Collingwood Father Son and NGA Radar

[Neil Appleby]

Academy Students Pass Finals Exam
from Jenny McAsey in today's Oz|

IT was paydirt for Collingwood when Scott Pendlebury, 19, kicked the goal that sealed the extra-time heart-stopper against West Coast.

If any confirmation was needed of the value of the Magpies' financial investment in its young players through the Collingwood Academy, it came at that crucial moment.

The goal that mattered was the combined work of a bunch of fresh-faced kids not long out of high school.

It started when Dale Thomas, 20, forced the ball free from a contest against two West Coast opponents. As it spilled to the turf, his team-mate Travis Cloke, also 20, fought off three Eagles to tap the ball to another member of the youth brigade, Irishman Martin Clarke, 19. In the 11th AFL game of his fledgling career, Clarke chipped perfectly into space to Pendlebury, who ran into an open goal to kick truly with a minute remaining.

Watching with pride in Perth on Friday night was Alan Richardson, the former Magpie who heads the academy where young talents have been cut and polished to the point where they are playing like 100-game veterans rather than 11-game tyros.

Clarke is an A-grade academy student. In the two matches before the West Coast game - in round 22 against Adelaide and the elimination final against Sydney - he was the only Collingwood player not to waste a single possession.

Every time he touched the ball, he delivered it with 100 per cent accuracy by hand or foot to a team-mate, and he hardly did a thing wrong on Friday night when he gathered 20 possessions.

"Martin is a pretty special kid," Richardson said. But he is not alone.

Against Sydney and West Coast, the club fielded seven players aged 20 or under, compared to three for the Eagles and one for the Swans.

Despite what could be a high-risk youth policy, the Magpies are one win away from a grand final berth.

Besides Clarke, the youngsters were Cloke, Thomas, Pendlebury, lead-up forward Sean Rusling (20), cool-headed defender Tyson Goldsack (20) and the hard-tackling Harry O'Brien (20).

All seven are products of an innovative academy program set up in 2006 to fast-track skill acquisition, both physical and mental, of the club's teenage recruits. Every first, second and third year player at the club attends, and this year the class size has numbered 22, or half the club's list.

If its success is judged simply on getting the kids to play top-level football ahead of their time, then the academy is going gang-busters.

"The outcomes have been fairly evident this year with the young players having a real impact on the game," Richardson said. "The academy is about trying to get every single player to work to his potential. One of the underpinning philosophies is to try to expedite the whole process."

Remember that just over a year ago Irish recruit Clarke had never even touched a Sherrin.

What stands out about the young Collingwood players is their composure as much as their skill level. The players do three compulsory training sessions with the older squad members and then extra academy sessions.

"Not everything is physical, a lot of it is about game sense, a lot is video or computer work," Richardson said.

"We talk a lot about attitude and expectations on game day, and a lot of the work we do is observational. We watch games from an elevated position and talk about the importance of maintaining possession."

Collingwood's status as one of the richest sporting clubs in Australia helps. Unlike most other clubs, the Magpies can afford to have two dedicated development coaches for the academy - Richardson and former Brisbane player Brad Scott - to support senior coach Mick Malthouse and five other assistant coaches. While the academy hones skills and attitude, Malthouse has put the pieces into place by giving the kids responsibility at senior level. Goldsack, for example, a lowly pick No.63 in last year's draft, has grabbed his opportunity and not been overwhelmed. Three times this year he has played on wily Sydney forward Michael O'Loughlin and more than held his own.

Thomas and Pendlebury have been pivots in the midfield the past two weeks, while Cloke has been consistently good as a key forward and O'Brien has been at centre half-back. Collingwood has a wave of talented players to take them into the future. "History shows that teams that win premierships have groups come through together and that is part of what we are trying to achieve," Richardson said.

Nice article!
No homework this week please Mr Richardson; the boys deserve a break!

[Damien]

with the draft and salary cap in place to even up the competition - this is the sort of stuff where you can get an advantage if you're smart and have the cash. A lot of people have been bagging us for a long time (including many of our own) saying whats the use of being the most powerful club off-field if you cant be the best on-field. We are on the cusp of seeing a lot of the Lexus Centre stuff that Eddie had orchestrated finally bear fruit.

[nulla]

That run along the wing of Thomas late in the game that resulted in a point was worth ten goals to me.

[rand corp]

"History shows that teams that win premierships have groups come through together and that is part of what we are trying to achieve,"

Very good observation and very encouraging development.

