First rewards for push north
By Emma Quayle, Sydney
The Age
April 30, 2006
MEET Khan Haretuku. Khan is a 16-year-old who was born and raised in Sydney. His mother is part Scottish, his father part Yugoslavian and part Maori, and they moved to Australia from New Zealand when they were married.
Two years ago, Khan played rugby league every weekend. Then, a friend told him that because he could kick and grab the ball so well, he should try Australian football.
Haretuku had heard of the game, but had never bothered to watch it before. He played some under-15 games games for the Maroubra Saints, on Sydney's southern beaches. He went to the Glebe under 16s, and learnt how to play in the ruck.
Last week, only a few months after playing his first serious game, he was one of more than 300 teenagers to participate in the AFL's first talent camp for NSW/ACT — a living, kicking and handballing 195-centimetre personification of the kid the league is trying to lure from rival sports in the country's most competitive market.
His games were watched by recruiters from all 16 clubs, who would not have been there but for one thing: the scholarships they must offer one or two 15, 16 and 17-year-old kids from greater Sydney from tomorrow until the end of next January.
Most clubs considered the camp brilliantly run and are enthusiastic about the scheme. But there are concerns: Should it be compulsory? Will clubs having to sell themselves so strongly to players and their families raise hopes? Will the AFL watch how much — outside the $10,000-20,000 the league will provide a player — is used to lure them?
"We'd be happy to get beaten if someone prefers someone else or thinks they'll be developed better somewhere else," said Scott Clayton, the Western Bulldogs recruiting manager. "But we'd be disappointed if if was done on cold hard cash." There are other things to think about, too. Should you dive in and sign a player quickly or wait to see who emerges through the season?
The Magpies will be first in, having all but secured 15-year-old Scott Reed, the standout talent this week before he fell and broke his leg. It was the first of what will be some inevitable bidding wars, the Pies having snatched Reed from Fremantle's grasp.
West Coast, Sydney and the Dockers were the other clubs rumoured to have also made their mind up, but others, such as Hawthorn and St Kilda, want to wait.
"You don't want to get beaten," said St Kilda recruiter John Beveridge. "But if you get in early and sign someone, you might see someone later on and think, 'Gee, we've already spent our biccies'."
Each young player player signed must be nurtured until he reaches draft age, when his sponsor club will have first call at promoting him to the senior list. It means keeping a 15-year-old on the books for three years or a 17-year-old for one season. Hawthorn recruiter Gary Buckenara suspects most clubs will start out with older kids; Collingwood's Derek Hine can see merit in picking younger ones.
The Magpies have marched into Sydney more forcefully than some other clubs, setting up an extensive network headed by former Sydney full-back Rod Carter. "We think it's really exciting," Hine said. "With the draft, you identify a player and, at 18, and that's when you start to develop them.
"Here, you get to identify a player at 15, potentially, and you can work with that player for three years to get them going the way you like. There's some real incentive to go and identify the player because, if you identify the right player now, you've got him for almost nothing. We think it's a great opportunity."
What clubs must also work out is whether there are players they want in the existing talent pool, or if they need to scour other sports. Beveridge thought only about 20 of the 200-plus eligible players on show could go on. Buckenara saw 10 or 15, and suspects none would get a game for a TAC Cup team.
"You might be better off looking at a few rugby games rather than throwing a dart and picking someone for the sake of picking them," he said.
The final question is: will it work? "I think it's worth a go," said Clayton. "It will certainly generate the market over time. Obviously there will be a lot of guys who don't make it, so they'll go back into the local competition. Is that a bad thing? We're going to give it a go."
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/04/29/1146198390813.html
