Above: Hallam Senior College AFL Academy, which has been used as a model for a new rugby union program at Noble Park, this year includes 25 students who are listed at TAC Cup clubs. Picture are, back from left: Agape Patolo, Piva Wright, Adam Jaber, Jake Calvert, Chris Sewell and Ryan Morrison. Middle: Nick McPherson, Jack Soroczynski, Ash Beck, Jason David, Matt Rennie, Damo Johnston, Steve O’Donnell, Jacob O’Brien, Zach Kruiskamp, David Johnston and Luke Cody. Front: Jordan Bastinac, Rian Healy, Bella Zijai, Trent Cody, Jackson McDonald, Daniel Jackson, Nathan Wright and Andrew Ray.
By Paul Pickering
HALLAM Senior College’s AFL Academy has become a benchmark for school-based sporting programs in Victoria.
The specialised footy program, which has produced five AFL draftees in the last three years, is now being used as a model for a trailblazing rugby union academy at Noble Park Secondary College.
The Noble Park Rugby Academy – the first to be endorsed as a Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) course – kicked off this month as a partnership between Victorian Rugby Union and the school, led by principal Pam Dyson and academy director Shannon Keane.
Dyson was the assistant principal at Hallam during the early days of the AFL Academy and, with her former school’s blessing, took the idea to Noble Park.
VRU development officer Mike Motu said Victorian rugby officials have openly followed the Hallam model at Noble Park, noting the rapid success that AFL director Ben McGee has had with the program.
McGee said the venture, which started with one student in 2006, has grown to 65 aspiring footballers this season, with 25 of those listed with TAC Cup clubs at either under-16 or under-18 level.
The school’s partnership with the Dandenong Stingrays accounts for 23 of those students this year, while the program has also taken on players from the Gippsland Power and Eastern Ranges regions for the first time.
Many of those students who have not been recruited to TAC Cup clubs will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of recent St Kilda draftee Arryn Siposs, who earned a late call-up to the Stingrays last year after impressing via the Hallam program.
He joins fellow Hallam alumni Ryan Bastinac (North Melbourne), Tom Gillies (Geelong) and Shane Savage (Hawthorn) on AFL lists this season.
But McGee says that success rate is only part of the academy’s aim to provide budding footballers with the opportunity to pursue their sporting passion without abandoning the regular curriculum.
“We’ve had 120 boys go through our program, and obviously it’s fantastic that we’ve had five boys drafted, but it’s about making sure the other 115 have got positive lifestyles,” he explained.
“That might mean apprenticeships or a diploma in sports management or event management, so their experiences in the program provide a springboard into that life after secondary education.”
Not surprisingly, Hallam Senior College also had a pretty handy footy side, which will this year play in an elite eight-school Premier Division introduced by School Sport Victoria.
The winner of the new competition, which includes some of the state’s powerhouse public schools and specialised footy academies, will then play the winner of the prestigious Herald Sun Shield later this year.
