We crunched the numbers and they paint a telling picture of just where the AFL’s draftees are coming from.
Two powerhouse Victorian high schools almost 130 kilometres apart produced the most new AFL footballers this year as private schools continued their drafting domination.
“It’s exciting when you’ve got one or two drafted in a year, but to have five in a national draft is pretty amazing,” Brighton Grammar’s director of sport, Jack Joslin, toldRichmond’s first-round draftees Luke Trainor, Harry Armstrong, Josh Smillie, Sam Lalor, Jonty Faull and Taj Hotton were all private school students.“We were even hopeful, potentially, to have Bailey McKenzie ... but we’re rapt for five of them to get an AFL opportunity.
Only 19 of the 71 draftees picked up in the national draft came from a public school, but Joslin said there was an unfair perception that private schools always “poached” talented footballers.“I would say it’s often the parents of boys in state schools, or the like, reaching out to schools in the private system, knowing the offerings they get – not just from a resource standpoint for footy, I think that’s secondary.
“They’ve dreamt about this since they were little boys, so to be given that opportunity, you’re so thrilled for them,” Clark said.
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