Speculation Chad Warner

[Pure_Ownage]

Don't forget, Sydney were mostly uncompetitive and/or average in the 2019-2021 period while Buddy was having his issues + not playing and they lost some good players over that period like Jordan Dawson, Aliir Allir, George Hewett and Zak Jones. That recent bottoming out phase allowed the Swans to recruit guys like Warner, Gulden, McDonald, Campbell & Blakey in those years and that crop has been a massive part of the reason they are highly competitive now.

Now it's looking like Warner will leave and there were rumours about McDonald leaving last year. So this is just going to be an ongoing thing for northern clubs, regardless of on field success. It's part of the reason the northern academies exist to counteract the ongoing retention issues NSW & QLD clubs face. As for the Suns, I'll buy into the hype around our list when we start playing finals. Until then, I'm still looking at players we drafted and lost (like Izak Rankine) wondering what could have been if retention wasn't an ongoing problem.

Fremantle's current list is a great example of using home sickness to your advantage and they've built a very strong list that is likely to get even better next year with the additions of Kozzy and possibly Warner too. Queensland and New South Wales clubs don't have that luxury. To have a shot at recruiting homegrown stars we have to build them from the ground up in a market that isn't really conducive to producing high level footballers. Running a footy club in Queensland or New South Wales would be a lot easier if clubs could dangle the carrot of going home (as well as money in most cases) to star players around the league like Fremantle have done in recent years with Luke Jackson and Shai Bolton.

None of those guys you speak about that they lost were anywhere near A graders except for Dawson. Good clubs lose middle tier players all the time no matter where they are located given the salary cap.
Freo has as much trouble with player retention as anyone which shows its not solely a northern states issue.

The way the academies are starting to go the northern clubs won't have retention issues in 5 years anyway.

 

[Grumpyshades]

Freo's lost a heap of players, more than Sydney.

Not a good example.

and what has freo achieved exactly ?

not a great example of his example

 

[bzparkes]

and what has freo achieved exactly ?

not a great example of his example

The example is that Sydney aren't losing nearly as many players as he's making out, compared to other clubs.

Thought that was fairly clear, tbh

 

[Joao]

Geez. Hard to see him staying if he's already purchasing property in Perth. Applecross is apparently 17 minutes away from both West Coast and Freo's headquarters so there's no real indication as to which club he may be favouring. Hopefully Sydney are fairly compensated get the kitchen sink and more if he chooses West Coast after putting many years into his development to take him from a late second round draft prospect to one of the best players in the league. I know some people down south like to ignore it, but retention continues to be a real problem for the northern clubs and this is a prime example of it.

Swans star's foot out the door after property purchase

WIth a year left on his contract

www.nine.com.au

Fixed.

Also, as mentioned above, Freo are a running joke in terms of losing players, so not sure your argument stacks up as some Northern only problem.

 

[GC2015]

Freo's lost a heap of players, more than Sydney.

Not a good example.

None of those guys you speak about that they lost were anywhere near A graders except for Dawson. Good clubs lose middle tier players all the time no matter where they are located given the salary cap.
Freo has as much trouble with player retention as anyone which shows its not solely a northern states issue.

The way the academies are starting to go the northern clubs won't have retention issues in 5 years anyway.

Also, as mentioned above, Freo are a running joke in terms of losing players, so not sure your argument stacks up as some Northern only problem.

You've all missed the point of why I brought up Fremantle. Yes, the Dockers lose players (just like every club) but they have the option to use the home sickness factor to attract star/really good players as a way of counterbalancing it. All clubs outside of QLD & NSW have this option and here are recent examples of it happening - Adelaide with Rankine/Dawson, Port Adelaide with Horne-Francis/Lukosius, Fremantle with Jackson/Bolton, West Coast with Kelly/Baker and I don't have to go into the Victorian clubs because we all know that's real but I'll just add this since I quoted a Cats supporter - Geelong with Cameron/Dangerfield.

