So Mifsud reckons that less indigenous kids getting drafted is a good thing because it means less indigenous kids are going home early. That right there is a masterful bit of spin.
Well he is a grade A AFL ■■■■■■■
I don’t really understand why there aren’t certain positions on a footy field where structure is less important than just pure talent.
I don’t get why the EFC don’t set up a pathway through the VFL side for some of these players. While nobody else is doing it is the perfect time to be doing it. You get all the choice, and therefore the best chance of success.
Equally, I work in a position where I deliberately employ people with a rural background. Skillset and talent matter, but also need to be considered alongside the ability to adapt and live in the environment. The potential for longevity in a role is important. I imagine that this is heightened when one only has so few places on a senior and rookie list that they can fill. Me, I can just add another person to the team.
So Mifsud reckons that less indigenous kids getting drafted is a good thing because it means less indigenous kids are going home early.
That right there is a masterful bit of spin.
Benefit gets the last word huh.
Benefit gets the last word huh.As it should be
I can't see a valid reason not to set up some sort of zone/academy system if the communities and clubs are interested. The Tiwi Islands has a population of, what, 2500? It's hardly going to unbalance the competition if Essendon gets priority access to a group one ten thousandth the size of the northern club academy zones.
Spot on, in my model we got Tiwi, Wadeye and Arnhem, I think it was around 7.5k to choose from and that balanced out like that for most clubs
I can’t see a valid reason not to set up some sort of zone/academy system if the communities and clubs are interested. The Tiwi Islands has a population of, what, 2500? It’s hardly going to unbalance the competition if Essendon gets priority access to a group one ten thousandth the size of the northern club academy zones.
Don’t you mean re run the same one from 2 years ago?
I mean every player who wants to play in the AFL sign their lives and rights over, regardless.That the problem, the AFL has to take everything over and own and control it.
Creativity is a spirit and needs to be free.
Will we now see Ben at EVE nightclub?
Might I add that dreamtime round is typical of bullshit white-man tokenism towards aboriginal folk, so they can pretend they’re doing something/give two ■■■■■ when they actually don’t. There’s other examples that exist, but the AFL just reflects society in this instance. As Nocturnal says, there’s no money in indigeneous football for the afl and their little beneficiary carnts, so why should they care?
Linked in the sense that clubs are too risk averse. But we can't change that. League just needs to even things out so a kid from the back of Burke isn't (comparatively) riskier than a kid from LA or Cork or Dubbo.He seemed to be focusing in the style of the game than the racial problems that were the focus of the article.Maybe they are linked?
Couple of young Dubbo blokes linked into the Swans development program this year. No one from Bourke Warriors is a chance though…scary dudes.
Do I want it though?, I mean this is Ricky we are talking about
Of course not…
Could they get an indigenous team in the VFL. A pathway that also gives them a support networkThe NT Thunder senior team should have been put into the SANFL and not the NEAFL, they are to good for the NEAFL and the SANFL would have been better development.
That excuses just about any unfairness in any system for any reason, Diggs.Nor is it (entirely) about the clubs. It’s their decision not to take a big gamble. And if the system as it stands forces all these kids to be a massive gamble, this isn’t going to improve.
Do you think we’re currently finding the outback kids who are able to make it?
It should be the situation that a kid from bumfuck nowhere, NT only has to put in as much desire & work as his counterpart from Melbourne or Perth. It’s clearly not. It probably won’t ever be. But we should be trying to make it as close a gap as possible.
Put this in context that the AFL spend millions each and every year taking a few dozen filthy rich coaches and executives and a few journoes on a nice junket to the Super Bowl and a few NBA games. Which then allows them to discover such closet guarded secrets as “they play it at night” and “they have pre-game entertainment” and “they have big training facilities”. Money well spent.
We’re spending millions on getting Irishmen and now Yanks over here. Let alone the tens of millions sunk into QLD and NSW footy. The only money issue is what to do with it all.
But they cut a measly $50k of funding to broadcast top end footy across the top end. Pocket change. They apparently don’t give a flyer about footy in the NT, witness the falling standards of the NT sides in the U18s. And less and less top end kids getting drafted.
I can’t imagine how it feels for a talented, dedicated kid running around up there to have your name crossed off because your folks couldn’t travel hundreds of kms for under 14s rep footy three times a week - but I can’t imagine it would engender hope and encourage your dedication. I’d probably take it as a kick in the nads.The top end could do with a few of those shekels. Make it easier for kids to get to rep footy and prove themselves capable of stepping up the grade - and hence a better candidate for clubs to draft. And a few rule changes to make it easier for clubs to look at these kids would help. Don’t mind the zone idea at all. Helps redress the imbalance the NSW/QLD clubs now have, too.
