Academy: Gold Coast SUNS Gun Factory

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Some great details about our academy in this article.
THE BEGINNING

The first Suns Academy intake occurred in 2011, with roughly 120 boys across Queensland overseen by a single full-time staff member.

In 2017 the Suns Academy welcomed its first crop of 26 female players, taking the total to just over 200 and overseen by two full-time staff – an Academy manager and head coach. In the span of six years the club had expanded its academy program by one full-time staff member and 90 players.

Academy Manager Jason Torney and head coach Andrew Raines worked tirelessly within a network lacking significant resources that relied on volunteers across the state to help deliver the program.
At the end of 2018, the Gold Coast board made a submission to the AFL to significantly bolster its academy program. To that point the club’s homegrown talent had mostly arrived via the rookie draft, as the program was not well-equipped to identify, develop and produce top-end AFL-ready talent.

Using the Swans’ highly successful academy model as a blueprint, the Suns made a significant financial and material investment, which as of 2024 sits at well above $1m per year and includes eight full-time coaching/admin staff, four part-time North Queensland staff, 10 medical/strength and conditioning staff and 50 volunteer coaches spread across 11 hubs.

The club took sole responsibility for the academy program, which had previously been predominantly run by AFL Queensland and slapped with Suns branding. Academy staff moved into the club’s Carrara base at the Austworld Centre and were properly integrated into day-to-day operations.

By the end of 2019 the club had installed a full-time co-ordinator in North Queensland and the program had grown to above 400 players – almost double the figure only two years earlier.
Click to expand...
THE FUTURE

At the end of 2021 the club made another substantial change to the academy set-up. It took control of the junior pathways, U13s – U15s, which had previously still been run by AFL Queensland.

Academy Manager Kath Newman, U19 Academy Coach Jarrod Cotton and Academy Coordinator Casey Haw were installed and the trio set about reconstructing the program from the ground up.

With the junior grades now also under the club’s eye, talent identification and cultivation could begin even earlier.

By 2022 the male program totalled 962 players – 644 boys and 318 girls – and the club had circled the academy as a long-term investment for both on-field success and community cohesion.
Click to expand...
The next move that seriously signalled the Suns’ intent was list boss Craig Cameron’s decision to relocate to the Gold Coast so he could work as close as possible with the academy program.

He is the only list boss in the AFL not based in Melbourne.

“It means I get to understand the talent coming through both the men’s and women’s pathways,” Cameron told this masthead.

“I’m able to build strong relationships with our academy coaches which is really important.

“Last year we took four academy players (in the draft). That’s not going to happen every year, but our aim is to build out the percentage of our list as local talent as much as we can.”

This year the club moved Rhyce Shaw into the newly-created role of Director of Coaching. He now works alongside the academy coaches and within communities at the 11 hubs across Queensland to improve the quality of coaching across the board.

Placing a former AFL senior coach in such a role signalled the seriousness of the Suns’ investment in the academy pathway.

“We could see there was a gap but our coaches were busy coaching the players and didn’t have the time or resources to coach the coaches,” Newman said.
Click to expand...
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Jirik13 said:
Some great details about our academy in this article.

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Click to expand...
It's a feel good story for the AFL because it shows they are finally getting return on the investment that they committed to back in 2008 when they granted us an AFL license. They were always adament when they let us and GWS in that these new teams were 20-30 year investments for the league and that they weren't going to show signs of return immediately, but rather the true value of the investment would become more obvious decades later.

It looks like we're there earlier than expected after about 15 years but this was always going to be a generational project because you need to start from the very beginning of their footy journey and that's exactly what we've seen with kids like Walter, Read and Graham who were five years old when we entered the AFL and that's essentially the earliest you can start playing at the AusKick level. Will Graham for example starting playing for Palmy at the U6s level (which coincided with our first year in the AFL) and his family were all foundation members of Suns who grew up supporting the club. I'd guess we're going to see a lot more of that with the next generation as we hopefully have more onfield success.

