Named after the Sydney Swans co-captain, who made the switch from rugby league to Australian football when he was 13, the QBE Sydney Swans Academy program endeavours to identify the best young talent in New South Wales from a range of alternate sports, including league, soccer, basketball and athletics.
More than 30 athletes aged between 11 and 12 took part in Monday’s session, which was overseen by Academy staff, including head coach Michael O’Loughlin, as well as senior players including Jack himself, as well as Adam Goodes, Harry Cunningham and Tom Mitchell.
Speaking to SwansTV for Volkswagen’s Beyond the Boundary segment, Jack said he was proud to put his name to such an exciting program from young athletes.
“I’m immensely proud to be associated with it,” Jack said.
“I think it’s a great initiative for the club and the Academy.
“It’s great to be able to identify new kids coming along because we’ve got some talented kids in Sydney who play a variety of different sports.
“We think if we can introduce them to the game of AFL, they will certainly enjoy it, and will hopefully take up that pathway.”
The athletes who took part in this week’s assessment trial were discovered while participating in a range of school-run sporting carnivals across the state this year.
Swans Academy Talent Identification Manager, Chris Goodrope, who was one of the many Academy scouts who scoured sporting fields throughout the year, said he was impressed with the quality of athletes on show at Monday’s trial.
“We’ve got kids trying out from rugby league, touch football, athletics is a big one for us, and basketball, and we’ve found them through PSSA competitions that the schools run and most of them are 11-to-12 years old,” he said.
“A lot of them are already talented anyway, and already have good coordination skills, but being able to take a good clean mark and having those clean hands, as well as good core body movements, are essential.
“We’re not trying to take boys from other sports, but we definitely encourage boys to come down and play AFL.
“We’re looking for that real elite talent, and if you look at Kieren now we can certainly see what can happen with him playing AFL football and being a captain.”
Swans co-captain Jack said the fitness component and competitive nature of AFL was what drew him to the sport over a decade ago.
“I dabbled in a lot of sports as a kid and obviously I played rugby league, but I also played cricket, soccer and tennis, and a lot of different sports,” he said.
“But I think the great thing about AFL football is that it encompasses a lot of sports into one.
“When I was 12, I watched my first game of AFL, and played my first game when I was 13, so I was quite late to the game, but I certainly loved it.
“I loved the competitiveness of it, how skilful you had to be, how fit you had to be, so it was a game that I grew to love pretty quickly.”
While AFL was not a major sport when he was coming through the ranks, Jack said he felt interest in the game had grown exponentially in NSW, with young athletes participating in and supporting football more than ever before.
“When I was coming through primary school and into high school, not many kids knew about AFL football,” Jack said.
“But the Swans have been really successful in Sydney, so that’s probably helped because now we’re seeing lots of kids coming through and their knowledge of the game is great and so are their skills.
“It’s great for the club, it’s great for Sydney and it’s great for all of New South Wales.
“There’s a couple of boys here who can hopefully show that if they continue down this pathway, one day they might end up wearing the red and white jumper representing our club.”
