MELBOURNE will not have access to tall forward prospect Tairon Ah-Mu under Next Generation Academy rules when the 17-year-old hits his draft season next year (afl.com.au)

Ah-Mu is a member of the Demons' NGA program but under the AFL's eligibility criteria, he does not qualify for the club to have any priority access over him as a draftee.

Ah-Mu kicked three goals for the Dandenong Stingrays on Saturday against the Gippsland Power, taking the straight-kicking key forward's tally to 21.5 from 10 games this season.

Does anyone know why?
 

I’m not surprised anymore.

Our luck we’ll have a father/son ranked number 1 and they’ll change the rules for that year. 

Wtf....

We lost Mac due to rule change. Now they've changed the rules he should be all ours. We need to actually put up a stink about it

Why are there any academies in the first place? if we can't access these players through our NGA what is the point?

Just to serve and prop up the NSW and QLD teams. Sick of reading these [censored] stories over and over.

Another Mac Andrew 💩 sandwich all over again from the AFL.

Edited September 11, 20241 yr by YesitwasaWin4theAges

3 minutes ago, Sideshow Bob said:

Wtf....

We lost Mac due to rule change. Now they've changed the rules he should be all ours. We need to actually put up a stink about it

F'n oath. 

I've just about had enough.

Is he a draft prospect this year? I thought it was next year.

So this means the Bombers can’t draft that small forward either. 

What the hell

8 minutes ago, Sir Windsor said:

Is he a draft prospect this year? I thought it was next year.

So this means the Bombers can’t draft that small forward either. 

He's for next years draft.

Kako still qualifies for the bombers NGA this year and will get access.

The main thing that needs to be explained is why a player can qualify to be developed in our NGA system yet doesn't qualify for priority access.

8 minutes ago, Sir Windsor said:

Is he a draft prospect this year? I thought it was next year.

So this means the Bombers can’t draft that small forward either. 

No, it’s next year they’re changing the rules again for. Screwed Melbourne directly twice. The only reason I can come up with is he hasn’t been with our academy long enough, similar to the Riley sanders in north academy last year (although bidding rules prevented them anyways). Still a croc, an absolute stink should be made by us. 

Just seen Cal Twomeys response.

 

I seriously hope we kick up a stink about this

The AFL made a whole song and dance about making NGAs worthwhile for clubs and yet in the first instance we can’t draft a player we’ve invested in?

What is the point of having NGAs at all if there’s no guarantee these kids can be drafted by their respective clubs?

3 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Just seen Cal Twomeys response.

 

Not blaming Cal but what a ridiculous explanation - how can he be part of the NGA then? What incentive is there if he can’t be drafted under it anyway?

So Melbournes NGA is open to being joined by players who are ineligible to use it as their pathway to being drafted? 

There’s something very misleading about all this. Who else is ineligible to take their pathway? Has Kalani jumped through the AFLs DNA testing hoops yet or are they going to rule against him joining us too? 

Perhaps Cal could explain why he’s in our NGA Academy but doesn’t meet the requirements for draft access?

The rules to be drafted under the NGA for non Indigenous boys are:

participant born overseas or have at least one parent born overseas

There’s also an age by which you have to be in an academy. You can’t just roll in last minute.

So Ah-Mu either wasn’t in our academy early enough or he and his parents don’t match the criteria but they’ve let him train in the academy because he’s multicultural.

The whole concept is fundamentally flawed if not entirely discriminatory but the idea Cam McKenzie, James Borlase and the Closehy brothers are eligible and this kid isn’t makes a mockery of the whole thing. 

Will be great to see the Swans win another flag based purely on their unfair academy advantages 

Almost Zero chance Heeney, Gulden, Blakey or Mills are in their team otherwise 

16 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Will be great to see the Swans win another flag based purely on their unfair academy advantages 

Almost Zero chance Heeney, Gulden, Blakey or Mills are in their team otherwise 

yep and Heeney won the game for them when they are almost gone. absolute joke. like Jeff Whites son wouldn't have played Aussie rules if not for an academy. 

38 minutes ago, demoncat said:

Not blaming Cal but what a ridiculous explanation - how can he be part of the NGA then? What incentive is there if he can’t be drafted under it anyway?

Exactly.  There is no explanation.  Is it both parents born in Aus, hasn't been in long enough, WHAT!?

Sounds like something the MFC would have been long aware of - I suspect the news about his ineligibility is to calm the fawning masses (e.g. us) from getting over excited about a player we were never eligible to select 

Well we should be seeking compo over rule changes that cost us a number 5 pick in Mac Andrea a year after Dogs got JUH and then the rules changed back again. 

Maybe the compo should be access to this kid. Be hard for any other club to complain, given we are the biggest loser of the AFL rule changes.

1 hour ago, Redleg said:

Well we should be seeking compo over rule changes that cost us a number 5 pick in Mac Andrea a year after Dogs got JUH and then the rules changed back again. 

Maybe the compo should be access to this kid. Be hard for any other club to complain, given we are the biggest loser of the AFL rule changes.

Melbourne  ??? Not a chance ...

I have no idea about Ah-Mu's personal background other than reportedly being of 'Samoan descent', but there is a distinction in the classification of a directly 'Qualified' NGA player and a 'CaLD' NGA player. 

For those not Indigenous or themselves born overseas in a culturally and linguistically diverse country (that is, classified by the ABS as not a 'main English-speaking' country), a 'Qualified NGA' player requires one of their parents to have been born in Africa or Asia. For a CaLD NGA player to be Qualified, both parents need to have been born overseas in a culturally and linguistically diverse country.  

 

Having more good players in the academy lifts the standards and the quality of the academy (other participants) - so there's still benefits of him being there.

As to the Northern Academy's, if they didn't exist then talented players don't get to train and play with/against enough good players to improve (at the same rate as AFL states).

E.g In Melbourne there could be hundreds of kids (majority of a team) who can kick a ball properly on the run at the age of 13/ 14, providing greater opportunity to enhance their marking skills (can't practice marking the ball, if it doesn't get to you). This means these Victorian's are getting exposed to more complicated and better training drills far earlier than their Northern Counterparts (without the academies). 

Even at the 18s Victorian's train and play at the Coates league level for the entire season, while the Nortern Academy's get a handful of games in April/May. Then back to uncompetitive club football.

What a lot of people don't understand is without the Northern Academy's, these players won't get the necessary development to be drafted, or at best be drafted late or as rookies. Consequently the 4  Northern clubs would have to pick more of the best Victorian, SA and WA kids - diluting the pool further for the other clubs.

Edited September 11, 20241 yr by Ungarieboy