The AFL executive has used the cover of COVID to implement crippling austerity measures across the industry, with junior talent pathways copping it the worst across the eastern states.
The 12 Victorian NAB League clubs are furious at changes to the junior competition, despite getting improved funding for the girls’ pathways (about time) and an increase in player ages to under 19s, with the truncated preseason and long gaps in the fixture creating a chaotic calendar for an already crowded season.
The NAB League boys 2021 fixture wasn’t even released until a month before it started, with a massive five-week gap happening right now plus a weekend with no footy in June, July and August, with clubs essentially playing 12 games plus finals across a five-and-a-half month season.
However, Tasmania were the biggest losers of all, with their promised entry into the VFL in 2021 kicked down the road in favour of merging with the six surviving NEAFL clubs, although their junior pathways are still included in the full NAB League season.
The Northern Territory, which provided four draftees in 2020, cancelled their involvement in the NEAFL after the 2019 season and were subsequently not invited to participate in the so-called VFL, have but two games for their under 19s to pit themselves against NAB League teams (which will probably be understrength).
The other three NEAFL teams that have not been able to afford to join the VFL were Canberra Demons, Sydney University and Redland Bombers, which are all key areas for AFL recruitment that have now lost Tier 2 representation.
Indigenous Northern Territory draft prospect, Ned Stevens, has relocated to the Gold Coast under the same pathway that brought Malcolm Rosas (who debuts tomorrow) and Joel Jeffrey to the Suns, where he will play for the Suns Academy team and try to win a place in their VFL side plus he is in the AFL Academy squad, but that means he won’t suit up for NT Thunder at any stage.
The Coleman brothers from NT, Keidean and Blake, were drafted by the Brisbane Lions in successive years in 2019 and 2020, although they moved from Katherine to Brisbane over a decade before their respective draft years because the opportunities for education and football were simply better.
As much as pathways to professional football in remote areas generally tend to gravitate toward the cities, the funding that goes toward facilitating teenagers in an academy, be it the youth programs in the non-traditional football states or the Next Generation Academy programs run by clubs for indigenous and migrant teenagers, is vital for the welfare of the youth they support and the chances of success.
The northern academies have also been left in the lurch as far as their fixture is concerned, with each club only getting two games with NAB League opponents and further fixtures yet to be announced, which is down from the five games in the 2019 Academy Series, when Victorian junior clubs hosted or travelled to the six academies in Darwin, Hobart, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
Sydney and GWS Aaademy boys just played one game and the Suns versus Lions game allegedly scheduled for this weekend cannot be found on the internet, such is the volume of the AFL’s disdain for the Northern Academies, and they aren’t included in the NAB League fixture as they have been in the past or listed by any AFL affiliated site.
Essentially, when the AFL cuts hit the Northern clubs, they were forced to put a broom through their staffing for the academies and cut funding to their junior programs.
At the Gold Coast Suns, which has academy players relocating from Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Darwin and Port Moresby, parents were suddenly asked to foot the bill for costs previously covered by the club.
Jye Lockett, the nephew of Plugger, grew up on the Gold Coast and is one of the Suns’ brightest prospects coming through their pathways, yet he has decided to play footy in Victoria for GWV Rebels in his draft year because there are far better opportunities for development, although he is still tied to the Suns.
Austin Harris is currently in his third year of living away from home in Cairns, a move which has paid off as he is playing VFL footy and was selected in the AFL Academy, yet the expenses of travel and the funding shortfall are a hardship for his parents, who have had to stump up rent and board if they hope to see their son succeed.
Will Bella, when he’s not dropping 60-metre bombs through the goals or clunking marks in the VFL over AFL listed defenders, lives with his sister, Suns AFLW ruckwoman Lauren, and they have also had to endure living away from the home ten hours drive away in Mackay. Young Will is fortunate to have the support of his sister, who herself made the move as a teenager and succeeded to become one of the best ruckwomen in the competition.
The Suns academy has produced 45 players who have graduated onto senior lists of AFL and AFLW clubs, and yet the program appears to be a victim of austerity at a time when it needs investment to continue to grow the game in Queensland.
(Photo by Jono Searle/AFL Photos/via Getty Images )
The club operates on a shoestring budget and is short-staffed beyond imagining. The website page for the Suns Academy has not been updated in over a year. The Facebook page has 101k followers, yet very little content. There is nobody doing it because there is no money to pay anybody to do it.
The AFL gave the Gold Coast Suns $27.8 million in 2019, then cut $10.6 million from their 2020 funding, which was the single largest shortfall across the league. GWS got $9.6 million less and the Lions got $8.1 million less.
The Suns were pretty close to balancing the budget, but with great pain and at what cost? Sydney and GWS posted horrendous losses, while Brisbane scored a massive government grant to put them in the back in the black.
