In a major investment into talent development in South Australia, SANFL \u2013 together with the two South Australian AFL Clubs \u2013 have announced the appointment of inaugural joint SA Academy coaching roles.<\/p>\n
Sturt Football Manager and Under-18 and Reserves premiership coach Chris Trapp has been announced this week as the new Academies Coach \u2013 SANFL & Adelaide Football Club, while South Adelaide Talent Manager and Under-18 premiership coach Mark Clayton has been appointed Academies Coach \u2013 SANFL & Port Adelaide Football Club.<\/p>\n
The new roles form part of a significant strategic investment into talent development in SA which has seen an expanded Under-18 boys Academy program introduced two years ago and the development of the $25 million high performance facility at West Lakes, to be opened in December.<\/p>\n
Working alongside SA Under 18s Coach and Academy Manager Tony Bamford, the two highly-respected talent development mentors will be charged with fostering the State\u2019s elite male talent, while ensuring a greater focus on eligible talent for the AFL clubs\u2019 Next Generation Academies (NGA) for First Nations and multicultural players.<\/p>\n
The pair will also support the development of coaches at their respective NGA-aligned SANFL Clubs, providing benefits for the entire SANFL talent pathway.<\/p>\n
SANFL Head of Talent Sean Toohey said the key aim of the new Academy structure was to increase collaboration between SANFL and AFL clubs to further improve outcomes for talented footballers in SA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new SA Academy structure is aimed at building strong connections between SANFL, the eight SANFL Clubs and two AFL Clubs to develop the best homegrown talented players,\u201d Toohey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, we want to develop more talented footballers who are well equipped for success at either AFL or SANFL level.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlready we saw the benefits of an extended Academy program, now spanning 13 weeks between December and March, with South Australian players representing a significant 23 per cent of last month\u2019s AFL Draft, including a record seven players selected in round one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis fantastic result for South Australian talent also came on the back of SA\u2019s success in winning this year\u2019s Under-18 AFL National Championships.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reporting to SANFL Head of Development Heath Younie, the new full-time roles will be key pillars in SANFL\u2019s Talent department as they form part of the coaching panels for the SANFL U18 and U16 Academies preparing for the annual National Championships campaigns.<\/p>\n
Trapp has successfully combined his coaching with administration in his 10 years at Unley, as the Double Blues\u2019 Senior Football Manager whilst also guiding the club\u2019s Reserves team into the past four Grand Finals, including the 2022 premiership. He was also in charge of Sturt\u2019s U18 team which claimed the premiership in 2017.<\/p>\n
Clayton, who has been integral in building South Adelaide\u2019s promising talent program across his eight-year tenure as Talent Manager and U18 coach, steered the Panthers to the 2023 SANFL U18 flag, breaking a drought of 30 years. He also worked as an assistant coach for South Australia\u2019s championship-winning U18 team this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cChris and Mark were outstanding candidates for the new roles and will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience in strengthening coaching and enhancing talent pathway integration between SANFL and the South Australian-based AFL clubs.\u201d Toohey said.<\/p>\n
Crows General Manager Football Operations and Compliance Tom Hurley said the club was pleased to work with the SANFL to create this initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe firmly believe the concept will strengthen pathways for SA talent while simultaneously bringing a greater focus on draftable talent through our Club\u2019s Academies programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo land someone of Chris\u2019 experience is a huge coup for us and we look forward to seeing his impact in the role.\u201d<\/p>\n
Port Adelaide\u2019s Manager of Football Services and Player Support Paul Stewart applauded the league\u2019s efforts in implementing the new roles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a fantastic initiative that shows significant investment in strengthening the support and development of talent in our father-son, NGA and female football pathways.<\/p>\n
\u201cMark is a great fit to lead this from a Port Adelaide perspective, alongside our Academies Manager Sean Lemmens. Mark is a true Port Adelaide person who brings strong coaching experience across multiple SANFL and community clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a major investment into talent development in South Australia, SANFL \u2013 together with the two South Australian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-324513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}