It's simply not an option for clubs in the northern states because those homegrown stars/really good players around the league don't exist. This is why the northern academies are important moving forward, but it's still less than ideal when compared to the almost instant recruitment opportunities that are available for other clubs. It could legitimately take 10+ years for a northern club to produce a homegrown star from the first U12s nothern academy intake until their mid-20s when they start peaking vs a non-northern club that makes some moves to clear cap and start negotiating with player managers 12 months out. That makes a huge difference when it comes to list management and filling holes on a list.

Show me a NSW player not playing for the Swans or Giants that Sydney can go after to legitimately replace Warner. I'll wait.

 

[bzparkes]

You've all missed the point of why I brought up Fremantle. Yes, the Dockers lose players (just like every club) but they have the option to use the home sickness factor to attract star/really good players as a way of counterbalancing it. All clubs outside of QLD & NSW have this option and here are recent examples of it happening - Adelaide with Rankine/Dawson, Port Adelaide with Horne-Francis/Lukosius, Fremantle with Jackson/Bolton, West Coast with Kelly/Baker and I don't have to go into the Victorian clubs because we all know that's real but I'll just add this since I quoted a Cats supporter - Geelong with Cameron/Dangerfield.

It's simply not an option for clubs in the northern states because those homegrown stars/really good players around the league don't exist. This is why the northern academies are important moving forward, but it's still less than ideal when compared to the almost instant recruitment opportunities that are available for other clubs. It could legitimately take 10+ years for a northern club to produce a homegrown star from the first U12s nothern academy intake until their mid-20s when they start peaking vs a non-northern club that makes some moves to clear cap and start negotiating with player managers 12 months out. That makes a huge difference when it comes to list management and filling holes on a list.

Show me a NSW player not playing for the Swans or Giants that Sydney can go after to legitimately replace Warner. I'll wait.

Freo have been losing WA players as well, so not really missing the point.

Not sure if you've heard of him but Sydney were able to get a star WA player by the name of Lance Franklin a while ago and recently added a Victorian and a South Australian for the 2024 season in Brodie Grundy and Taylor Adams.

Player movement has never been easier and Sydney aren't significantly disadvantaged by this.

Sydney can target whoever they want. If the offer is appealing enough, players will move.

 

[CaseySibosadoHOF]

and what has freo achieved exactly ?

not a great example of his example

You genuinely talk about Freo 5x more than you talk about West Coast. Face it: you're a closeted Freo supporter in denial trying to overcompensate, much like them over the top homophobic priests who turn out to be secretly gay.

I for one will welcome you to the fold when you give up your inhibitions. Mods might require a couple Hail Mundys though.

 

[King Huskii]

and what has freo achieved exactly ?

not a great example of his example

When your own club supporters are turning on you, you just know how stupid your points are.

 

[GC2015]

Freo have been losing WA players as well, so not really missing the point.

Not sure if you've heard of him but Sydney were able to get a star WA player by the name of Lance Franklin a while ago and recently added a Victorian and a South Australian for the 2024 season in Brodie Grundy and Taylor Adams.

Player movement has never been easier and Sydney aren't significantly disadvantaged by this.

Sydney can target whoever they want. If the offer is appealing enough, players will move.

To get Buddy they had to put forward a godfather offer. The same can be said about Ablett moving to the Suns. All clubs are capable of putting together godfather offers for players if they really want them that badly. It's just not advised because it makes it very hard to pull off other moves as evidenced by Sydney not trading in any notable players during Buddy's tenure in the red and white (the same can essentially be said about the Suns while Ablett was on his huge contract). Go back and look through those years and you'll see the Swans virtually traded in no one while Bud was on his massive contract.

Player movement isn't easy, but it certainly helps when you can dangle the carrot of 'coming home' in front of a really good player who might be missing their friends/family, have a partner that they want to start a family with or any other reason that someone may have for wanting to go home. The one and only time this ever worked for my club was when we went after Lachie Weller, who spent the last four years of his childhood on the GC and most of his life in Tassie. Mind you, we still had to pay Lachie a lot of money to leave Freo and we all know the debacle of a trade we had to execute to pull it off. Weller is nowhere near the level of a player like Luke Jackson so it will almost always be an apples and oranges situation in the very unlikely case that a northern club may be able to recruit a homegrown player to QLD or NSW.