However, we also know this is all a double edged sword because jealousy is going to come into play soon and the Vics will eventually become determined to destroy it like they did with West Coast in the 90s when they reached the top of the mountain with a team made up entirely of WA players. Garry Lyon was definitely having a whinge about it on Monday night On The Couch, but I do think it was interesting to hear the numbers he provided:
"I did some homework on it and it is just scary what's coming out of that Academy," said Lyon on Fox Footy.

"They’ve got 14 Academy players on their list. They had 11 first rounders on the weekend with five Academy players. This is just the Gold Coast Suns."
Click to expand...
"There's four under-16 All Australians from last year that are committed to the Gold Coast Suns Academy already.

"The Academy numbers are just crazy."

"The Gold Coast Academy had two staff in 2017. Now they've got eight full-time staff, four part-timers up in North Queensland, 10 in the medical team, 50 volunteers helping out and a former AFL coach in Rhyce Shaw heading it up," said Lyon.

"Sydney's isn't far behind," added Buckley.
Click to expand...
What this really shows, along with the other article Jirik13 provided, is that our Academy was drastically under resourced up until 2017 and that happened to coincide with our AFL team hitting rock bottom in 2017-19 when we finished 17th (2017), 17th (2018) and 18th (2019). We also lost a lot of our gun players like Ablett, Lynch, May, Martin, Saad, Ah Chee, Matera etc during that period. We were in a world of pain at the time and our retention issues were bleedingly obvious to everybody so the AFL made the correct decision to give us a proper amount of funding for our Academy so we could replicate the Swans model which had recently produced guns like Heeney/Mills and were consistently playing finals.

Fast forward five years and even blind Freddy can see that the tweaking of the pathway as well as the proper amount of funding from the AFL has worked for the Suns. It's quite simple - if you put proper amount of money and resources in, then it's going to work and that's crucially important for a small market team like us IMO because we're always going to be up against it when it comes to attracting big players through trades/free agency unless we can pay them a lot of money (we learned that lesson with Ablett) or we can offer them the prospect of finals footy. Hopefully we're about to enter a stage where the latter is used to recruit. Tasmania needs to take note of what's happened here because they will similarly be reliant on their academy program once their initial intake of draftees move on.

It's certainly been a frustrating journey as a supporter to get to this point but I do believe we'll be better off in the long run. You just can't underestimate the impact of having local stars lighting it up in the AFL and what that does at the grassroots level. We all saw the passion of the PBC crew during that Hawthorn game and that's just a taste of what's possible if we continue down this path of producing our own homegrown stars. We just have to make sure the Vics don't completely ruin it.
 

The next wave of Gold Coast Academy kids set to take the AFL by storm

There are more young guns coming through the Suns Academy.
www.sen.com.au www.sen.com.au
More southern exposure for our academy players. It definitely feels like a very intentional amount of coverage being placed on our Academy at the moment...

Anyway, it's interesting to see they've list Lachlan Gulbis as another one to watch along with Lombard this year. They're definitely eyeing off Uwland, Addinsall and Murray for next year though. It also seems they are suggesting Kalani White is legitimately considering staying with the Suns, but my understanding is that's not the case at all and he's very likely to join the Dees.
 
Jen2310 said:
Cal seems to think Lombard might get a bid late 1st, early 2nd round at this point. But still plenty to play out yet. Given its only april
Click to expand...
He better not keep on turning in star VFL performances then. I have him ahead of Jake Rogers as a prospect myself. I dont doubt he'll slip some as most academy picks do, but he should be in the top 10 at this stage on form and production.
 
In 2024, there is more Suns Academy talent on the horizon with the likes of Leonardo Lombard and Lachlan Gulbin who will be pressing their respective draft cases in 2024.


The wider footy public will be aware of Lombard after his contributions to Gold Coast’s VFL premiership last season.


Former Suns Academy senior assistant Mark Pitura has an intimate knowledge of the environment and has provided a strong insight into Queensland’s northern exposure.







