· AFL Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Football Club Academies
· The AFL announced in November 2009 that it would introduce AFL Club-based academies in both New South Wales and Queensland to develop young local talent. The Academies will be designed as a means of growing the national talent pool in the interests of all AFL Clubs and providing opportunities for
elite players to remain in their home state under a bidding system.
· The Academies are linked to AFL clubs in Qld – the Brisbane Lions and the Gold Coast Football Club.
· Under the model which will revamp the AFL’s talented player pathway in the northern states, each of the four AFL clubs will partner with the AFL to identify, attract and develop players as young as 12 years of age, taking their development through to drafting age for the NAB Draft and NAB Rookie Draft.
The two partnering AFL Clubs in Queensland will be provided the opportunity to pre-list players that are developed through the Academies, under the bidding system that currently applies to all Father-Son selections in the National Draft. This will ensure that any player developed from Queensland was selected at his ‘market value’.
· The development programs will now aim to provide the most complete general education and wider football coaching experience for hopeful young Queensland stars of tomorrow, and would serve to expand the wider talent pool for all clubs in the AFL competition.
· Currently, around 11 per cent of the players on AFL lists originate from NSW/ACT and Queensland, which represent 54 per cent of Australia’s population. The competition for elite young talent in these areas is extremely intense and we require an approach that will enable us to compete effectively to attract first-choice athletes – developing their skills with education and instruction from the best –coupled with the opportunity to then play in their home states once they have been exposed to all clubs in the competition.
In short, we need to provide a more compelling career path for talented youngsters and capitalise on the introduction of the new AFL Clubs to accelerate the growth and development of our overall talent pool for
the benefit of all AFL Clubs.
· The Club Academy programs will be based on the same six core elements of the AIS/AFL Academy curriculum covering but not limited to the following areas:
· Physical Preparation
· Skill Development
· Nutrition and Recovery· Personal Development· Athlete and Career Education
· AFL Policy & ASADA Policy
· Players coming through the Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Academies would similarly represent Queensland at both AFL National Under 16 and Under 18 Championships enabling all AFL clubs to assess their development.
· As a result of the Academy program introduction, each club in Queensland has been designated their exclusive Academy zone from which that will draw players from. Thus the AFL Queensland regional talent boundaries have been adjusted to reflect the Academy zoning starting with the Under 14 talent
program in 2010.
·
AFL Lions Academy = Wide Bay, Darling Downs, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane North, and the northern parts of Brisbane West and Brisbane South East regions
·
AFL Gold Coast Academy = Cape York, Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Capricornia, Gold Coast and Northern Rivers NSW and the southern parts of Brisbane West and Brisbane South East regions
Last Modified on 14/10/2013 16:47