So I'll ask again. Can you name me a NSW player that the Swans can target who will legitimately replace Warner? Because there's an abundance of WA players not playing for WA clubs in the league that can be targeted if someone wants to leave the Eagles or Dockers.

 

[bzparkes]

To get Buddy they had to put forward a godfather offer. The same can be said about Ablett moving to the Suns. All clubs are capable of putting together godfather offers for players if they really want them that badly. It's just not advised because it makes it very hard to pull off other moves as evidenced by Sydney not trading in any notable players during Buddy's tenure in the red and white (the same can essentially be said about the Suns while Ablett was on his huge contract). Go back and look through those years and you'll see the Swans virtually traded in no one while Bud was on his massive contract.

Any club needs to offer a 'godfather' amount to get a player like Buddy. You make out like it disadvantaged Sydney, which is inherently incorrect.

He would've got the same wherever he went.

He also cost them nothing in draft capital, as he was a free agent, even better for them, they kept all their picks and only gave up cap space.

Player movement isn't easy, but it certainly helps when you can dangle the carrot of 'coming home' in front of a really good player who might be missing their friends/family, have a partner that they want to start a family with or any other reason that someone may have for wanting to go home. The one and only time this ever worked for my club was when we went after Lachie Weller, who spent the last four years of his childhood on the GC and most of his life in Tassie. Mind you, we still had to pay Lachie a lot of money to leave Freo and we all know the debacle of a trade we had to execute to pull it off. Weller is nowhere near the level of a player like Luke Jackson so it will almost always be an apples and oranges situation in the very unlikely case that a northern club may be able to recruit a homegrown player to QLD or NSW.

How many West Australians of note has WCE brought back to WA, for instance?

Daniel Chick?

Tyson Stenglein?

Liam Baker?

Jetta was a straight swap for Cal Sinclair, a good deal that seemed to work out for both sides.

Josh Kennedy was part of the Judd trade and was effectively forced to leave Carlton, he wanted to stay.

It's not as big of an advantage as you seem to think it is.

The biggest WA fish ever(Lance Franklin) went to Sydney.

So I'll ask again. Can you name me a NSW player that the Swans can target who will legitimately replace Warner? Because there's an abundance of WA players not playing for WA clubs in the league that can be targeted if someone wants to leave the Eagles or Dockers.

Why this obsession with replacing Warner with NSW talent? It's a national competition and Sydney have played in more grand finals than anyone else this millennium.

Are you seriously suggesting they're disadvantaged by not having NSW players in their team?

 

[stallon]

NSW teams get the advantage of allowing their players to live in a big city with more big city things to do, while also not having much attention from media/fans.
Its not really a disadvantage at all, id argue its very similar to Geelongs advantage(minus the house+land packages)

 

[Grumpyshades]

The example is that Sydney aren't losing nearly as many players as he's making out, compared to other clubs.

Thought that was fairly clear, tbh

ok my apologies, not sure what I read lol

 

[GC2015]

Any club needs to offer a 'godfather' amount to get a player like Buddy. You make out like it disadvantaged Sydney, which is inherently incorrect.

He would've got the same wherever he went.

He also cost them nothing in draft capital, as he was a free agent, even better for them, they kept all their picks and only gave up cap space.

That's actually not true because sometimes it's not just money, it's also years. For example GWS were unwilling to go beyond the six years they offered him and got annoyed when they found out what was going on so they let the footy world know what the Swans had done.

Anyway, you're actually agree with my point - any player can be bought if a club is willing to cough up a big enough godfather offer. I wasn't suggesting that specific move was a disadvantage for the Swans. On the contrary, I was suggesting that every club in the AFL has an extreme recruitment strategy at their disposal should they desperately want a particular player. It's just not advised most of the time because it can drastically restrict the club moving forward.

How many West Australians of note has WCE brought back to WA, for instance?

Daniel Chick?

Tyson Stenglein?

Liam Baker?

Jetta was a straight swap for Cal Sinclair, a good deal that seemed to work out for both sides.

Josh Kennedy was part of the Judd trade and was effectively forced to leave Carlton, he wanted to stay.