“There’s a couple of key players to keep an eye on within the Suns Academy,” Pitura said on SEN’s Future Stars.


“The Academy is really strong. The key here is the depth.


“There are more boys that the Suns will really look at hopefully drafting this year.


“One of those is Leo Lombard who was a VFL premiership player last year as a 16-year-old. He’ll be a high draft pick in my opinion.


“He’s also the son of Hector Lombard who was a UFC star many years ago.”


Of the 2024 crop, Pitura is expecting Lombard to have the most success at AFL level due to his hard-working traits.


“With Leo, his work ethic, his mindset, his ability to compete at the highest level (will set him apart),” he added.


“He’s a quiet guy but tenacious, hard working and he would be my pick of the bunch.”


In 2025 it only gets better for the Suns.


The burgeoning south east Queensland catchment, particularly around the Gold Coast area, is set to produce even more Suns Academy guns.




Zeke Uwland, Beau Addinsall and Jai Murray are all set to catch the eye in 2024 as they continue their journey towards next year’s draft.


“One player I like is a boy called Zeke Uwland. He’s the brother of Bodhi who plays at the Suns at the moment,” Pitura said of next year’s group.


“He’s a left footer, finds the footy well, and is one to watch for next year.


“As a 15-year-old he had 38 touches in the Under-16 National Championships game, so he’s one to keep an eye on.


“Another one is Beau Addinsall and the third one is Jai Murray.


“All three boys were Burleigh Bombers juniors and were back-to-back Under-15 and 16 All-Australian players.


“So good times ahead for Gold Coast.”


Then there is Kalani White, the Melbourne father-son prospect.


The 200cm offspring of former Demons ruckman Jeff White is another Suns Academy product who has a significant decision to make on his future - whether to choose the Dees or the Suns.


“The best thing for Kalani is he’s got an option on where he’d like to go,” said Pitura of the


“He’s been within the Suns Academy environment for the last couple of years, he’s also gone down to the Melbourne Academy over the last couple of years.


“It will be interesting to see the decision Jeff and Kalani make. He’s pretty settled here on the Gold Coast, but you never know what might happen.”
Click to expand...

The next wave of Gold Coast Academy kids set to take the AFL by storm

There are more young guns coming through the Suns Academy.
www.sen.com.au www.sen.com.au
 
Jen2310 said:
Anyone born post 2000 makes me feel old I was already near end of high school by that point


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


I was in grade 3 in 2000.

Year 8 when Walter, Read and Graham were born. (Yes. I'm a 1991 birth.)
 
Jen2310 said:
Anyone born post 2000 makes me feel old I was already near end of high school by that point


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
And Jen, you know what makes me feel old........remembering some of my childhood, eg: sitting with my mate listening to the Olympic Games from Melbourne on the radio, cause Qld didn't have TV at that stage......
 

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GC2015 said:
It's a feel good story for the AFL because it shows they are finally getting return on the investment that they committed to back in 2008 when they granted us an AFL license. They were always adament when they let us and GWS in that these new teams were 20-30 year investments for the league and that they weren't going to show signs of return immediately, but rather the true value of the investment would become more obvious decades later.

It looks like we're there earlier than expected after about 15 years but this was always going to be a generational project because you need to start from the very beginning of their footy journey and that's exactly what we've seen with kids like Walter, Read and Graham who were five years old when we entered the AFL and that's essentially the earliest you can start playing at the AusKick level. Will Graham for example starting playing for Palmy at the U6s level (which coincided with our first year in the AFL) and his family were all foundation members of Suns who grew up supporting the club. I'd guess we're going to see a lot more of that with the next generation as we hopefully have more onfield success.