If the AFL is serious about investing in the future of the game, 2021’s austerity model simply has to be the blip on the radar and not the norm. Right now, Australian Rules footy is cutting through with families in areas that have been rugby league mad for a century, but it is the very worst time to rein back spending in these regions.
But if the federal budget is anything to go by, there is much more financial pain to come and the gap will continue to widen between the haves and the have nots.
Republican
Guest
Our understandings and indeed expectations of 'Socialism' are wide and varied. I suppose the AFL do represent an aspirational socialism, where parity across the competition is integral to their mission statement and as such, there is an intent to foster this. I note that a groundswell of external pressure from commercial entrepreneur's, to further commercialise our game, (i.e. to sell its soul) at the elite tier exists. The pitch is to privatise our 'clubs' for interested investors in the corporate world, akin to the NFL in the US. GWS already attract a 'Coterie' of 25 American investors known as M7. The power of the almighty dollar to concoct, is again epitomised by the most recent plastic entity in our code. I struggle already, with the way our game has been culturally compromised, it's social capital devalued whereby 'supporters' now consumers soon to be investors, are seduced by marketing diversions while being disaffected with the passing years. If, or should I say when these entities of hereditary capital are owned by American or other global business interests, the sole philosophy being profit, then OUR game WILLL be lost forever. Those of my ilk perceive this as an insidious exploitation and degradation of our culture while most now accept this as progress. That said, we still have a choice. If we truly value those traits of our culture, (in this context of the Indigenous footy code), we must begin to draw a line in the sand in the hope that we maintain some semblance of its value, rather than resign ourselves to all things being transactional.
Republican
Guest
.....concur Chucka but thats not what I am alluding to and thats not 'Socialist' in the true sense of the word. Rather its 'Capitalism' because corporate tele networks own sport at this tier, hence GWS et el. So expanding to non heartlands at the expedience of true heartlands is in essence a neo liberal concept with television the catalyst for their philosophy and thats how the AFL do business. Sadly this culture influences every aspect of their DNA which includes its disaffection from the Grass Roots of the code. These heartlands will be lost to the game as a result, whether through GR neglect or a contempt for heartlands i.e. Tassie the N.T. and the ACT which have been exploited to ensure the GWS's of the game look good. The AFL will eventually rue the day it turned its back on the very heartlands that provided them so much O2 to 'grow their brand' while culturally they are a corporate behemoth of plutocratic persuasion in the guise of a paternal governing body of dutiful custodianship.
kooj
Roar Rookie
or is he old enough to play in the qafl mens senior side and just not getting a game? can't actually see his date of birth anywhere.
kooj
Roar Rookie
Interesting article, thanks. With Jye Lockett and similar players - Is the problem that were they to stay in QLD the QAFL colts is the best level he can play in? He isn't old enough to play in the QAFL mens senior side or the GC reserves? And because the standard of QAFL colts is obv below the Vic NAB league for the Under 19s he won't develop enough? Just trying to understand this a bit better.
Paul D
Roar Rookie
I think the afl is comfortable enough cherry picking the elite teenage talent and leaving the masses to find their own way forward. I rather think you and I would agree based on what I read in the guardian from your experience with job agencies that the federal government doesn’t do anywhere near enough heavy lifting in terms of giving underprivileged young people opportunities
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Equality doesn’t mean every club gets the same amount. It means you give more to those who need more in order for the newest to compete with established.
nics
Roar Rookie
Reminds me of a discussion I had with Disnick on another Page... redistribution sounds socialist to me (not that I'm complaining) :laughing:
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
I would question a lot more of the expenditure the AFL makes if they have to slash funding to the future.
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
True my point is though that with the hundred million dollar loan the AFL took out last year that is far more reminiscent of a centrally planned economy rather than the golden showers of reaganomics
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
For the millionth time, the expansion side represent a ninth game which means something in the neighbourhood of $60 million more dollars. Broadcasting is paying for AFL expansion, not the other 16 teams.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Apples and oranges compared to Aussie Rules. Relying on the private school system is what the AFL is doing in Victoria, which is seriously concerning and I disagree with you on that score. Kids wanting to play AFL footy in regional Queensland HAVE to move to Brisbane or the Gold Coast. They go to State Schools, mostly, as that is where the schools have the best competition. We are talking about a competition worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year and they only want 100 or so kids per year to get drafted. It is ridiculous to expect non-traditional states to be able to foster talent through schools and junior clubs alone. Victoria doesn't even do it and most of their junior talent get picked up by private schools anyway.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Let's test your theory there. 9 of the clubs in the AFL are in inner Melbourne, although let's just call it 10 Victorian clubs (8 of which have AFLW sides). There are 13 permanent NAB Cup sides, with 2 of the Victorian clubs playing games in Tassie and NGA Tasmanians going to North. There are 5 strictly part-time side representing 2 states and 2 Territories (over half of the Australian population) and 4 AFL clubs (3 of which have AFLW sides). I'd say the correct balance to be struck would be to provide the Northern Academy teams, including NT Thunder, full-time admission into the NAB League. NT provided 4 players to the 2020 draft, Queensland a whopping 7 and NSW/ACT 3. That's 14 out of 108, which is not insignificant, but certainly a sign that the investment in those regions is paying off for all clubs. The Northern Academies have grown so large that players are spilling into the general draft pool. More would have been drafted last year had list sizes not been reduced. Where are the players going to come from if clubs are given more spots this year? I'd say your comment is actually true, but there is definitely a strong flavour of Victoria first and the rest later, which has been the case for the history of the AFL.
