PAUL Roos will remain with the Sydney Swans beyond this season as head coach of the club's junior academy.
Roos confirmed in August last year that he would be succeeded by senior assistant John Longmire, however it was unclear what the premiership coach's next venture would be.
The position will be full-time, with the academy to offer a state-of-the-art training facility and programs to up to 300 young athletes as young as nine.
"I've now been in Sydney since 1995 and have a passion for developing the game in NSW. I'm very excited to be involved with the QBE Sydney Swans Academy," Roos said.
"Without overstating it, the academy is the most significant development for the Swans in the 27 years since the club moved from Melbourne."
Players will be drawn from about 1600 schools across Sydney and northern NSW, with the Swans given priority rights to add academy players to their list.
Roos said there was undeniable AFL-level talent in NSW, citing current Swans Jarrad McVeigh, Kieren Jack, Lewis Roberts-Thomson and Paul Bevan, as well as Essendon's Mark McVeigh and St Kilda's Lenny Hayes as products of the local system.
But turning a young athlete's natural ability into elite performance was the biggest challenge facing the game in NSW, he said.
"It's hard to go to a school where everyone plays rugby or rugby league, and take your footy to school and kick your footy at lunchtime," he said.
"What you will have now is a group of kids getting together on a regular basis who will be happy to have a kick … that's the most significant thing.
"Just the number of hours the boys put in, in Sydney and NSW, compared to the hours they put in in the predominantly [AFL] states."
Roos said the boys aged 13 or 14 who were currently in the academy program would improve dramatically but the real benefits would be seen in seven or eight years when the youngest participants reached draft age.
League CEO Andrew Demetriou said there was no doubt the academy system would improve the development pathway for prospective AFL players in NSW.
"It means young talent who are good enough to play at AFL level can be added directly to the Swans' list," he said.
"They have the opportunity to … bypass the draft, stay in Sydney and go straight on to the Swans' list."
Swans CEO Andrew Ireland said the academy was critical to the club's future success as the entry of two new clubs made the search for young talent more competitive.
To that end, Swans staff have visited youth academies at European soccer clubs Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, while academy operations manager Chris Smith has just returned from London where he toured academies at West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur.
"We have aspirations for this academy to be known worldwide as a quality program and to sit comfortably with the best academies in the world," Ireland said.
Ireland said the club would work with the AFL and the SCG Trust to build a modern facility in the Moore Park precinct that will house the Swans' academy program.
