What is the key for young players, such as boys in the QBE Sydney Swans Academy, who want to be drafted to an AFL club?

What are the ingredients needed to build a playing list capable of challenging for an AFL premiership?

If there is anyone who knows the answer to those questions, it’s Kinnear Beatson, the Manager, Recruiting and List Strategy, for the Sydney Swans.

Kinnear started his AFL recruiting career with the Brisbane Lions, where he worked from 1994 to 2005. He’s been at the Swans since 2006.

In his time at the two clubs, he’s overseen the recruitment of players involved in seven Grand Finals, for four premierships (three with Brisbane and one with the Swans).

In an interview with Sydney Swans Media, Kinnear reveals how the Swans recruiters go about their business in a highly competitive sporting landscape, and how they work with the Swans Academy.

In part two, he outlines how the Swans have built a team that has missed the finals only once since he arrived 12 seasons ago.

Your title is Manager, Recruiting and List Strategy. Explain your role.

I oversee the recruitment of players and the long-term strategy of what our player list looks like.

I’ve been in this role at the Swans for over 10 years. I was with the Brisbane Lions from 1994 to 2005, and then the Swans from 2006.

I deal with the Swans coach John Longmire and the general manager of football Tom Harley regarding the demographics of our list.

That covers not only the age of players, but the positions you need in your squad to put out a competitive team, both short and long term.

In the role, you have one eye on the present, and one on the future, to make sure you’re not becoming too old or top heavy at one end of your list, whether that is in certain field positions or age of players.

You’re making sure the future is okay. You don’t want to get caught out three years down the track, where you haven’t invested in enough key position players through the draft, or something like that.

So being a recruiter is not as simple as just finding the best young players?

No, it’s far from that. If it was simply based on having a list of one to 50 of the best players you could find, then you might end up with a list of all midfielders with no ruck stocks and no key position players.

We found that last year with our last couple of picks in the draft, we were trying to make the most informed decisions for the club on what the remainder of that draft pool looked like, and what we might be able to achieve from the rookie draft.

You’re trying to predict what other clubs are going to do, who they’re going to select, as well as looking at what your own needs are.

What does your average week involve?

Most of the week involves watching vision from recorded games – we receive vision via the AFL of more than 1500 games per year which have been coded by Champion Data.

We also go to live games, starting on Friday afternoons with school football around the nation, and then the various domestic league competitions such as TAC Cup, SANFL, WAFL, NEAFL, VFL. Obviously we don’t get to all games, so that’s why we also watch vision.

We are lucky in our system that the vast majority of players, around 95% or higher, are funnelled through a system where they play in the major state leagues. Very rarely now do players come completely out of left field.

How many in the Swans’ recruiting team?

We have a very small recruiting team, so we have three full-time staff, and then we have a network of around 12 part-timers around the country.

Michael Agresta is the manager of recruiting operations. He handles the scheduling, appointing people to watch certain games, and overseeing the video editing of games.

Ross Monaghan joined us this year to replace Ric Barham who retired. Ross is the futures co-ordinator, so his role is to have an eye on what the Under 16 age group looks like and the Under 17 age group.

Because clubs can now trade future picks in the draft, we need to spend a lot more time trying to predict what the futures market for players looks like.

Each year we find another layer comes into recruiting, in terms of the opportunities you have to control your own destiny through the draft, or trading, or free agency.

Our 12 part-time staff look at comps like the West Australian Football League, both the Colts and senior level, and the SANFL (South Australia).

In both those states, their better Under 18 players are often playing senior football, especially in South Australia.

Part of Michael Agresta’s role to look at the fixturing across the nation, and work out where those scouts are going to go and which players they’re going to report on.

As the season progresses, what they report on becomes more specific, so we’re looking at certain things about a particular player. For example, it might be their use of the ball, or their ability to win a contested situation.

In our weekly meetings we will discuss what the talent pool is looking like, and what we need to know about the players still on our board for consideration.

As the season progresses there is a syphoning effect. At the start of the year we cast a very broad net on the players. Then, as you get more clarity throughout the year in terms of how many picks you’re likely to have in the national draft, our scrutiny funnels in preparation for that.

At the start of the year you’ve got an idea what sort of players you’re going to be looking for, but things change over the season.

