Legendary player and coach Paul Roos is committed to bringing on the young footy talent so evident in the country and regional areas. He sat down with Brad Greenshields from the Coffs Coast Advocate to discuss the development of AFL club based academies.
BRAD GREENSHIELDS: Are you a lot more relaxed this summer than you have been for the last 10 years?
PAUL ROOS: Probably. Normally in the off-season you're a bit relaxed anyway because you're not playing but certainly I've had more of a chance to go away. It's probably more in the mind because you're not thinking about setting up pre-season, you're not worrying about injuries and you're not worrying too much about the season and those sort of things so a different mindset going into 2011.
BG: With your involvement in the new Sydney Swans Academy what sort of role do you see it playing?
PR: It's really important for us as a footy club. For the first time we can put resources into our area, it's the first time we've had an area. For areas like Coffs it's fantastic because we can set up an arm of our academy here. We're really excited about it. There's some good quality coaches, a lot of kids involved in it who have the chance to train twice a week for about 24 weeks of the year so it's something that's never happened before. It's a fantastic opportunity for a young kid if they're athletic and they want to try AFL, jump on board because they've now got a real chance to find a pathway in conjunction with the AFL pathway to eventually get to play with the Swans.
BC: You've got boys yourself who play junior AFL in Sydney, does the Academy mean for them as well as young athletes in Coffs that a future career in the game has become more accessible?
PR: Yeah no doubt. We've talked about setting up our academy and there will be more to come in our local academy here with Coffs and certainly it's going to give kids here in this area a lot more opportunity no doubt and that's what it is all about. We've got a good area, a good zone. We've just got to provide more coaches for them and a more consistent program. So I think it's an enormous opportunity and I think it's going to improve footy in this area no end.
BG: You're not really involved at the club level any more but is there going to be a lot more competition in Sydney with the GWS Giants on the scene now?
PR: I think there will be but I think where we (the Swans) are being an established club and having been there for a lot of years now, we've got a great supporter base. I think it just means we've got to keep doing things better and better and better and we've always pushed ourselves as a club that is trying to improve. I think with John Longmire and the staff we've got plus the good kids that we've got coming up the future is really bright for the Swans.
BG: You're not just involved with the academy this year, there's also Fox Sports which you've signed on with. Have you been practising with your headphones on or used the hairbrush as a pretend microphone?
PR: I'm looking forward to that, I mean it's always good to stay involved in footy. I went down and met Mike Sheahan the other day and Gerard Healy and we had a chat about footy, so I'm looking forward to doing that show (On The Couch) and obviously doing some commentary as well.
BC: Just being able to sit back and watch some footy instead of being so heavily involved, is that one of the things you're looking forward to?
PR: One of the main things I'm looking forward to doing is taking my boys to the footy. Going to the footy for a weekend in Melbourne, go and watch the Swans play, sit in the grandstand. It really is something that I'm excited about and haven't had the chance to do too often. It's really one of the priorities to just go and enjoy and relax.
BG: Does footy already seem like a lifetime ago?
PR: It does a bit and it goes quickly. The good thing is the way we did it. We always knew it was going to happen, we had a succession plan in place and it gave me a chance to prepare for life after footy. The Academy came at the right time for me so I've really moved on and I'm excited about it but it does seem a while ago.
BG: If that is a lifetime ago, I remember watching you kick three goals in only your second game as an 18 year-old back in 1982. Does that then seem like two lifetimes ago?
PR: It's probably only when you come to tournaments like this one in Coffs and you think back. I played in the national championships which was called the Teal Cup back then. I played in that in 1980 but it just seems an eternity ago since I was playing junior footy and then going down to the Fitzroy under-19s. I must admit it was probably a lot fairer system for kids when I first started. We had the zoning system and we had probably 60 or 70 kids down in the under-19s.
Multiply that by the 12 clubs there were then and a lot of kids got a chance. I think that's something we're trying to duplicate with our academies. We don't want to make it elitist. We want to make it elite but we want to give a lot of kids an opportunity. A lot of it is going to be up to them - how hard they work, how much they want to do away from the academy. When I take myself back to that a lot of my ideas for the academy are based on my experience as a junior footy player.
BG: Considering the lack of money that was at Fitzroy, the academy kids will probably get it a lot better than you ever did.
PR: Yeah a lot better, they're lucky. They don't know how lucky they are sometimes and that sometimes can be the downside. I think all clubs provide this great service for the kids, it's a fantastic career. It's a great opportunity to become an AFL footballer now with not only the amount of money but the extras as well. You can study along with it, I think that's really important and most clubs push that study as well, making sure kids are doing the right things off the field as well. A football club is a great environment to be part of now.
BG: Footy has changed a lot. How do you see it evolving again in 2011 when you look at the improvement in team zones and presses over the last three years through Hawthorn then St Kilda then Collingwood?
PR: I think the one thing that we're still not sure about is the interchange. I think that's going to have a fair bearing on the year what player will be that interchange player. How many rotations? What will do teams with that? That's obviously a rule change that is going to impact the game significantly. Apart from that generally teams follow the premiership side and that's obviously Collingwood putting on pressure in their front half. Two or three years ago teams were folding backwards and now they're going forward and trying to get the ball off the opposition quicker. That was something we tried to do back in '05 and '06 but teams are really following on from that theme. I think it will be a good 2011.
BG: Even though you're away from the Swans now do you still see another finals berth for the club this year, maybe even top four?
PR: We got back from 12th and got back up to fifth last year so I think they've shown they can improve but to go from fifth to first is a lot bigger jump, it's a huge jump. I think as a club if we can keep around the mark and keep our sights set on those finals and also continue developing players. There's so many unknowns and if you can get a good run with injuries, you get on a roll but I think initially it's just trying to maintain that improvement, get those young kids playing well. You try to be thereabouts, around that top eight and you never know what can happen.
BG: It could've been top four last year. The Swans held a five goal lead during the second quarter of the semi-final against the Bulldogs.
PR: I think we were pretty tired by the end of the year and I that was probably indicative of the number of injuries that we had during the year. The guys that had terrific years like Heath Grundy, Daniel Hannebery and even Kieran Jack just got really tired. It's a long year when you're playing finals, particularly if it's your first high quality really good year as an individual, you can get a bit worn out at the end. We were a bit wounded and the Doggies probably a bit more seasoned. We had a terrific year considering the amount of injuries we had. If Bradshaw can get fit, we saw the great player that he is. If he can kick his 60 or 70 goals then certainly you can reach top four but you need everyone playing really, really well. We need (Adam) Goodes to have another good year and all of those senior guys playing really well and the young guys stepping up. I think initially we've just got to try and maintain what we improved last year and I'm sure we'll have another solid season.
BG: Thanks for taking some time out while you run your eye over these under-18 kids.
PR: Thanks mate.
Last Modified on 17/02/2011 13:19