It's not as big of an advantage as you seem to think it is.

The biggest WA fish ever(Lance Franklin) went to Sydney.

Did you forget about the time your club recruited Tim Kelly from Geelong a month after he finished 5th in the 2019 Brownlow count? That's a pretty big acquisition, if you ask me. Obviously we know now that he didn't live up to the hype, but that doesn't change the value he held at the time of recruiting and the natural advantage your club had in being his preferred destination. It was undeniably a huge get for your club when it happened.

Bringing up the fact that you didn't recruit a WA star in Buddy while still being able to recruit other WA stars like Kelly just proves the abundance of options WA clubs have when it comes to recruiting homegrown players. In 14 years my club has recruited one homegrown B grader in Weller. That's it. Wanna know how many Brownlow votes Weller got in 2017 when we recruited him? Zero.

Why this obsession with replacing Warner with NSW talent? It's a national competition and Sydney have played in more grand finals than anyone else this millennium.

Are you seriously suggesting they're disadvantaged by not having NSW players in their team?

Because it can be more difficult to recruit a player that's not from your state/city when compared to one that is from your state and that's not a luxury that's afforded to northern clubs. I do think there is an inherent recruitment disadantage for northern clubs due to the fact that there aren't as many players from NSW/QLD in the league as there are from WA/SA/VIC.

It's a big part of the reason that I'm heavily in favour of the northern academies existing. Over time it should increase the pool of players from the northern states and start to create a more level playing field when it comes to recruitment/list management.

 

[bzparkes]

That's actually not true because sometimes it's not just money, it's also years. For example GWS were unwilling to go beyond the six years they offered him and got annoyed when they found out what was going on so they let the footy world know what the Swans had done.

Anyway, you're actually agree with my point - any player can be bought if a club is willing to cough up a big enough godfather offer. I wasn't suggesting that specific move was a disadvantage for the Swans. On the contrary, I was suggesting that every club in the AFL has an extreme recruitment strategy at their disposal should they desperately want a particular player. It's just not advised most of the time because it can drastically restrict the club moving forward.

Ultimately, Lance Franklin went on to play in 3 losing grand finals with Sydney, so his acquisition didn't exactly hurt his club's competitiveness.

Did you forget about the time your club recruited Tim Kelly from Geelong a month after he finished 5th in the 2019 Brownlow count? That's a pretty big acquisition, if you ask me. Obviously we know now that he didn't live up to the hype, but that doesn't change the value he held at the time of recruiting and the natural advantage your club had in being his preferred destination. It was undeniably a huge get for your club when it happened.

Yes, I actually did forget about TK, lol. He's our biggest trade acquisition this century.

Losing him clearly didn't hinder Geelong though, did it? They went on to win the flag in 2022.

Just like losing Warner will get Swans something decent, perhaps even better, in return.

Bringing up the fact that you didn't recruit a WA star in Buddy while still being able to recruit other WA stars like Kelly just proves the abundance of options WA clubs have when it comes to recruiting homegrown players. In 14 years my club has recruited one homegrown B grader in Weller. That's it. Wanna know how many Brownlow votes Weller got in 2017 when we recruited him? Zero.

Cool.

You also just picked up the reigning BnF winner from Richmond, just last year.

Again, what does this have to do with homegrown talent if you're able to bring in A graders regardless?

Because it can be more difficult to recruit a player that's not from your state/city when compared to one that is from your state and that's not a luxury that's afforded to northern clubs. I do think there is an inherent recruitment disadantage for northern clubs due to the fact that there aren't as many players from NSW/QLD in the league as there are from WA/SA/VIC.

You say this yet look at Brisbane.

They recruited Neale from Freo, who's a South Australian.

J. Daniher is Victorian.

Dunkley, another key contributor.

They managed to bring Charlie Cameron home from SA.

Then there's the 2 Vic brothers going by the name of Ashcroft in recent years, who both elected to move to Brisbane as F/S, instead of staying at home and being drafted to a Vic club.

So on top of being able to bring in elite talent from other clubs, 5 of which who aren't from Qld, they also have an academy to hoard homegrown talent to themselves.

