Sydney Swans General Manager - Football Tom Harley today made the following statement regarding the release of the revised academy bidding system:

The Club is pleased that the father/son and academy bidding system has been finalised well in advance of the draft.

There is a great deal of detail in the new system and it is something that will take us some time to work through.

The Club would like to note some details relating to our submission to the AFL regarding the bidding system.

- The Club was supportive of a sliding discount scale, accepting the need to pay more to secure top end talent.

- The Club did not object to ‘live bidding’ during the national draft. 

- The Club supported an equal system for academy and father/son selections.

While there has been wide ranging discussion about the academies, the talent outcomes in New South Wales over the past 15 years simply reinforce how important they are in developing a truly national talent pool for the game.

Since 2000, 44 players originating from NSW/ACT have been drafted onto the primary list via the national draft. Of those 44, 11 originated from what is now the Swans Academy zone. Two players – Jarrad McVeigh and Isaac Heeney – have been top ten selections.

The Club firmly believes that the academies are crucial to the development of the code in the northern states.