Remember our 1990 flag was built around bringing the Magpie under 19's flag winners from 1987 through as a group. And this after the madness of the MacDanald years -where we tried to buy a flag by fielding teams of 'brought in' stars instead of a champion team, failed miserably and almost went broke in the process.

[Usurper]

That run along the wing of Thomas late in the game that resulted in a point was worth ten goals to me.

That was insane. Who has that sort of energy at that stage!!! He ran half the field, while the Eagles players reached for their oxygen, it was inspirational!

[Neil Appleby]

I'd forgotten that run along the wing in the screaming frenzy of last Friday night!
Watched it again yesterday and it was thrilling to see the chasing Eagle disappear out of the picture.

Thanks to Tannin, Favourites and Mossi for your patient Torrent lessons this week.

It was worth the effort boys I can tell you. Thanks a million and my brother in Kuwait says thanks too.....I was able to teach him.

What a great community is Nick's.

[skaman]

A bit like my West Ham. Upton Park- The Academy of Football.

The Pies are certainly on the right track, hard for any Victorian football club to do with so many clubs in the state all vying for the corporate buck etc.

[pies417]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 32,00.html

Sorry if this has already been posted.

[willl]

Yup, you're right, it has already been posted:
http://www.magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.php?t=39314

[Neil Appleby]

I guess we can look forward to seeing The Carlton Academy shortly; they steal most of our ideas (and people!).

The Scum Academy?

I wonder what name we can come up with for the West Coast Academy.
Be nice people!

[panga]

I guess we can look forward to seeing The Carlton Academy shortly; they steal most of our ideas (and people!).

The Scum Academy?

I wonder what name we can come up with for the West Coast Academy.
Be nice people!

There already exists an academy like that.

There's a rehab centre in California...

[RudeBoy]

Quite apart from who we recruit in this year's draft, our academy should next year have a few more graduates in Cox, Wellingham, Dick, Reid, Dawes, John Anthony and Nathan Brown.

[Johnson#26]

"History shows that teams that win premierships have groups come through together and that is part of what we are trying to achieve,"

And that, my friends, is why we should not go hell-for-leather after Chris Judd.

Richo, Brad Scott and Rowdy have been awesome with the kids. Kudos to them.

[Collingwould]

Quite apart from who we recruit in this year's draft, our academy should next year have a few more graduates in Cox, Wellingham, Dick, Reid, Dawes, John Anthony and Nathan Brown.

and this is where we can look forward to next year already, these guy's can all play so they will be next years wave

[Johnson#26]

The Father-Son rule has been a successful venture for Collingwood over the past decade or so, and a number of potential Magpies are on the way.

Previous Collingwood Father-Son selections:

-Nick Davis
Craig, 1998 Draft, career span 1999-2002
-Brad Oborne
Rod, 1998, 1999-2000
-Rhyce Shaw
Ray, 1999, 2000-2008
-Jason Cloke
David, 2000, 2001-2006
-Cameron Cloke
David, 2002, 2002-2006
-Brayden Shaw
Tony, 2003, 2004-2005
-Heath Shaw
Ray, 2003, 2004-2009
-Travis Cloke
David, 2004, 2005-2009
-Jaxson Barham
Ricky, 2007, 2008-2009

Current Sons of former Collingwood players
-Darcy Moore (son of Peter)

-Nick Christian (son of Michael)

-Joshua Daicos (son of Peter)

-Jake Kelly (son of Craig)

-Will Kelly (son of Craig)

-Max Kelly (son of Craig)

-Ned McKeown (son of Ron)
http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page ... onID=41958

-Ben Monkhorst (son of Damien)

-Zach Monkhorst (son of Damien)

-Ryley Monkhorst (son of Damien)

-Jackson Starcevich (son of Craig)
Currently in the U16s in Queensland.

-Josh Crosisca (son of Gavin)

-Ethan Wright (son of Graeme)

-James Wright (son of Graeme)

-James Stewart (son of Craig)

-Isaac Williams (son of Mark)

-Lucas Williams (son of Mark)

-Callum Brown (son of Gavin)

-Jett Buckley (son of Nathan)

-Ayce Buckley (son of Nathan)

-Charlie Lockyer (son of Tarkyn)

-Riley Prestigiacomo (son of Simon)

-Thomas Wakelin (son of Shane)

-Thomas Burns (son of Scott)

-Oscar Lonie (son of Ryan)

-Levi Davis (son of Leon)

-Ted Fraser (son of Josh)

Links:
http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/newsfea ... fault.aspx

http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/con ... 27687.html