Hoops

Centre of Excellence, how does it work?

Ding dong the witch is dead

Would be a massive upgrade.

Seebohm steppin in ?

BQ announced yesterday that Downer is returning to take what looks like her husband's old job for Queensland South.

So many that attend the CofE have injuries which occur during trading, not even in games, this is something that really should be looked at as considering they really don't play a lot of the year, the injury rate is staggering compared to ones who are playing a lot more

I hope for the girls sake they find someone great to run it after the horror of this year.

Most of them are our first u17 world champions. You would think we would be looking after them . How many are now suffering long term injuries because of the COE?

I think they will take the 3 vic metro u16 bigs to replace pizzey, mcspadden, aokuso.

Have pizzey and Rowe finished high school or something?

Conti is the best young pg prospect we have had in some time.
I very much doubt the women's afl league will be able to pay its players a descent wage.

I think I heard she said basketball was first, maybe afl later on in life.
The scholarship, free education, experience in another country etc would be hard to knock back.

^well said

So, let's deal with what is widely known from the women's program.
The scholarships are up for the following:
Rocci
Horvat
Aokuso
Mcspadden
Pizzey
Rowe

So that is 50% of the squad.

Do not read anything into the SEABL fill ins late in the year. There was no thought process other than "who do you know who can fill in?" Just another Downer chaos factor.

Whether any of the current girls come back after the negligent year under Downer is to be seen. This could be the end of the women's AIS program.

In the end all roads lead to Joyce who makes no positive contribution to the centre of excellence, but Stirling is also culpable. They were responsible for Goriss leaving, and they have been responsible for Downer being in charge since then.

Let's hope she does as she's massively overrated as a baller.

I'd say there is a fair chance Conti could have rejected CoE to still be able to balance her footy with her basketball. Got to remember she's one of the most highly rated junior women's AFL players in the country as well and considering they're starting up a formal national women's league I'd say there's a high possibility she'd choose footy.

98 (leaving?) 3+7
5'6 Rocci
6'1 Horvat
6'3 Aokuso

6'11 Ferguson
6'10 Magnay
6'8 Mayen
6'7 White
6'5 Lloyd
6'5 Kenyon
6'4 Glover

99
6'4 Magbegor
6'4 Mcspadden
6'3 Pizzey
6'0 Rowe
5'11 Simmons
5'3 Cubillo

6'10 Colina
6'7 Fullarton
6'1 Zunic

00
6'5 Cochrane
6'0 Simons
5'9 Shelley

6'10 Froling
6'8 Dalton

Recently added:
6'5 Mudronja, 6'7 Johns, 6'10 Hulland to mens Coe. 4 more?

Playing time with Coe and possible inclusions:
6'9 Tupaea, 5'10 McLean, 6'3 anstey, 6'3 locandro.

6'0 Dent, 6'1 MacDonald, ?Lancaster, ?maluach, 6'8 Griffiths.

U17s not in Coe currently.
5'5 Conti, 5'9 Goodchild.

6'4 Elkaz, 6'5 Stattman, 6'6 bines, 6'7 Bowen.


Most likely players from 00 and 01 to be chosen. Aiming for 2018 u17(01) and 2019 u19(00)

Conti to boomers and mcspadden to flames probably means they will not join Coe.
4 openings for both men and women potentially.

01 Heal, palmer, locandro, anstey Women?
01 men?

How do you know she won't be invited for 2017? I would expect she will with the current year 12 contingent exiting.

Passing fad - nobody remembers who beat up on Mexico in u17s.

Must be joking...
Best are always invited, no way.

Missing a girl that made the fiba u17 all star 5.
Even her counterpart in vycw was overlooked.

The best are always invited. It is the fringe that may be debatable. Anyway, tired conversation that has been done many, many times.

More interesting is the post about Downer being out.

The best are always invited. It is the fringe that may be debatable. Anyway, tired conversation that has been done many, many times.

More interesting is the post about Downer being out.

Quite often a player is chosen for Coe and then an unknown comes out of nowhere who is significantly better for that position.

Agree that it's not always the best that end up there, but that's also because some don't want to go and other selections do depend on the personal preference of those choosing, Joyce has been a perfect example,
Their are always going to be better athletes that don't end up at the AIS in all sports

Your kid missing out is irrelevant to the topic

They aren't the best kids in the country, they pick who they want, I've seen them play year after year and they aren't that good, they're missing out on quality kids that are better than the kids there.....POLITICAL DOESNT WIN GAMES OR DEVELOP THE BEST KIDS.

The girls did not like her one bit, and it showed , Gorris got a lot out of those players, they should never have let him leave, another Joyce casualty

Old brochure? My kid went there for two years and that is pretty much what my kid experienced.

Amazing how a lot of you keyboard warriors think you know it all when in fact you know ZERO!

That is the best news possible for the COE. A lot of damage to be undone though.

Melissa Downer has now left the CoE as she is taking over the Queensland South program so there is now no one coaching the girls side.

You've read an old brochure about what it is meant to be like. Very sadly for today's kids, it is nothing like that.

Aussie - I think you've based too much of your statements on this past season.

When Andrew Bogut was at the AIS, they actually won the SEABL title one year.