It's a big part of the reason that I'm heavily in favour of the northern academies existing. Over time it should increase the pool of players from the northern states and start to create a more level playing field when it comes to recruitment/list management.

The only 'level' playing field you need to look at is the AFL ladder.

Your mob may not have played finals yet but the other 3 are competing in(and winning) grand finals in the last decade.

It's pretty rich to try and claim that Northern clubs have some kind of disadvantage when the AFL is doing everything within their power to ensure they are at the point end come finals and let the WA and SA clubs rot.

 

[GC2015]

Ultimately, Lance Franklin went on to play in 3 losing grand finals with Sydney, so his acquisition didn't exactly hurt his club's competitiveness.

Turned out to be a fantastic acquisition for the Swans. No flag in the end but still kept them highly competitive in years that they probably wouldn't have played finals without him. I wish Ablett had done the same with my club as opposed to what we got.

Yes, I actually did forget about TK, lol. He's our biggest trade acquisition this century.

Losing him clearly didn't hinder Geelong though, did it? They went on to win the flag in 2022.

Just like losing Warner will get Swans something decent, perhaps even better, in return.

Who knows? Maybe if Kelly had stayed then Geelong may have won the 2020 GF instead of losing it to Richmond. What would have happened beyond that? You just don't know. It's an impossible question to answer. You can't say definitively one way or the other, but I do think when you take into consideration the way he played in Geelong's system, they likely would have had a better shot at winning the 2020 GF with Kelly as opposed to without him IMO.

It's like asking whether the Suns would have played finals in 2014 had Ablett not popped his shoulder in the R16 Collingwood match when the Suns were sitting inside the top 8. We certainly would have had a better shot at making the finals with Ablett playing, but I can't say definitively one way or the other. You just don't know.

Cool.

You also just picked up the reigning BnF winner from Richmond, just last year.

Again, what does this have to do with homegrown talent if you're able to bring in A graders regardless?

Is Rioli an A grader? He wasn't named in the AA team last year and he only got 4 Brownlow votes for the entire season. Winning a BnF at the wooden spoon club doesn't necessarily mean you're an A grader in my mind. He's good but I don't consider him to be on the same level as 5th place in the Brownlow Tim Kelly.

Ablett was an A grader. No doubt about that, but he's the only A grader we've recruited for mine and that took a godfather offer to secure.

You say this yet look at Brisbane.

They recruited Neale from Freo, who's a South Australian.

J. Daniher is Victorian.

Dunkley, another key contributor.

They managed to bring Charlie Cameron home from SA.

Then there's the 2 Vic brothers going by the name of Ashcroft in recent years, who both elected to move to Brisbane as F/S, instead of staying at home and being drafted to a Vic club.

So on top of being able to bring in elite talent from other clubs, 5 of which who aren't from Qld, they also have an academy to hoard homegrown talent to themselves.

Neale had not yet become a superstar and got a big offer from the Lions relative to the player he was at the time so he took it. Similar to the godfather offer scenario but not quite as much as Buddy or Ablett. Daniher also got a big offer from Brisbane and took it, which was confirmed by the tier 1 compensation Essendon received. From memory, Dunkley got offered $750k a season for six years and that would be very hard to turn down if you were in his position considering his next best offer from Essendon was reportedly 100k less each season and less years. Money and security talk in this league and Brisbane have also had the lure of being a proven finals team in recent years, which makes them even more attractive on top of the financial incentives they are offering.

Charlie Cameron is a fair call. That's an example of a talented Queenslander that wanted to go home and Brisbane used that to their advantage. He was nowhere near as prolific at Adelaide as he would later become at the Lions, but it was still a good acquisition at the time. Was Cameron an A grader in 2017 when he left the Crows? No.

Father-son picks probably aren't a good example of what we're discussing here. It's a completely different kettle of fish when you start to talk about whether a player wants to follow in his father's footsteps. For what it's worth and for accuracy reasons, I'll just point out that the Ashcroft boys actually grew up in Queensland and only moved to Victoria in their teenage years. Will Ashcroft lived the first 14 years of his life on the Gold Coast and was even a member of the Suns academy. So moving back to Queensland to play for their father's club probably wasn't as big of a transition as you may think. A better example of what we're discussing is probably Marc Murphy, who turned down joining the Lions as a father-son pick because he didn't want to move to Queensland and instead wanted to stay in Victoria.

