, Argentina...massive. Not to mention South Africa, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Italy, Georgia, Romania, Fiji, Tonga, Somoa, Cook Islands......
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
It is sort of both. A happy accident, really. When the AFL was formed out of the old VFL with expansion clubs, it was a mess. It had been a mess since the VFL days and was still stuck in the suburban league formula. But clubs fought back when threatened with merging, having already seen South Melbourne shipped to Sydney, then Fitzroy was ripped to bits and the remaining clubs became more resolute than even not to merge. The introduction of Pay TV and things like stadium naming rights began to build an industry surrounding the league itself. Even the draft became an event, memberships swelled club coffers and all sorts of aspects of true professionalism became the norm as player agents and talent scouts proliferated. It didn't happen overnight, but the AFL industry that has grown around the game is so much more than the competition between the 18 clubs. As so often with change, it comes gradually and people are resistant to it. WASS is in the anger stage, but mrl is still stuck in denial.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Cool. I'm not a fan of the past management, which despite the AFL setting up the club poorly were also players in the franchise toppling towards an early demise. The current management is doing things right (nobody is perfect, but they are doing more good and no harm) and the rebuild has been adequately supported by the AFL after they inexplicably gave GWS a damn sight more support from the offing.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
I know, right?! Soccer isn't even called that anywhere else in the world and even the A-League calls it football. Unfortunately, nobody watches it, goes to it or cares about it. As for Australian Rugby, didn't they just have a massive crisis? I don't even care because they are distant 3rd and 4th in football codes in this country and the NRL industry only really operates in half of the States and Territories (even then barely in Victoria) whereas the AFL industry covers all states and territories. Cricket Australia's broadcast rights are worth $1.182 billion over 6 years. AFL broadcast rights from 2017 to 2022 are worth $2.508 billion. This is fun. Now you say something that's not in any way correct and we'll refute it with fact.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
GWS had the two mini-drafts. People forget that because the Suns had the two number one picks, they had to trade for them from the Giants. In 2011, the Suns traded pick 4 and a future mid-first round pick for pick 1 in the mini-draft = Jaeger O'Meara. Adelaide traded pick 10 and a future end of first rounder for pick 2 = Brad Crouch plus Luke Brown. GWS received 4 first round draft picks giving up only Luke Brown, GCS and Crows got players who left the club after being drafted at 17. The Suns only remaining player from that draft is Alex Sexton. In 2012, the Suns traded picks 2, 67 and an end of first rounder for mini draft pick 1 = Jack Martin plus an end of first rounder. Melbourne trade picks 3 and 4 for Dom Barry, minidraft pick 2 = Jesse Hogan plus pick 20. GWS got picks 2, 3, 4 for nothing more than an end of first rounder and Dom Barry. Jack Martin and Jesse Hogan make it 100% of the 4 mini-draft 17yos who were drafted too soon. GWS were given the world. The Suns were frozen out of the 2011 and 2012 drafts and forced to trade picks at massive overs to try to get a pair of 17yos who proved once and for all that it is too young, yet the Suns had a whole list full of kids acquired at 17 or younger.