Here's the article:
Tigers to nurture cubs in father-son plan
05 December 2006
Herald-Sun
Daryl Timms
RICHMOND will start the potential league careers of former players' sons at the tender age of 10.
The kids, whose ages will range from 10 to 15-plus, will begin training with the Tigers in a father-son academy from next season.
Coach Terry Wallace is behind the ambitious plan to identify and improve the skills of the sons of former Tiger footballers.
He said the youngsters would be invited to special training programs at Punt Rd during each school holiday break.
After their strengths and weaknesses are identified during the special sessions, the children will be given training programs to follow.
And as they become older, they will be also instructed on other aspects of football, including weight training and diet.
Wallace said the only way a club could specifically recruit a young player in the national draft was through the father-son rule.
Clubs must give their third round selection in the draft to take the son of one of their former players.
There have been cases of the sons of former players not being taken because they might have a certain deficiency in their game.
Wallace said the kids' program at Punt Rd could help the youngster overcome the deficiency so hopefully he would become a viable selection for Richmond under the father-son rule.
Had the system already been in place, the Cloke brothers -- Jason, Travis and Cameron -- might have trained with the Tigers since the age of 10 and could have decided to play with Richmond rather than Collingwood, where their father David also played.
"If you go overseas, particularly Europe, you see where they have the ability to start developing their players at 12 years of age though junior squads from 12s and 14s and all the way through," Wallace said.
"Before the draft system, we had the ability to develop players when there was zoning and the more work you put into your zone, the more likely you were of getting some quality players out of it.
"If you did it now, they could finish up anywhere, but the one place we can still monitor and assist them is father-son because you know you have got a hold of those players."
Wallace said getting the sons at an early age would give them the chance to become the best possible player.
"The holiday program is there for them to have fun but if we can be identifying kids along the way and assist them with their footy, it's a good service for them and could help us down the track," he said.
"There will be age groups which can be worked on -- 10s to 12s, 13s to 15s and above. The 15s would train like under-18 teams would train and you would start to work with things like diet.
"This will also give us a closer liaison with our past players."
Wallace said he believed kids at 10 could start to work on their skills.
He said a player who might have a problem with a skills such as kicking would benefit greatly from working under someone like Nathan Brown.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,20872062%255E20322,00.html