The only 'level' playing field you need to look at is the AFL ladder.

Your mob may not have played finals yet but the other 3 are competing in(and winning) grand finals in the last decade.

It's pretty rich to try and claim that Northern clubs have some kind of disadvantage when the AFL is doing everything within their power to ensure they are at the point end come finals and let the WA and SA clubs rot.

Well, if that's true then the AFL had failed dramatically in their pursuit to create premiership winning teams in the northern markets until 2024. Probably shows just how difficult it is to run a successful club up here when you can be given "everything" within the AFL's power and still not win for over a decade.

 

[bzparkes]

Well, if that's true then the AFL had failed dramatically in their pursuit to create premiership winning teams in the northern markets until 2024. Probably shows just how difficult it is to run a successful club up here when you can be given "everything" within the AFL's power and still not win for over a decade.

huh? Not sure if you are aware but Brisbane are the reigning premiers. All other Northern clubs, other than GC, have competed in grand finals. It's up to them to actually win.

The AFL can't just directly hand a flag to a Northern club now, can they?

They're pretty much doing that by proxy anyway.

No other clubs get the advantages the northern ones do and please don't try to sell me that they have massive disadvantages, because they don't.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

You've all missed the point of why I brought up Fremantle. Yes, the Dockers lose players (just like every club) but they have the option to use the home sickness factor to attract star/really good players as a way of counterbalancing it. All clubs outside of QLD & NSW have this option and here are recent examples of it happening - Adelaide with Rankine/Dawson, Port Adelaide with Horne-Francis/Lukosius, Fremantle with Jackson/Bolton, West Coast with Kelly/Baker and I don't have to go into the Victorian clubs because we all know that's real but I'll just add this since I quoted a Cats supporter - Geelong with Cameron/Dangerfield.

It's simply not an option for clubs in the northern states because those homegrown stars/really good players around the league don't exist. This is why the northern academies are important moving forward, but it's still less than ideal when compared to the almost instant recruitment opportunities that are available for other clubs. It could legitimately take 10+ years for a northern club to produce a homegrown star from the first U12s nothern academy intake until their mid-20s when they start peaking vs a non-northern club that makes some moves to clear cap and start negotiating with player managers 12 months out. That makes a huge difference when it comes to list management and filling holes on a list.

Show me a NSW player not playing for the Swans or Giants that Sydney can go after to legitimately replace Warner. I'll wait.

I would completely disagree with that.
Freo are literally losing players who are from WA who are leaving to go interstate-hill, lobby, acres all classic examples plus they have trouble recruiting A graders unless they are ones with 'risks' like hogan. Yes there are some exceptions but freo struggles with retention (whatever the reasons) as much if not more than some northern states clubs.

What it shows is that culture and how front office is run plus prospects of on field success have as much impact on retention as anything regardless of which state you are in.
Yes there are differences in the talent pool and depth across states (although I would argue if you look at how well the allies are starting to perform at under-age level this us greatly changing) but the issue is not nearly as stark as you are making it out to be.

 

[GC2015]

huh? Not sure if you are aware but Brisbane are the reigning premiers. All other Northern clubs, other than GC, have competed in grand finals. It's up to them to actually win.

The AFL can't just directly hand a flag to a Northern club now, can they?

They're pretty much doing that by proxy anyway.

No other clubs get the advantages the northern ones do and please don't try to sell me that they have massive disadvantages, because they don't.

How much of the AFL's help do you think went into Brisbane winning the flag last year? I can tell you that only 3 of their 23 premiership players came from their academy. Where did the other 20 players come from? Drafting, trading and free agency. The AFL wasn't the driving force behind Brisbane winning the flag last year - it was the club making many non-academy related recruitment decisions over an 8-10 year period.

I would completely disagree with that.
Freo are literally losing players who are from WA who are leaving to go interstate-hill, lobby, acres all classic examples plus they have trouble recruiting A graders unless they are ones with 'risks' like hogan. Yes there are some exceptions but freo struggles with retention (whatever the reasons) as much if not more than some northern states clubs.

