bayern wrote: » Ed Kelly, didn't make the leinster sub-academy. LBN will struggle given his size, he has a lot of talent but it will be an uphill battle at pro level.. he has all the skills to be an excellent scrumhalf. But that would require far too much creative thinking to likely happen.
FrannoFan wrote: » They did that exact thing with Foley! Center for Gerrard's and moved to 9.
bayern wrote: » Foley was a 9 before he was a centre.
FrannoFan wrote: » Was playing 12 in 6th year
bayern wrote: » rumoured that Marcus Kiely has been cut by Leinster sub-academy. expect he will end up with Connacht.
FellasFellas wrote: » He turned down a lot of Dublin sides to play for Naas so maybe not the smartest move looking back. Not that a lot of rugby was played anyway but he probably thought mens rugby was a better move for him than 20's.
Festive Life wrote: » Would have called it a good move staying in Naas especially when playing 1B rugby which is a good step up from 20s. Probably wouldnt be a factor though especially when so little rugby has been played.
The whole academy system is now being reviewed and it will be streamlined – significantly. Peter Malone is no longer the director of the Munster Academy and Peter Smyth, the head of elite player development, is currently seconded to the Munster Academy. Nobody knows how long he'll be there or what the next step will be. The plan currently being proposed is for a national academy based, say, in Athlone or even Blanchardstown. All the provincial academies would be discontinued and all the talent would be schooled in the national academy. At the end of the season the talent would be farmed out. If Munster need a prop or Ulster need a centre they are picked out of the national academy, irrespective of where they live or were brought up or whether they always dreamed of playing in blue, red etc. Some of the provinces have had slim pickings from their academies in recent years – others (like Leinster) have been spectacularly successful in sustained excellence in the quality of players that they have produced. Go through the Leinster team when it is announced on Friday and see how many in the squad are academy graduates. This, in theory, is an efficient way of distributing talent throughout the four provinces – but it will do serious damage to Leinster who have already provided too much talent for everyone else.
bayern wrote: » Neil Francis on academy changes
Richie_Rich89 wrote: » Absolute lunacy.
realhorrorshow wrote: » Possibly one of the worst things you could do to Irish rugby, my God.
arsebiscuits1 wrote: » At the moment this is barely even hearsay. But the model of the academies will doom a national academy to fail. As long as they depend on academy players being part time students and part time players this cannot work. Do they expect every prospective pro rugby player to study in Dublin? If they're not studying in Dublin do they expect them to commute there to get to a 6am gym session before lectures? I use Dublin as an example, obviously this issue is prevalent where ever you put it. The potential workaround here is to put National academy centers in each of the provinces. But then you're left with essentially the same model as there is. There will still be the same provincial leanings the players would have etc. You can put to bed the AIL as a product also if you centalise where all the academy players go also. No chance the AIL can be a competitive All Ireland competition if so many of the academy players are plying their trade in one location
Quin_Dub wrote: » There is already a "National Academy" in the National Talent Squad where the best prospects that are not currently officially in an Academy are monitored and train together regularly. Segregating the Academies from the rest of the provincial squads makes no sense at all. The benefits they get from training with the Snr Squads in each region would be lost, along with a whole host of other impacts. Having said that , I think that there are opportunities to improve the Academy selection process to ensure that we are maximising the resources. A bit of a "College Draft" thing. All of the regional talent managers submit their list of potential candidates to a central panel where they get ranked by potential and position. Then all the Provinces get to make an offer for a player they want and the player can choose the one they prefer if they have more than 1 offer.
Festive Life wrote: » The national talent squad isnt an academy though. More sub academy, players who may likely join the pro game in years to come. Totally agree about losing the every day to day interaction with senior squads would be a major negative of this but all academy players together learning from each other could be a real game changer.
Quin_Dub wrote: » I have no issue with them expanding the NTS concept and bringing all the Academy players together on a regular basis to improve standards etc. Definite benefits there without question. But - Monday to Friday, week to week they need to be in the Province training with their potential future teammates.
Hands Like Flippers wrote: » Plus who would pay the cost of accomodation etc? An Academy contract is not exactly huge, never mind the position of sub-academy players. Whichever province it was 'centralised' in would benefit, even if it were only by virtue of people's homes to Blanchardstown or wherever.
Lucas44 wrote: » The same people that pay their accommodation right now? Majority of academy players are in college, parents are paying for college accommodation and some clubs will subsidise some their costs if they want the players to sign after school. It’s not like their living in dublin/belfast/Galway/limerick for free at the moment . Anyway Don’t agree with the idea of a centralised academy
Festive Life wrote: » All the academies players and coaches should be coming together on regular/occasional basis anyway. Leinster coaches working with Munster players, Connacht coaches with Leinster. Units all working together against each other etc all to improve each other. A national academy isnt needed. We tried it. A decentralised set up works better but some more integration in some areas would be nice. Same People who do now? Parents, AIL clubs often assist players with accommodation.
Hands Like Flippers wrote: » AIL club in Ulster are hardly going to be keen to pay accommodation in Dublin for example.
Dubinusa wrote: » Wouldn't it be more productive to have ve a clubs academy or academies?
Lucas44 wrote: » Ail clubs with academy players only see them on a Thursday night for team run & Saturdays for the match. Doesn’t matter if there 2km down the road or 100km. As per the previous point, I’d be willing to bet 85+% of academy players do not live at home, maybe higher