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
Well no the AFL has a decidedly more socialist bent to things when they sink tens of millions into expansion sides
Republican
Guest
I instinctively feel that any parity in distribution of funds is sorely lacking in respect of our codes governing body. They espouse 'trickle down economics' it would seem which is a fallacy, even during the good times.
Paul D
Roar Rookie
I am honestly not fussed at all though about the notion of these talented kids having to pick up and move to go to where the opportunities are. It would be no different to any intellectual titan from the regions - they get a scholarship to a boarding school in Brisbane - and in sporting terms, Nudgee college has feasted for years on scooping up rugby playing students to come and get a bit of education in between taking it up for the First XV. Is it really that much hardship to move to where the work is? Seems a pretty common thing from various government ministers to the unemployed - and these kids are looking at far better and more remunerated opportunities than the chance to pick blueberries for $3/hour.
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
Well I think part of the reason the AFL is being so Victorian centric with its youth development is because the majority of clubs are still located in inner Melbourne. So it makes sense to have large investments in the youth game there
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
There's an issue of equity. Nick Daicos isn't going to be adversely affected by Covid because if there's on 12 games he can play for Oakleigh, Carey will stuff him straight into their side when he can't, then there's National Champs and some rep trials in between. When I spoke to Jye Lockett, he said there'd be between 30 and 40 games he could play in Victoria at a far higher level than anything he could play with the Suns. Covid wrecked his year in 2020 because that's what he was trying to do then as well, so instead of playing double the games against better opposition than just QAFL colts, he played just one practice game and got stuck in lockdown. The Suns Academy zone is mostly in remote towns where Aussie Rules is 3rd or 4th as the sport of choice. But the talent ID over the journey has been very good, with players like Jack Bowes and Braydon Preuss coming from FNQ, but they are diamonds that could easily be missed to soccer or basketball. Austin Harris' Dad Errol played Shield Cricket for Tassie, so he actually had to make a choice between the two. We are talking about Rugby League stronghold areas like Northern Rivers NSW, Central Queensland, Mackay, Townsville, Cairns and the sparsely populated outback. Apart from strong support from the Gold Coast's QAFL clubs, there really isn't a huge network yet and those kinds of organically rich community links are priceless (although it has been the investment that has driven the slow burn toward the Sunsland brand getting traction).
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Redland had a brilliant program running in a key corridor between Brisbane and the Gold Coast that they have turned into an AFL Zone. They had 13 players drafted into the AFL, with 5 still on AFL lists now and several in lower comps. Charlie Dixon, Josh Thomas, Alex Sexton, Ben Keays and Elliot Himmelburg. Now the club has been tossed out of tier 2 footy and will just go back to being a junior club in the second most popular sport.
Peter Warrington
Guest
I ran into the Redland boys a couple of years ago as they cooled down in Enmore Pool after touching up Sydney Uni (I think) at Henson Park. far out. they were huuuuuge!
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Another thing, few will recall or realise that the Suns a team in the 2009 TAC Cup that came 5th, going to the second week of finals. The following year, with that squad going into the VFL, a Queensland u18s invitational side was put together for 2 matches and the Suns place given to GWS, although NSW/ACT Rams also lost their place. The Rams came back in 2011, but only for 3 games. It wasn't until 2014 that the non-Victorians were added for a meaningful number of games, with QLD playing 6 games and the Rams playing 7. In 2017, NT Thunder, NSW/ACT Rams, QLD and Tassie Mariners were dumped altogether while the 12 Vic teams continued to have the preferential treatment. But in 2019, a new dawn seemed to emerge, with 5 teams given a 5 match Academy Series against now-NAB League opponents while Tasmania were given a 15 game slate. Vic clubs weren't happy because they only got 15 games, but now they've only got 12 games and others have to be content with 2. What is inexplicable to me is that they can't even be bothered to add the Suns game this weekend to the NAB League site. But, actually it seems as though the AFL executives have protected their inflated salaries and cut back on content producers. Would you believe that over last weekend there was a Vic Metro vs Vic Country game with players nominated by recruiting scouts from all AFL clubs to play a match that was basically a trial for midseason draft selection and the AFL dot blog didn't even run a story on it?