What it shows is that culture and how front office is run plus prospects of on field success have as much impact on retention as anything regardless of which state you are in.
Yes there are differences in the talent pool and depth across states (although I would argue if you look at how well the allies are starting to perform at under-age level this us greatly changing) but the issue is not nearly as stark as you are making it out to be.

Is Brad Hill in the same vacinity as Luke Jackson in terms of value to a team? I don't consider him to be. Does Jackson carry the same kind of risk as Hogan? I'm not denying that Fremantle have had their retention issues as well. I'm just pointing out that they can use home sickness as a recruitment strategy in a way that the northern teams can't (not yet anyway).

I hope the recent dominance of the Allies continues because that will help solve the exact issue I'm referring to and the northern teams will become less reliant on the recruitment of interstate players going forward. It should also reduce the risk of losing star players to the go home factor because there should be a greater number of top end homegrown players on the list.

 

[We_The_West]

Sydney can replace Warner with one of their Academy guns. Isn't there another 3 coming through this year all potential first and second round... must be a nice problem to have after getting Gulden, Heeney, Blakey, Mills and Cleary for peanuts.

They also brought in Taylor Adams and J.Jordan and won the minor premiership....

Swans will be fine and they'll get a couple juicy picks for him.

 

[Jez1974]

Twice in 10 years if that is the cut off you’re choosing. We took six years to win a final during that period.

WC currently at 4 years without a finals win so I’m guessing your drought will be longer than ours by the time you get back there.

It just seems insane that you have managed to nearly avoid the top end of the draft so much despite the win / loss record of the past three seasons.

The purples almost made finals last year, only had to win at home. Carlton even lost for them to slip in, or out as the case may be!!

 

[bzparkes]

How much of the AFL's help do you think went into Brisbane winning the flag last year? I can tell you that only 3 of their 23 premiership players came from their academy. Where did the other 20 players come from? Drafting, trading and free agency. The AFL wasn't the driving force behind Brisbane winning the flag last year - it was the club making many non-academy related recruitment decisions over an 8-10 year period.

Yep, which is literally my point.

Remind me why they then need an academy again? Because what you've described is exactly what every other club is expected to do, minus to academy leg up.

Also, Brisbane and Sydney have each played only 2 less grand finals this century than the WA and SA clubs combined, yet you're trying to say Sydney is disadvantaged because they can't replace a potential Chad Warner trade with a local NSW trade in from another team.

Not sure if you've seriously thought this argument through...

 

[Purple Suit]

How much of the AFL's help do you think went into Brisbane winning the flag last year? I can tell you that only 3 of their 23 premiership players came from their academy. Where did the other 20 players come from? Drafting, trading and free agency. The AFL wasn't the driving force behind Brisbane winning the flag last year - it was the club making many non-academy related recruitment decisions over an 8-10 year period.


Is Brad Hill in the same vacinity as Luke Jackson in terms of value to a team? I don't consider him to be. Does Jackson carry the same kind of risk as Hogan? I'm not denying that Fremantle have had their retention issues as well. I'm just pointing out that they can use home sickness as a recruitment strategy in a way that the northern teams can't (not yet anyway).

I hope the recent dominance of the Allies continues because that will help solve the exact issue I'm referring to and the northern teams will become less reliant on the recruitment of interstate players going forward. It should also reduce the risk of losing star players to the go home factor because there should be a greater number of top end homegrown players on the list.

Jarrod Berry was basically a priority pick as well which the Lyons got in 2016.

 

[Saintsone]

Jarrod Berry was basically a priority pick as well which the Lyons got in 2016.

You may need to explain that ,

 

[Purple Suit]

You may need to explain that ,

I'm meaning AFL assistance that helped Brisbane win a flag. Just about every team who wins it these days gets a bit in the form of F/S, Priority picks or academies.

 

[eaglevision]

I'm meaning AFL assistance that helped Brisbane win a flag. Just about every team who wins it these days gets a bit in the form of F/S, Priority picks or academies.

Or all of the above.