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FFC: Established 1883
Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018. -
Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)
Oh. My. Goodness.
I thought Bont hitting a wheelie bin on a moving cart from the Whitten Stand was incredible but this is batshit insane.Comment
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Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)
A snippet from ex Collingwood recruiter Matt Rendell on Jamarra. Mentions Cody Raak as a possible top 20 pick. 11.55 in
Listening to Brahm's 3rd RacketComment
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Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)
Gut feel is old mate Rendell is trying to pump up the value of Raak while devaluing Collingwood's academy pick.Our 1954 premiership players are our heroes, and it has to be said that Charlie was their hero.Comment
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Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)
I haven't seen this posted before even though 2 months old.
VIC METRO teammates Josh Eyre and Cody Raak have plenty in common.
This year's NAB AFL Draft hopefuls are both key position players, both attend the Alex Rance Academy, both are eagerly awaiting the under-18 season resumption and are both tied to AFL clubs via Next Generation Academies (Eyre with the Bombers, Raak with the Bulldogs).
So what separates them?
"He's a big centre half-forward and I'm a medium-sized centre half-back," said Raak.
"Before and after training we get a few of the boys to kick it up and we go for it. It's about 50-50, he marks one and then I'll mark the next one."
At 194cm, Raak isn't too undersized. But against the versatile and athletic 197cm Eyre, every bit helps.
The pair have used their time productively waiting for the green light to restart the NAB League season – albeit for separate teams (Raak with the Western Jets and Eyre for the Calder Cannons).
For Raak it's been about improving his endurance and fitness, while Eyre has overcome a hamstring issue that would have forced him out of the first handful of games of the under-18 campaign if not for the COVID-19 pause.
"It's given me extra time to make sure I'm 100 per cent and it's worked out pretty good for me. I feel like I'm fitter than ever so it's worked out well," Eyre said.
"Hopefully in the games that we can get in at the end of the year I'll be able to really show what I'm made of."
The injury meant Eyre, whose mum is of Indigenous descent, wasn't able to get out on the track during his training block with Essendon last year as part of the NGA program.
"When I first got there and walked into the locker room and seeing big Joey Daniher just sitting there it was unreal. I was in shock seeing them train and how competitive they all are and how hard you have to work to get there," said Eyre, an Essendon fan.
"Being an Essendon supporter and being in their zone has worked out really well. Absolutely I'd 100 per cent want to go to Essendon being a supporter all my life. I really just want to join an AFL club."
The Dogs have first call on Raak under the multicultural qualifications as his father was born in South Africa before moving to Australia as a seven-year-old.
His time with the Dogs has shown him about the standards required at an AFL club.
"It's been great to go in and sit in the meetings and see what a day in the life of an AFL player is like," he said.
The pair joined the Alex Rance Academy last year, with the school founded by the retired Richmond star.
It mixes academia with sports training and physical work, with morning classes often followed by training sessions in the afternoons.
Rance, a five-time Virgin Australia AFL All Australian who shocked the football world when he quit last December, also helps the youngsters.
"'Rancey' comes in when he can and he runs training and he's also helped me and Cody with contested marking and skills which were very helpful," Eyre said.Comment
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Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)
The party may be over, but we will still get JUH so who cares?
Clubs expecting big changes to NGA as bumper crop looms
CLUBS are anticipating changes to Next Generation Academies for next year as the AFL works through its plans for the talent program.
However, they remain in the dark on whether this year will be the last that highly regarded draft prospects can join clubs under the system.
The 2020 draft pool is the most compromised in history with a high number of NGA, northern Academy and father-son players available, including the potential No.1 pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (pictured) with the Western Bulldogs.
The NGA system was introduced in 2016 allowing each club outside of New South Wales and Queensland to have their own Academy zone from which they get priority access over players from Indigenous or multicultural backgrounds.
Among the graduates to the AFL have been Collingwood's Isaac Quaynor, North Melbourne's Tarryn Thomas and Fremantle's Liam Henry.
The system was designed as a joint venture between the AFL and its clubs to grow the game in 'under-represented' communities. The League saw the role of clubs as important in the move, knowing at grassroots level the strong pull of an AFL brand for the sport's newcomers.
However, with club soft caps stripped back by more than $3 million next year as part of the financial fallout from COVID-19, the ability for them to spend on their Academies has been hit.
The AFL also has contributed $150,000 to each club annually for the development and resources in the Academies but has not yet confirmed to clubs if that sum will return in 2021.
