Sambono is still available too
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Ben do you know anything about Lucas Cooper who is an indeginous boy nominated as part of our next gen academy from Maningrida - draft eligible in 2018.
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Can someone tell me - what does he say at ~35: - ā120 what from East Perthā?
āgrew up in Northam. A country town east, about 120 kās east of Perthā
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Yeah, we talk a big game when it comes to supporting indigenous football, but for the last decade weāve been really reluctant to put our money where our mouth is on draft day.
Pretty embarrassing really.
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Yes, it is really disappointing - and embarrassing. This draft offered a great opportunity to pick up an indigenous player but once again it didnāt happen. The excuse that the cost of supporting an aboriginal kid is so much greater than a white boy makes me very angryā¦
To the people who give this as a reasonā¦ Does that mean that the Board is determining who we select? Does it mean that there is a Board directive to discriminate in favour of white players because they may be less of a drain on the clubs finances?
To be fair to the club we recruited Lavender and also upgraded Long.
I think the last five years has put us in a really difficult position in regards to recruiting and it required a great deal of resources present in more traditional footballing territories.
Our list and the club are both now appear to be in a very strong position so hopefully we can spend more resources in more rural areas.
We have a proud history with indigenous players and I have no doubt the club recognised that we have dropped the ball in that area.
Iād still like another small forward on the list. Initially as depth behind green, but eventually to be an upgrade on green. Iām still very much in the camp that Tippa and Fanta should spend some more time up the ground and we need a 3rd small forward in the teamā¦and I donāt count Smith, because I think heāll be playing as a mid or winger.
So give @benfti a pick to get us one.
I would like to see long played as a small forward. He has enough experience now and has the tools.
I think youāre letting the club off very easily here.
Last season we had 1 indigenous blokes on the main list and two on the rookie list. As of today we have two on the main list and one on the rookie B list. Obviously things might yet change on Monday, but we just had a draft where ALL our picks were late picks, a situation that was tailor-made for picking up blokes who might not be a high-percentage option with an early pick. We didnāt use a single one of those late picks on indigenous kids.
And as for ārural areasā - Guelfi is from claremont. As ben said, heās one of the very few NON-indigenous kids from there. If we can put the resources into him, we can put it into others too.
The Saga has zero to do with this. In the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 drafts, before the Saga, we picked a grand total of ONE indigenous player - Anthony Long. The ball was ādroppedā a long time ago and Iāve seen no indication of any serious committment to picking it up again.
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Agree with thatā¦ Plus the 2 that we have picked up, one was a Father/Son (and if he hadnāt been picked up there would have been a member riot) and Walla who just about recruited himself!
For mine the list is in really good shape so Iām reluctant to hang the recruitment team in the basis of not having enough indigenous players.
Our ultimate goal is to be competitive and we now appear to be at that level.
You can go back ten years all you like but in my opinion the club made lots of errors and identifying young indigenous talent was just one of them.
People want to continue to hang the club over the past but they are clearly working hard to change the culture of our club, and I like everyone else hope that giving more indigenous kids a chance is part of the plan.
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I hope youāre right. Itās hard to be confident that heāll step up, but hopefully he does
I watch a lot of VFL and one thing that strikes me about the way Long plays is sometimes he bites off more than he can chew.
I personally would like to see his role refined a bit and just set him some defensive targets.
I woud tell him to go out there and try and make 10 tackles a game in the forwardline. Obviously heās not going to hit that but i would make it his primary function. From that he may create a couple of opportunities a game for himself and another three or four for teammates.
Walla is a great example of what can come from having a more defensive mindset.
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As I said in the other thread, there is a strong emphasis from the recruiting team that the players we recruit have the following attributes: good character, good education, good family & good friendship circles.
Indigenous young people (especially from remote areas) cannot compete with White privileged footballers from the city, with an emphasis on these factors.
I think most of us are saying, āpick the best player available, regardless of backgroundā.
But Considering we have the least number of indigenous players on our list in the AFL, I donāt think we are picking the best player available.
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Jake was encouraged to take the game on this year and was showing good signs towards the end of the season which is why I would like to see him played at wing or half back, perhaps alternating with McKenna.
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So hypothetically who would you have taken with pick 48 this year considering most of the experts had Houlahan as being in the range of 20-40 and being the best available at our pick
I get that it was under instruction, but I thought he was selling himself into trouble a lot.
Heās got the tools to be a good footballer so I hope he gets more opportunities this year to prove himself.
Im not familiar with this draft, and Iām not particularly singling this draft out. But each year (except 2015), many of us have been disappointed about the opportunities weāve given to Indigenous footballers. Especially later in the draft and the rookie list.
Youāre better placed to comment and I agree that has been an issue from what I saw last year and this year but there were signs late in the season (at least to me) that he was improving this aspect of his play.
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