Wonder kid Bryce Gibbs

[bluey_21]

This could end up in the courts, especially if clubs like collingwood and essendon are near the bottom.

You can always expect Collingwood to do something like that 

[one-eyed]

Clubs unite to thwart the Crows
Michael Gleeson
The Age
March 23, 2006

RIVAL AFL clubs will resist Adelaide's push to have the father-son rule altered to allow it priority access to Bryce Gibbs, one of the hottest properties in this year's draft.

Richmond, the Western Bulldogs, Collingwood and Carlton yesterday insisted that the AFL Commission must reject the Crows' determined bid to alter the criteria governing father-son eligibility. Gibbs, 17, is the likely first or second pick in the national draft.

Gibbs' father, Ross, played 253 games for Glenelg in the SANFL, well above the number needed for a son to qualify to play for Adelaide under the father-son rule, but the games were not played in the required 20-year window.

Clubs unanimously claimed it was inappropriate to change the rules mid-year simply to allow one club priority access to an elite talent.

Bulldogs recruiting manager Scott Clayton said his club was also frustrated that it fell 12 games short of being able to take promising Murray Bushrangers youngster Ben Reid. Bruce Reid played 88 games for Footscray, short of the requisite 100 for father-son priority.

"We would love to take Ben Reid too, but we can't. It doesn't mean you change the rules. It's the same principle, if you just miss out, you just miss out," Clayton said.

Collingwood chief executive Greg Swann said the club was "very much opposed to any change to the laws midstream".

Carlton football manager Grant Williams said the club was opposed to changing any rule simply to suit an individual club or player's circumstances.

Richmond football director Greg Miller echoed the other clubs' concerns, likening the situation to that confronting the Brisbane Lions when they missed out on Nick Riewoldt, who lived just outside the 50-kilometre concession zone they were given for drafting local talent.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/03/22/1142703449495.html

[bluey_21]

If they are going to change the rules, they gotta do it next year

[one-eyed]

Bryce Gibbs hot shot
14 April 2006   
Herald Sun
Rebecca Williams

AUSTRALIAN under-17 coach Alan McConnell has described top draft hope Bryce Gibbs as one of the most composed leaders he has seen for his age.
   
While the national draft is still some eights months away, 17-year-old Gibbs is already attracting plenty of attention from AFL scouts.

He has been at the centre of debate over whether the Crows should be allowed to take him as a father-son selection.

The teenager's father, Ross, played 253 games for Adelaide-aligned Glenelg, but not enough in the qualification period set by the AFL.

Despite the external distractions, McConnell, the man in charge of the AIS/AFL Academy, said Gibbs remained one of the most focused and composed young players he had coached.

Gibbs last night captained the Australian under-17 team to a thrilling 39-all draw against Ireland in the first Test of the international rules series at Telstra Dome, which was played as a curtain-raiser to the St Kilda-Brisbane clash.

Gibbs was one of the best in the midfield for Australia, while his strong-marking Glenelg teammate James Sellar top scored with 12 points.

"He certainly has great composure. I am sure there are inner rumblings like we all have, but nothing seems to bother him too much," McConnell said of Gibbs, who is already playing senior football in the SANFL.

"Bryce is generally a pretty impressive type of fellow."

Of the other draft prospects in the Australian team, McConnell also rated Sellar and Melbourne Grammar's 198cm Tom Hawkins as exciting talents.

Australia plays the second Test against Ireland at AAMI Stadium on Sunday and the third Test at Fremantle Oval on Wednesday.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,18809541%255E19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Potential first pick to meet his suitors
Jake Niall
The Age
June 2, 2006

BRYCE Gibbs met Carlton coach Denis Pagan last weekend, and will be unable to be in the Essendon rooms tonight, but the prospective top draft pick intends to meet with all of the lowly placed teams before season's end.

Gibbs was in the Carlton rooms last Saturday, along with Glenelg teammate, and another potential top pick, James Sellar, and while football commitments will prevent him from seeing Essendon up close, his management plans for him to see the Bombers and Kangaroos in due course.