Again, clubs aren’t stoopid. They invest in the areas that they believe will offer them a return. They believe that Ireland and elsewhere offer better value for money. Perhaps they’ve accepted that the cultural gap that northern players face is too great to overcome. The growing list of players who haven’t come to terms with the demands of AFL life supports this.
In summary money talks. And there’s a good reason why the AFL isn’t investing in these areas.
Wow that opening gambit about crossing the kiddie off who nailed 38 and 5 goals is an eye opener.
Thanks BL - that was a very interesting read.
Almost getting into blues at Windy Hill and other grounds as the moron opposition punters got into Longy with “black fella”, " abbo" and alike, I have always wanted to see the indigenous boys get a go in the VFL/AFL . I’ve also wanted to see a better development pathway for them - albeit bettering themselves as a person not just to make it onto a list…
Mifsud should get fired.
That excuses just about any unfairness in any system for any reason, Diggs.
Nor is it (entirely) about the clubs. It’s their decision not to take a big gamble. And if the system as it stands forces all these kids to be a massive gamble, this isn’t going to improve.
Do you think we’re currently finding the outback kids who are able to make it?
It should be the situation that a kid from bumfuck nowhere, NT only has to put in as much desire & work as his counterpart from Melbourne or Perth. It’s clearly not. It probably won’t ever be. But we should be trying to make it as close a gap as possible.
Put this in context that the AFL spend millions each and every year taking a few dozen filthy rich coaches and executives and a few journoes on a nice junket to the Super Bowl and a few NBA games. Which then allows them to discover such closet guarded secrets as “they play it at night” and “they have pre-game entertainment” and “they have big training facilities”. Money well spent.
We’re spending millions on getting Irishmen and now Yanks over here. Let alone the tens of millions sunk into QLD and NSW footy. The only money issue is what to do with it all.
But they cut a measly $50k of funding to broadcast top end footy across the top end. Pocket change. They apparently don’t give a flyer about footy in the NT, witness the falling standards of the NT sides in the U18s. And less and less top end kids getting drafted.
I can’t imagine how it feels for a talented, dedicated kid running around up there to have your name crossed off because your folks couldn’t travel hundreds of kms for under 14s rep footy three times a week - but I can’t imagine it would engender hope and encourage your dedication. I’d probably take it as a kick in the nads.
The top end could do with a few of those shekels. Make it easier for kids to get to rep footy and prove themselves capable of stepping up the grade - and hence a better candidate for clubs to draft. And a few rule changes to make it easier for clubs to look at these kids would help. Don’t mind the zone idea at all. Helps redress the imbalance the NSW/QLD clubs now have, too.
If scintillating offensive footy by inventive and brilliant players won games in today's AFL, then every club in the league would be trying to play scintillating offensive footy and would be drafting inventive and brilliant players.Instead, they’re all trying to play disciplined, structured, defensive, high-pressure footy, and they’re drafting blokes with good engines and good mental focus who can stick to a task and a gameplan all afternoon. This should tell you something about what every club in the league believes wins games right now.
The Ablett vs Salmon game was damn near 20 years ago now. Things have changed since then. Yeah, everyone would love to see that sort of footy being played again, but how many of them would like to see their team playing that sort of footy and consistently losing week after week to dour, disciplined sides that run hard defensively? There’s loads more people who watch footy to suppot their club than there are who watch footy out of aesthetic appreciation of highly skilful performances (raises hand), and there’s only so much suckitude these people can put up with for the sake of a highlight reel.Mere brilliance does not win games in today’s AFL, simple as that. There’s no point pretending otherwise, clubs aren’t going to voluntarily start playing more exciting improvisational one-on-one football out of the goodness of their hearts, cos it simply means they’ll lose a lot. That’s why the solution to the NT problem has to involve getting these kids into a better development environment with better coaching sooner, so they can learn what they need to know to even give themselves a chance at succeeding in modern footy. And yeah, teaching them to play modern footy without stifling their carefree creative play is going to be a hard thing, but it must be done, cos gameplan knowledge and defensive focus is what blokes get drafted on these days, and if the top end kids don’t develop these skills somehow, then the problem will only get worse.
and soccer is killing it…
Without an Essendon game i barely watch AFL, the joys is gone partly due to ASADA but also the defensive, overly umpired game for pansies who duck their heads or fall backwards with their arms flapping. Hell i even retired from playing because the passion is now zilch.