Take off your duffle coats and stop whining about fairness, the AFL is bigger than Victoria

3 days ago 2

For the third year in a row, opening round matches will be played in front of sellout crowds, generating front- and back-page articles and numerous television spots in NSW and Queensland. The round was introduced to turn the focus to AFL, as it’s called in these parts, in Queensland and NSW, before the spotlight inevitably returns to Victoria. It’s been an overwhelming success.

But there’s a sense from “down South” that Victoria is missing out. It’s not. The same number of games will be played in Victoria this season regardless of opening round. Anyway, the AFL has relented and on Sunday St Kilda will play Collingwood in footy-starved Melbourne, taking the slightest shine off the northern spectacle.

Richmond complained about having draft pick seven after finishing 17th. Former Gold Coast captain Tom Lynch moved to the Tigers as a free agent at the end of 2018.

There are always tensions between clubs, but the north v south debate has been spicier than usual with the recent tête-à-tête between Chris Fagan and Ross Lyon.

After Fagan told AFL Media the Saints’ post-season spending spree was a “danger for the game”, Lyon “took umbrage” and said the expansion teams have too many advantages.

Which is a perfect segue into the perennial debate about academies, at which point I declare my interest as head of the Sydney Swans academy. On Wednesday the AFL Commission is expected to decide the rules for acquisition of players from the northern academies, next-generation academies and father-son selections.

Unfortunately, these entities get thrown under the one umbrella. They shouldn’t. Father-son picks are about romance, next-generation academies about bringing in players from diverse backgrounds who wouldn’t otherwise play footy, and the northern academies aim to attract and develop players in the “non-traditional football states”, NSW and Queensland.

Ross Lyon is not a fan of the northern academy system.

Aside from developing the talent in those states, there is a broader context of allowing those players to play in their home states, by extension allowing teams in NSW and Queensland to draft home-grown talent. This reduces the risk of players from other states wanting to return home after a year or two.

The commission’s decision, on whether clubs should have to give up higher draft picks to select a player from their academy, may have major ramifications.

The northern academies were established to do two things: 1) Grow the game, in playing, coaching and administration numbers, and 2) Produce draftable players.

Participation numbers in NSW have grown enormously and in Queensland have skyrocketed to the point where more people play Australian rules in Queensland than in the individual states of South Australia and Western Australia. Take off your Bulldogs duffle coat for a moment and have a think about that. What a success.

In the past three national drafts the Gold Coast academy has produced eight first-round picks in the men’s program and in last year’s AFLW draft had six of the first 15 selections. Two of the first six players in the recent AFLW draft came from the Swans’ academy. In fact, nine of the first 18 players in the AFLW draft came from either the Swans or Gold Coast academies. Take your Tigers scarf off and read that line again. If you love footy, it should make you smile.

So the plan to increase participation and produce draftable players has been an unbelievable success. We should be doubling down on that, I hear you say.

But no, the question put to the commission is how to restrict this success.

The question is around the price that those northern clubs are paying at the draft table. I heard someone say recently that it doesn’t pass the pub test. I’m not sure about you, but in the pubs I go to, the test needs to be really simple. This issue is not simple; it’s complex.

My old club, Richmond, has been vocal (whining even, some would say). They say that they started with selection two in last year’s draft courtesy of finishing 17th on the ladder, but ended up having the seventh pick. On the surface, or in the pub, that seems unfair. But let’s dig a little deeper.

Brisbane academy player Daniel Annable was drafted by the Lions.

In that draft, pick No.2 was Zeke Uwland, to Gold Coast. Zeke had a stress fracture in his back in his 18th year. As the football manager at the Suns at the time, I saw the care that went into him. No academy? Much less care, and doesn’t get selected at pick two.

Dylan Patterson was selected with pick No.5. No academy? Dylan plays for the Gold Coast Titans (to save you googling, they are an NRL team).

Daniel Annable was selected with pick No.6 by the Brisbane Lions. But without an academy, he’s playing back at Redland.

So let’s abolish those good-for-nothing academies. Then the poor old Tigers, who play 17 games a season at the MCG, will have turned pick No.7 back into at least pick No.3. Problem solved, except they would end up with the same player that they got with No.7.

The No.2 pick was Zeke Uwland, taken by Gold Coast.

As an aside, I didn’t hear them whining when they won the premiership in 2017 and then proceeded to take the captain and best player (Tom Lynch) from the team that finished 17th, at, wait for it, NO DRAFT OR TRADE COST.

To be fair, it’s the club’s job to state their case, to jockey for position, to put their interests ahead of the game. That’s what we do (did I mention I work for the Swans academy?).

But it’s the AFL executive and the commission’s job to put the game above these interests.

As we sat inside our lounge rooms away from the sweltering heat, watching our Australian team do unbelievable things at the Winter Olympics, I’m sure all our minds went to, “How the bloody hell are we good at these sports?” How, in a land of droughts and flooding rains, are we competing with countries known for snow-topped mountains?

Vince Rugari’s excellent article on the day of the closing ceremony explained it. In short, Olympic funding was used to build a ski ramp in Brisbane with a pool to land in. Genius. If smart people invest good money, you will see results.

If the draft cost of gaining access to their academy players becomes prohibitive to the northern clubs, will they continue to invest as heavily?

If the investment is reduced, the talent will dry up.

If the pathway becomes muddied, talented athletes in NSW and Queensland, especially with a Brisbane Olympics on the horizon, will have a far easier decision when choosing between AFL and touch, rugby league and even flag football.

The game needs more great players. We should applaud when they are produced, even in the pubs. A potential outcome might be replicating the job the academies have done in other states. A rising tide floats all boats.

Over to you, commissioners.