For example, an existing Swans player might not come to contract terms with the club and they’re going to move on, and that was something you hadn’t predicted - for example Xavier Richards, who left last year. Suddenly you’re a key position player down, so what you’re looking for changes.

You’re continually thinking on your feet. You try to be as methodical and prepared as possible, but it doesn’t always pan out that way.

How much direction are you giving the scouts?

We give them a lot of education in terms of what we think are the attributes we need to watch for, and also how to assess character and attitude.

Part of recruiting is list management and strategy. Tell us about that part of your role.

Our list management committee comprises Swans CEO, Andrew Ireland, football manager Tom Harley, senior coach John Longmire, and me.

It is a small panel but there is a lot of experience. We meet about once a month but there are always issues coming up regarding salary cap or contracts that we need to discuss more often.

That small group makes the decisions on what the list looks like, short term and long term. So part of my role is to help Tom make decisions about who is offered contracts and what those contracts look like in terms of years.

We also draw on our other recruiters to get information about plans for this draft and future drafts.

It also involves working with our Swans Academy staff, looking at the various age groups to see who is coming through there and what opportunities might present through the Academy.

In March each year I put a list to that group. There are roughly 840 players on AFL lists and part of my role is to keep tabs on who is out of contract, who their managers are and when their contract expires. I present that information to the group so they’re aware who is out of contract, who is not happy, who might be looking for a change.

I deal with the player managers to find out that sort of information, and you need to have good relationships with them.

So you’re looking at your own list, opportunities that might arise through trades with other clubs and players who have free agency, then the current draft of that year and future drafts. 

In terms of trades with other clubs, what is the Swans philosophy?

It is about identifying where our needs lie, and then trying to identify players that are going to fit that role you need.

When Paul Roos was here we had that one particular period at the end of 2009 where we brought in Josh Kennedy, Shane Mumford, Mark Seaby and Ben McGlynn through trades. We had identified from the list demographics that we needed players in the 22 to 25 year age group, because we were really thin in that space.

We also got Lewis Jetta and Gary Rohan in the draft that year, so overall it was a bit of a game changer for the club.

It was a really critical point where the demographics of the list had some problems that we identified and set about fixing. We work off those list demographics a lot in the committee meetings, and there is a profile of what we think works.

Is there an ideal profile for an AFL list?

You need a good blend of players, and so many factors come into it including the strength of your leadership group, the direction they give to the younger players, and how well they assimilate into the group.

I was at the Lions when they won three premierships, and have been involved in a premiership at the Swans.

Being at those two clubs, I’ve been fortunate to be in an environment where you get a fair idea of what’s required to put a list together that has a chance of winning a flag.

What are the ingredients needed to win a flag?

It’s having players with a combination of attitude, toughness, skills, and ruthlessness within the group.

If you can get a combination of all of that you’ve got champions, you’ve got (former Lions captain) Michael Voss, you’ve got (Swans dual premiership player) Jude Bolton, players who are well skilled, tough, disciplined, competitive men of good character.

Do recruiters watch the game differently to most people?

Recruiters definitely watch the game differently. Collectively we see the game through a different set of eyes and perspective.

We understand the players we’re selecting in the draft aren’t the finished product. It is a bit of a futures market. You’re looking for those traits that will allow them to become a good AFL player.

You’ve got those non-negotiables, and you’re then always asking, ‘Why him? Why would we invest in him? What is there about this kid that makes you think there’s a chance he’ll make it?’

It often comes down to their attitude and their willingness to compete.

How closely are the Swans coaches involved in the new player selection process?

At the Swans, the senior coach is very closely involved. Our process is very thorough, and the presentations we make to the coaches about particular prospects are warts and all. They will know the good, bad and indifferent on these kids, it is not just a highlights tape.

That means when the kid arrives at the club, head of development, John Blakey, and the development coaches are able to put in place a development plan for those players which gives them the potential to reach their best.

We try not to have any surprises, so the coaches can’t say, ‘You didn’t tell us he wasn’t a good runner’. We give them everything we know.

We work with the coaches because we’re all trying to achieve the same thing, which is success for the club, so we want to get to a stage where they’ve bought in to the decisions. I’ve seen too often that when a player becomes successful, the coaches have been geniuses. But when a player wasn’t successful, the recruiters were shithouse. We try to eliminate that.