AFL may consider reintroducing recruiting zones for all 18 clubs ... (afl site)

[one-eyed]

AFL may consider reintroducing recruiting zones for all 18 clubs

Callum Twomey 
afl.com.au
May 22, 2015


THE ERA of recruiting zones could be revisited under a plan being pushed by club officials that would see every club have priority access to its own academy.

As the AFL continues to review the best talent pathway for draft prospects, the renewed calls have come during a review of the second-tier competitions, which is being headed by former AFL Commissioner Bill Kelty.

The talent pathway is one of the key areas under inspection, and it is understood club officials meeting with the League have raised the concept of dividing regions across the country into recruiting zones.

Under the idea, the zones would then allow each club to develop an academy similar to that housed by the four northern clubs. Clubs would also have first rights over selecting players who have been developed within their respective regions.

The proposal has been floated in the context of building a national under-18 competition, which would see an AFL club in Victoria directly linked to a local TAC Cup club.

For instance, Essendon's hold on the northwest region of Melbourne could see it tied to the Calder Cannons' TAC Cup club.

Under that idea, the Bombers would have the first call on Cannons players come draft time in the same bidding process for father-son and northern academy players that was confirmed by the League on Thursday.

The AFL continues to look at ways to close the gap between the junior competitions and the top level, with many clubs suggesting first-year players were finding it tough to transition into club land once drafted.

At last year's talent forum for clubs, officials and state bodies, a similar idea was raised to split the remote Western Australian regions, such as the Kimberley, into Indigenous academies for West Coast and Fremantle.

The response at that stage was not overly supportive, but Kelty has stated he is open to ideas and opinions during their review.

The proposal has not developed into a recommendation or model, with a League discussion paper yet to be formulated.

The success of the new bidding system in providing a more equitable result for clubs may also influence whether there is merit in exploring the idea further.

Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon said he was aware of the discussion point but would wait to hear Kelty's detailed thoughts before supporting it.

Gordon said in some ways it represented "a step back in time" to when all clubs' recruiting operated within zones.

He also suggested it would be difficult to fairly associate different zones to each club and that it shouldn't disadvantage the northern states, where there is less participation in the code.

But Gordon did admit the Bulldogs would have "loved" to draft Western Jets local Liam Duggan last year, who the West Coast Eagles picked at No.11.

"The system needs to be fair to everyone, and one would need to be convinced the developing states were not discriminated against by such a system," Gordon told AFL.com.au.

"Having said that, I would really have loved to have picked up Liam Duggan for the Bulldogs last year.

"He came from our local area, he was a Bulldogs supporter since he was a kid, he wanted to be drafted by the Western Bulldogs, he trained with the club and now he's playing in Perth.

"For a club like ours which is really trying to develop its roots in the broader Western region of Melbourne, the club has missed out on an opportunity for a kid who comes from the region to become an icon of the club, the region and a real role model to young kids playing in the western suburbs of Melbourne."

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-05-22/afl-may-consider-reintroducing-recruiting-zones-for-all-18-clubs#sthash.PfDXVqpO.dpuf

[dwaino]

Well Gordon, if you didn't trade away your first draft pick and a million dollars for Boyd then you could have had Duggan. How's that a role model for kids in the western suburbs?

[mightytiges]

God NO! We got absolutely screwed by the Zone system. Not all zones are equal and we were given the crap ones by the then VFL. A contributing reason that lead to us going broke trying to buy players in the 1980s.

[one-eyed]

Back to the future in radical zone plan

    Caroline Wilson
     The Age
    June 5, 2015

A radical AFL proposal to introduce club-branded academies and zones across the competition looks certain to be the headline act emerging from Gillon McLachlan's national review of the game.

The back-to-the future plan is understood to have growing support among the 18 clubs and was a key discussion point at Thursday's meeting of the AFL Commission and club presidents.

Fairfax Media understands some clubs have been sounded out unofficially about the prospect of clubs having access to talent developed within their zones via the back end of the draft and as early as the third round. But AFL chiefs have insisted any return to the days when clubs had access to home-grown talent remains an embryonic proposition.

While powerful Victorian clubs such as Collingwood and Hawthorn have continued to push for an uncompromised draft, both now accept that with the emergence of the northern academies and the stunning success of the Swans' academy in particular, all clubs should be given the opportunity to attract new talent to the game.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said on Fox Footy on Tuesday night that having pushed for all clubs to share access to those northern academies, he now accepted that each club should be given the same opportunity to attract and develop talent within its own specified zone.

Reluctant to elaborate in too much detail on Thursday, McGuire said: "I fervently believe in the sanctity of the salary cap and the draft, but if you're going to start putting zones in again, then every club may as well have a zone."

One option would be for all clubs to have access to their own zones via a bidding system similar to the recent guidelines set down for the four clubs based across Sydney and southern Queensland. The AFL remains tightlipped regarding the detail of this most sensitive issue as it does about the criteria involved for dividing up zones and allocating them to individual clubs and whether the 10 Victorian clubs would have access beyond the state boundaries.

Those clubs would also work in their own zones at a community level in a bid to grow support for the game from non-traditional as well as traditional football sections of the population and all would be working to further develop the women's competition as the AFL pushes to establish the national women's league by 2017. Several clubs contacted by Fairfax Media said it would be incumbent upon the competition's governing body to establish funding for the new academies.

The push for academies comes in the wake of the ominous threat of soccer and its popular junior men's and women's programs threaten the Australian game in its heartland and as draft numbers in areas such as Tasmania and the Northern Territory continue to dwindle. The AFL review is looking at establishing academies in both those states/territories although it remains unclear which clubs if any would be given access to those zones and develop local talent.

And the move to 18 zoned academies run by clubs is in recognition that specific clubs and not the AFL attract juniors to the game.

League chief McLachlan has formed the view that club-led academies remain crucial to the development of the game with the 18 clubs the best resourced to oversee and attract talent and support at both the elite and community level.

The women's competition remains the game's fastest-growing area and the AFL, at worst, looks determined to establish a six-team national league.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/back-to-the-future-in-radical-zone-plan-20150604-ghh30v.html

[No More]

I prefer every club get 1 or 2 form four players before every draft. Then a normal draft. That way each club can bid for the best players and since we are on the rise I expect we will get good players.

[Diocletian]

We keep being told the main purpose of the draft is equalisation, yet I'd like to see a comparison of how many different premiers, grand finalists and finalists there have been in the AFL since, say, 2001 and also how quickly clubs go from the bottom of the ladder to the finals to the same statistics in the NRL, which has no draft.

[Yeahright]

We keep being told the main purpose of the draft is equalisation, yet I'd like to see a comparison of how many different premiers, grand finalists and finalists there have been in the AFL since, say, 2001 and also how quickly clubs go from the bottom of the ladder to the finals to the same statistics in the NRL, which has no draft.

Come on Dio you can do it