A regional football academy will be set up in Albury next year as the Greater Western Sydney AFL team increases its investment in football talent across the state.
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The academy — earmarked for either the Albury Sportsground, Lavington Panthers Oval or Bunton Park — will be one of four or five regional academies that will be established in NSW early next year.
Team GWS, which has been earmarked to enter the AFL in 2012, say the academies will help grow the national talent pool and provide opportunities for elite players to remain in their home state.
With Team GWS boasting sole rights to develop and list players from the ACT and NSW, any elite talent from the Riverina could be fast-tracked through an academy onto the club’s playing list.
Former North Melbourne player Danny Stevens will oversee the southern aca-demies in his new role as Team GWS regional talent manager, relinquishing his role as AFL (NSW-ACT) high performance manager.
Stevens will be based in Albury for the new pos-ition, having moved from Sydney two weeks ago with his family, and he said he was excited by the prospect of working with elite young talent.
“Team GWS will establish a strong presence in southern NSW, focusing heavily on talent development and identification,” the father of two said.
“I will be looking after all the academy programs in NSW-ACT for athletes aged 14-18, which is a really exciting position to be in.
“(The academies) will provide opportunities for the best athletes from both within and outside the football environment.
“Talented young players are in a stronger position than ever to cement a career in the AFL as the elite talent pool needs to expand to fill the 100 newly created positions on the 18 AFL team lists.”
Stevens, who played 15 senior games for North Melbourne in the late 1990s, said the Albury academy would be established early in the new year.
“They (the academies) are in the process of being set up at the moment — we will probably launch them in the new year,” he said.
“There will be four or five regions in southern NSW.
This would include an academy at an Albury sportsground.
“We haven’t settled on a venue yet (but it will) potentially be one of the major centres like Albury Sportsground, Lavington or North Albury.”