However, we also know this is all a double edged sword because jealousy is going to come into play soon and the Vics will eventually become determined to destroy it like they did with West Coast in the 90s when they reached the top of the mountain with a team made up entirely of WA players. Garry Lyon was definitely having a whinge about it on Monday night On The Couch, but I do think it was interesting to hear the numbers he provided:


What this really shows, along with the other article Jirik13 provided, is that our Academy was drastically under resourced up until 2017 and that happened to coincide with our AFL team hitting rock bottom in 2017-19 when we finished 17th (2017), 17th (2018) and 18th (2019). We also lost a lot of our gun players like Ablett, Lynch, May, Martin, Saad, Ah Chee, Matera etc during that period. We were in a world of pain at the time and our retention issues were bleedingly obvious to everybody so the AFL made the correct decision to give us a proper amount of funding for our Academy so we could replicate the Swans model which had recently produced guns like Heeney/Mills and were consistently playing finals.

Fast forward five years and even blind Freddy can see that the tweaking of the pathway as well as the proper amount of funding from the AFL has worked for the Suns. It's quite simple - if you put proper amount of money and resources in, then it's going to work and that's crucially important for a small market team like us IMO because we're always going to be up against it when it comes to attracting big players through trades/free agency unless we can pay them a lot of money (we learned that lesson with Ablett) or we can offer them the prospect of finals footy. Hopefully we're about to enter a stage where the latter is used to recruit. Tasmania needs to take note of what's happened here because they will similarly be reliant on their academy program once their initial intake of draftees move on.

It's certainly been a frustrating journey as a supporter to get to this point but I do believe we'll be better off in the long run. You just can't underestimate the impact of having local stars lighting it up in the AFL and what that does at the grassroots level. We all saw the passion of the PBC crew during that Hawthorn game and that's just a taste of what's possible if we continue down this path of producing our own homegrown stars. We just have to make sure the Vics don't completely ruin it.
Click to expand...

If you get a chance listen to sen breakfast podcast from Tuesday where Lyon goes on again about the academy
 
Jen2310 said:
Cal seems to think Lombard might get a bid late 1st, early 2nd round at this point. But still plenty to play out yet. Given its only april
Click to expand...
Underrated then imo. Biased admittedly but he is fast af, powerful, inside/outside and he's one of those guys that has a great looking kick but he's not quite hitting the mark where it needs to be. He's not got a broken kicking action so my gut tells me with a full time AFL gig he's gonna learn how to dial it in and be a great kick. He goes for great kicks which carry well just slightly off on most.

Anyways, I am on the Dimma prescription so just rambling lmao
 
Choppers said:
And Jen, you know what makes me feel old........remembering some of my childhood, eg: sitting with my mate listening to the Olympic Games from Melbourne on the radio, cause Qld didn't have TV at that stage......
Click to expand...
I remember getting into a Barney with my neighbour Fred when his pet Dino put his head through the tarp on the top on my twinkle toe powered automobile

Only Choppers and I will probably get the references in the above statement
 
robo_1 said:
If you get a chance listen to sen breakfast podcast from Tuesday where Lyon goes on again about the academy
Click to expand...
Had a listen. He seemed more critical of our academy on the radio than he was on Fox Footy. Called it a "leg up" for us. Nevermind all the advantages the Victorian teams get, but that's typical of the hypocritical nature of the Vic media/footy bubble down there.

He also mentioned Jonathan Brown went into bat for us and the other northern academies whenever Melburnians were questioning the fairness of the northern academies. Good on Browny for sticking up for us and the other northern teams when it would have been easier to just conform to the Victorian point of view. I think it's really important for the growth of the game to have more northern representation in the Victorian media and Browny is probably the perfect man for the job considering he was with Brisbane during a lot of their dark years and knows just how bad it can get without support from the AFL. We're going to need more push back, though.
 
Supersuns said:
You're all old farts 😛
Click to expand...
Correct young fella....;) and this was the 1st show I ever watched on TV in 1958....and it was sponsored in Aust. by Arnott's....

www.themoviedb.org

The People's Choice

The People's Choice is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from 1955 to 1958, primarily sponsored by The Borden Company. It stars Jackie Cooper as Socrates
www.themoviedb.org www.themoviedb.org
 
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