NSW/ACT Rams coach Tadhg Kennelly is preparing for another bumper crop of players to emerge from the PM CAPITAL GIANTS Academy in 2015.
A record number of players from NSW/ACT were drafted in 2014, with seven players joining senior lists and another four being added as rookies.
Kennelly was at Tom Wills Oval where he kept a close eye on four players from the PM CAPITAL GIANTS Academy who’ve spent a week training with the GIANTS.
Matthew Flynn from Narrandera, and Wagga trio Jock Cornell, Charlie Bance and Matthew Kennedy got a taste of life as an AFL player.
Kennelly said he expected more players from the PM CAPITAL GIANTS Academy to be selected in the 2015 NAB AFL Draft.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there was another two or three taken from next years (GIANTS) Academy group,” said Kennelly.
“The clubs have been so accommodating with the Swans and GIANTS Academies to be able to get the kids in and give them the help they need, and we need to give them elite coaching and to be in an environment with elite players when they’re growing up.
“They can spend time running beside Tom Scully, doing the things that AFL players do and spending that time is enormous and it’s three months work with us (in the state squad) that they get in a week with an AFL club,” he said.
17-year old ruckman Matthew Flynn says it was a tough but enjoyable week with the GIANTS.
“It’s been a good experience to see how everything works and see how tough it is to be an AFL footballer,” said Flynn.
“The PM CAPITAL GIANTS Academy has been really good to give us this experience and the development has progressed us so much from where we were when we first started this program.”
Midfielder Jock Cornell says he learnt a lot from training with some of the AFL’s best players.
“I knew Callan Ward a bit before and he looked after me here and also Heath Shaw was a good help so it was easy to hook straight into training and just worry about football,” said Cornell.
“Coming in on Monday had us pretty nervous, getting here early but the boys were really good and welcomed us into the club so it was really good.
“Our local clubs wouldn’t have even started training yet so if it wasn’t for the GIANTS Academy training that we did for about six weeks before Christmas, who knows where I would be at the moment, probably a lot further behind these boys,” he said.