Gibbs' manager, Max Stevens, said yesterday that the teenage wunderkind — who has been compared to a young James Hird and Nathan Buckley — would take advantage of the opportunity to see up close the clubs that might draft him.

Stevens pointed out that while clubs would be able to speak to Gibbs, who is playing senior football with Glenelg and is favourite to be first pick in a strong talent pool, before the draft it was important for the youngster to familiarise himself with the clubs that might select him.

Gibbs was unable to meet the Bombers because he has training tonight. His father has already had informal discussions with Port Adelaide, which would obviously be keen to draft him if he was still there for the Power's pick.

Gibbs and Sellar listened to Pagan's address to the Carlton players last Saturday and met with the coach. Blues football director and club legend Stephen Kernahan is a former teammate and friend of Gibbs' father, Ross.

Stevens said that while it was planned for Gibbs to meet the Dons and Roos during the season, he would not see any other clubs before the national under-18 championships. "He's got a very, very important carnival coming up with the national under-18 championships," Stevens said.

While Stevens said Gibbs was only one of several youngsters vying to be first pick in the draft, the expectation within the football world is that he is certain to be among the top three and the clearcut favourite to be first name called out.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/06/01/1148956482789.html

[one-eyed]

We'll snare Gibbs
23 September 2006   Herald-Sun
Mark Stevens

YOU can have Bryce Gibbs now, but we will never give up on getting him back.

That is the fighting message from Adelaide recruiting manager James Fantasia as the South Australian prodigy prepares to join Carlton, Essendon or the Kangaroos.

"We'll be making every effort possible to make sure Bryce Gibbs plays the majority of his career at the Adelaide footy club," Fantasia said.

"That's on notice and I think the Gibbs family is very happy with that concept.

"Bryce is the one who will make the decision and that will be two years down the track.

"We will do everything in our power to get him home, and if it's not that time, it will be the time after until we do it.

"We make no bones about it. He should be with the Adelaide footy club. We're a victim here."

The Crows are still reeling from narrowly missing out on the midfielder under the father-son rule.

Gibbs' father Ross played 253 games for SANFL club Glenelg, 53 more than the amount needed to qualify.

But the Crows were thwarted because Gibbs had not played 200 when the club entered the AFL at the start of 1991.

"Anyone who has any ounce of reasoning will see we have been unlucky," Fantasia said.

"Ross Gibbs' career has been ignored and that's a travesty."

The Crows will look on ruefully as Gibbs is snapped up in the top three -- possibly at No. 1 -- at the national draft.

Under AFL rules, Gibbs has to sign a minimum two-year contract with his new club.

Considering the Crows are highly unlikely to fall to the bottom of the ladder and claim the No. 1 pick in the pre-season draft, Gibbs would have to head back home through a trade.

The Crows have also had to deal with the frustration of Adam Cooney and Ryan Griffen being snatched from under their noses by the Bulldogs.

"It's massively frustrating. Really frustrating. You get to know them and it creates friendships that go for a long time," Fantasia said.

"There's an edge of me that really despises the system. You move some really fine young people away from their families that are really great families. It happens both ways though. I really feel for them. It's tough."

But just as the Crows lost Kane Johnson (Richmond) and Tyson Stenglein (West Coast) to homesickness, Fantasia is confident the club will benefit from stars coming home in the future.

"I'm absolutely certain, whether I'm in the chair or someone else is, that there'll be a few presents come our way over the next five to 10 years. No question," he said.

"It (moving interstate) is not for everyone. Nothing's forever."

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,20461628%255E19742,00.html

[mightytiges]

I thought trying to manipulate the draft by scaring off other clubs from picking up a player was against the draft rules  ??? 

[mightytiges]

If Carlton trade their first pick away to Adelaide for Johncock and pick 14 so the Crows can get Gibbs then they deserve to have their draft picks taken away from them again.