Note: a few years ago they didn't play in SEABL. Instead they went on overseas tours. I think they only started playing SEABL again in 2014.

I'll try and answer most of your questions:

These kids mature quickly and for most of them they are there for 2 years. So their first year is a learning experience and yes they lose mostly. You generally find in the next year, so 2017 for this crop, they will win more games.

Win/loss 2014 2/14, 2015 7/7, 2016 1/15

When SEABL finishes they have in the past played some practice/scratch matches against some of the NBL teams. They have FIBA Oceania qualifying tournament for either the U17 or U19 Worlds, depending on which year. This year there will be a FIBA Oceania qualifying tournament for the FIBA U19 Worlds for 2017.

There's also other tours - Pre-Worlds over seas tours, Adidas Nations, Nike Asia Camps, etc.

Biggest problem with these tours is they miss so much school.

Typical day:
Consists of individual Sessions (Shooting, Post, Ball Handling - depending on your position) or group sessions, Strength & conditioning, Scrimmages.

You must understand that these are some of the best kids in the country, so the quality of the sessions is very high.

Also, they have a gym, basketball courts, weights, plunge pool, Doctors, Physios, coaches, strength & conditioning coaches, etc all within about 5 minutes walk.

I'm not saying it is the best situation, but it is pretty damn good. However, you have to be a driven kid to go and living away from home is not for all of these kids and it helps if they are motivated, diligent and responsible with their studies.

However, most of the recent ones seem to go to College in the US, so this prepares them to live away from home and forces them to mature (emotionally) very quickly.

The occasional NBL coach visits. College coaches or assistant coaches visit, mainly trying to recruit some of the kids. There was a recent 'Try out' were a number of NCAA Colleges were present watching about 20 Aussie kids at the COE train/practice and scrimmage, not just the COE scholarship holders.

He could easily do both roles

test

^totally agree, Gorris now out of the CofE is not a good thing, but you can't blame him with having to deal with Joyce, maybe if he's gone Gorris may go back, but he's contracted to Canberra for the next two years isn't he?

Women's team undefeated when Goriss was there, only won 1 game under "The Downer". It is a vastly inferior shambles now he is gone.

It depends on the coach as to the purpose of the SEABL....the men keep the young guys in it, this year the women had all young ones but the previous year it was filled with "Joyce's choices" so nothing to do with un19

I think the CofE would be better used having camps as opposed to having athletes living their, yes they can get daily individual training, but they get very restricted game practice.

And with probably a big budget cut, perhaps this may be on the cards.

It would also mean the athletes get to stay in their state comps with access to SEABL teams and NBL/WNBL far better option.

Trainings, working with the nutritionist, study, etc.

Do you look at those players you've listed and think any have struggled with confidence or game fitness? Besides Fatty Mills back in the day.

They won 6 of their 14 SEABL games in 2015.

Aren't the CoE teams normally assembled with a 2 year plan in place building up to the U-19's world champs?

So the current team that only had 1 win will be largely the same players next season, the bulk of which will make up the Australian U-19 team that competes in 2017.

Most of these kids would be pretty used to winning. The results aren't why they are competing in the SEABL, but losing might actually be beneficial for their development so long as the games are predominantly competitive.

They are not there to win, they can't win the competition or play in finals.

I didn't mean it as a criticism but they only won one game this season.

The first correction to give your post is that they are not always beaten convincingly. The COE teams are often competitive in SEABL.

Here we go!
By all accounts there is a footy grand final on this weekend. St Kilda take on Collingwood in front of what will be an absolutely packed MCG stadium. Some will be fans dressed in all manner of red, black and white frantically waving banners, scarfs and all sorts of stuff, others will be national sales execs of major sponsors out to press the flesh and be seen while they dine on their lobsters and prawns in corporate boxes, and sip Yarra Valley Sav blancs. Who won?

Collingwood go in as favourites against the Saints and if you believe the hype, should be victorious by around ten goals. Saints have accepted the underdog status with pleasure and look for an upset win. There is no doubt Collingwood is the glamour pinup side of the AFL and the side people love to hate. Saints have had their chances over the years and boasted some top sides, but have been the perennial McGyvers - they see a lot of action, but never quite get the girl.

Obviously the key players for Collingwood are Swan, Pendelebury, Thomas and Didak. Saints rely on Riewoldt, Montagna, Hayes and Del Santo.

AFL is an "offensive" game. That is, you frenetically score as many goals as you can. Scoring wise, the full forward line of the Saints has netted 128 goals for the season, 56 across the HF, 40 from the Centres and 22 from the Followers. Collingwood's full forward line only 76, but 81 from HF, 42 from centres and a massive 55 from the followers. That says to me that the Saints rely on driving the ball in long to a marking contest, with Collingwood going for the running goal option.

Defensively is where the Saints win their games. I think they are the top defensive team in the league and will need to bottle things up and prevent the Collingwood run to have any chance. OMG there will be some tackling boys and the bruises will show.

Collingwood should win, but anything can happen in a GF. Think back to '89 when Yeates took out Dermot - what a sight! Wouldn't it be terrible if a Pies player went down in similar fashion.

All I know for sure if that with all those Collingwood fans in one spot, the average IQ outside the stadium should be a lot higher for the day.