With the potential to have three top-10 picks from NSW at next week’s NAB AFL Draft, PM Capital GIANTS Academy Head Coach Jason Saddington says the academies are doing their job to grow the game in the northern states.
PM Capital GIANTS Academy members Jacob Hopper and Matthew Kennedy have been touted as high draft picks at Tuesday’s meeting at the Adelaide Convention Centre, along with Swans Academy member Callum Mills.
“It just says that the programs that are in place are working, it’s helping to produce that top end talent, and I think we’re starting to grow the depth as we continue to come along as well,” Saddington said.
“The more we see greater amounts of kids coming through the academy programs, ending up at the GIANTS or other clubs, I think that’s always a good sign that we’re doing a good job.”
While Hopper, Kennedy and Mills have gathered plenty of attention ahead of the Draft, Saddington said there’s a host of other Academy players who could hear their names called out on Tuesday night.
“We’ve got a couple of well-known players that have got a lot of attention - Jacob Hopper and Matthew Kennedy - they’re top end talent that are certainly going to come through the Draft,” Saddington said.
“There’s also probably a couple of lesser known names that I think we’ll see on draft night, hopefully at the GIANTS, but certainly at a club no matter what.
“Matthew Flynn; a tall ruckman from Narrandera who is 200cm and has developed immensely over the past 12-24 months and Harry Himmelberg; a 19 year old kid who moved up to Canberra in 2015 … (he’s) a key position type and another name I think we’ll see called out on draft night.”
Under the old Academy bidding system, the GIANTS secured Jack Steele and Jeremy Finlayson from the PM Capital GIANTS Academy in last year’s intake with fellow GIANTS Academy graduates Logan Austin and Dougal Howard drafted by Port Adelaide.
“That’s what we’re here for, to provide as many players as we can to the AFL system,” Saddington said.
“Yes, it would be great to see them all at the GIANTS but with the bidding system the way it is these days that’s a lot tougher.”
This year's nomination process has changed to fall in line with the introduction of live bidding during this year's draft.
Under the reformed bidding system, each draft selection is allocated a points value on a sliding scale.
Clubs nominating a player as an academy draftee will be forced to use their existing draft selections to match the points value of the pick used by the club bidding for the player.
If a rival bids for Hopper, for instance, the GIANTS will then get the option to match the bid. The same applies for all eligible Academy players if a bid comes for them during the draft.
“It’s a great time for the PM Capital GIANTS Academy next week with a few quality boys that hopefully should go through the draft. I’m really excited and looking forward to that,” Saddington said.
“We just want to see as many players realise their dreams, develop, have the potential to get into the AFL system and from there, the work’s up to them.”
The 2015 NAB AFL Draft will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Tuesday, November 24 with full coverage on gwsgiants.com.au and on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