There is a view amongst clubs that the role of the NGAs could be mixed into the restructure of second-tier competitions, which could form greater ties with under-18 clubs in Victoria.
But with a lower investment at club level, it is unclear if access to top talents such as Ugle-Hagan and Lachie Jones, who is tied to Port Adelaide's NGA and predicted as a first-round pick this year, could be altered.
If it is changed, several clubs have called on it to be phased out over years so that players who have already signed on for Academies and are due to reach the draft in coming seasons remain tied to their clubs.
At the end of last season the AFL begun reviewing slashing the 20 per cent points discount afforded to clubs who match a bid for their Academy players.
The discount was originally included in the system as an incentive to encourage clubs to invest in their Academy programs and select father-son picks, however some list managers and recruiters believe the ability to choose to match a bid is already enough of a perk.
The West Australian and South Australian clubs had been granted access to extended zones in their respective states, with metropolitan areas being included for their NGAs, before this season.
However, as COVID-19 struck, their applications to add more players from metropolitan regions have been left on the back burner.
Bulldogs chief executive Ameet Bains said the discussion on potential NGA changes had several layers.
"There's clearly a lot of focus on the number of players that are zoned to clubs this year under NGA or father-son rules. That's produced a lot of scrutiny so whether that ends up leading to change or not remains to be seen," Bains told AFL.com.au's Footy Feed podcast this month.
"Is this year an exceptional outlier compared to the years gone past? I'm probably a little bit removed from it now to fully answer that question but it clearly is going to be a discussion point."
St Kilda has access to a number of NGA talents next year, including Jack Perris, the son of former Olympian Nova Perris, and Saints CEO Matt Finnis said he expected some operational changes to the NGAs but hoped access to players was untouched.
"I think it's been a terrific initiative and we certainly have been heavily invested in the Next Generation Academy," Finnis told the Footy Feed podcast.
"With some terrific partners whether it's the Sandringham Dragons, a bit of work with the Dandenong Stingrays, and also through the junior leagues through Melbourne's south, it's been a great way to bring that whole football pathway together.
"I'm sure it can be enhanced and improved, but we're really committed to it so hopefully we can continue to all invest and get the benefit out of it."
Reef McInnes (Collingwood), Joel Western (Fremantle), Connor Downie (Hawthorn), Cody Brand (Essendon), Tariek Newchurch and James Borlase (Adelaide) and Cody Raak (Western Bulldogs) are other NGA talents available at this year's draft to their respective clubs.Comment
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Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)
Write up on Marra in the Herald Sun:
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (Oakleigh Chargers)
Key forward, 196cm, 85kg
There’s plenty of buzz surrounding potential number one pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and for good reason. The Warnambool product set the NAB League alight for the Oakleigh Chargers last season, booting 24 goals in nine games, turning heads with his fantastic leap, speed and athleticism. Ugle-Hagan took some of the marks of the year in the NAB League competition, dominating the air and exuding confidence. His athletic profile is spectacular for someone standing 196cm: at the league’s testing day earlier this year, he recorded a 21.3 yo-yo test (the same score as Matt Rowell last year), and won both the 20 metre sprint (2.945 seconds) and standing vertical jump (93 centimetres) tests. This makes him a dangerous threat both in the air and on the ground and a nightmare match-up for opposition defenders.
Ugle-Hagan was even thrown into defence during the pre-season and performed strongly. He leads by example at the Chargers off the field and his teammates gravitate to him. Like most young key-forwards, he will have to add to his frame, but a long and decorated career awaits him at the top-level. As a Western Bulldogs’ Next Generation Academy member, he appears set to be in the red, white and blue next year, but is likely to attract an early bid regardless.
Chargers talent manager Jy Bond says: “I’ve seen him do some things at training and you look around and you’re like ‘wow, what was that?’ I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about him… he’s going to be a fantastic talent for years to come.”Our 1954 premiership players are our heroes, and it has to be said that Charlie was their hero.Comment
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Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)
I'm seriously worried about the hype with JUH. Ayce Cordy had pretty much the same hype if I recall.More of an In Bruges guy?Comment
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Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)
Ayce was all Arms and legs ,a little like fletcher very awkward looking type, hard to play against.
Sometimes it comes off sometimes it doesn’t, Ayce just didn’t have a strong body once he was up against big bodies.
Jamarra to me is more the natural silky skilled player, like Bont and Pendlebury.Bring back the biffComment
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