Magpies Aim For U18 Team In Sydney

The Age

Wednesday December 10, 2008

JAKE NIALL with JESSE HOGAN

A COLLINGWOOD bid to field an under-18 team in the Sydney football competition in a joint venture with Sydney University is being considered by the AFL.

The Magpies and Sydney University have put forward a revolutionary proposal that would see the powerful Melbourne club and the Sydney University Football Club jointly entering a junior team for the 2009 season.

In effect, the under-18 team, which would compete in the AFL Sydney under-18 competition, would act as a development squad for Collingwood, with a view to providing the Magpies with a vehicle to control and develop their own NSW scholarship players.

Collingwood has already placed one of its NSW scholarship players, Scott Reed, on the club's rookie list for 2009, and has been one of the most aggressive clubs in seeking to recruit players from non-traditional football markets such as NSW.

The AFL's NSW-ACT general manager Dale Holmes last night confirmed that Collingwood and Sydney University were seeking to have a team admitted into the under-18 competition for the 2009 season.

Holmes said he would see the details of the proposal at a meeting with AFL Sydney officials who run the local competition today.

While Holmes welcomed Collingwood's bid to create genuine links between an AFL club and a local Sydney team, he said the AFL had to weigh up what impact the well-resourced new team would have on the rest of the "fragile" Sydney competition.

The major consideration, Holmes said, was whether the Collingwood-Sydney University team would drain other clubs of players and thus weaken the competition overall.

Sydney University has no under-18 team, hence its interest in joining with Collingwood, which already has a development coach/recruiter based in Sydney in former Swans full-back Rod "Tilt" Carter and a strong recruiting network.

Holmes said he had held discussions with Collingwood, which is allowed to sign up to six scholarship players in NSW per year. If approved, the scholarship players would form the basis of the under-18 team.

"What they would be looking to do is use it as a vehicle for development of their scholarship-listed players and obviously using it as a vehicle to attract the kids from sort of outside the game to come and play as part of ... a development squad.

"The issues for us to consider is the pros and cons of having what is effectively a talent-development squad within a structured competition, and if that meant the players were being drawn from other clubs. If those clubs were potentially fragile, if the best kids were coming out of that club, there's potential for that to impact ... I've only literally had that proposition put on my table in the last couple of days."

Derek Hine, Collingwood's recruiting manager, said last night that by entering a team in the under 18s with Sydney University, the Magpies would be able to control "the way they are coached, we control obviously positions where they play" and the club could "periodically" send coaches up to assist the team.

Hine said the cost of fielding the team would be "absolutely minimal" since it was "just an additional team for Sydney University".

Collingwood has recently targeted NSW teenagers with ability in rival sports, having signed a 15-year-old, Jarrad Witts, who played predominantly rugby union and had minimal experience in Australian football.

Under the rules, an AFL club can sign scholarship players and then, if they show sufficient ability, place them on their playing list (initially as rookies).

Holmes said he had asked the AFL Sydney officials to evaluate the Collingwood-Sydney University proposal in a paper weighing up the pros and cons. "We'll evaluate that tomorrow."

Axed Melbourne veteran Adem Yze has made a hopeful bid to restart his AFL career at next week's pre-season draft.

The 31-year-old was the surprise entry among four delisted players who nominated, joining Josh Carr from Fremantle, Chris Johnson from Melbourne and David Gourdis from Richmond.

Yze's 14-year career at the Demons was virtually over by mid-season as the club's rookie coach Dean Bailey shunned him in favour of younger players.

While he played 271 games and kicked 234 goals at Melbourne, his last season produced only six games and five goals. -- With JESSE HOGAN

© 2008 The Age

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