Today (30 June 2010) is the last day of the AFL’s NSW Scholarship Scheme, of which Hawthorn has deliberately been one of the most active participants with a total of 11 NSW players being offered scholarships during the period between 2006-2010.

The Australian Football League’s NSW Scholarship Scheme was established in 2006 to provide AFL clubs with the opportunity to recruit and develop young footballers aged between 15 and 17 years from the greater Sydney metropolitan area.

This initiative allowed clubs to sign NSW players on a first-in, first-served basis on one to three year scholarship agreements binding them to that team until their eligible AFL draft age (18 years old). As part of each scholarship, clubs are obliged to develop the boys, both socially and professionally, through a range of individually tailored programs focused on football, education, career and life skills.

In June, Hawthorn secured its final two players under the Scheme: Mitchell Bates and Jack Codd-Miller.

Two graduates of the program, Michael Johnston and Will Sierakowski, are currently based in Melbourne and playing with Hawthorn’s affiliated VFL side, the Box Hill Hawks, as part of their football development while a further nine players have scholarship agreements ending between 2010-2013.

At the end of 2010, scholarship holders Thomas Kickett, Will Langford, Jack Mahoney and Trent Stubbs will be eligible to be drafted to the Club.

Other youngsters signed up to the Scholarship Scheme include Heath Caldwell (South Broken Hill FC) and Dylan Stuart (Central Broken Hill FC), who will be eligible to be drafted in 2011.

Jackson Dwyer (Baulkham Hills FC) can join the Club in 2012, while the most recent scholarship signings Mitchell Bates (Shell Harbour FC) and Jack Codd-Miller (West Sydney FC) will undergo a development program for three years before being eligible for the 2013 draft.

In their final year, players signed under the NSW Scholarship Scheme can be listed with their AFL Club separate to the draft system - added to the rookie list with their consent or added to the primary list without - both conditions forming part of the original scholarship agreement.

Hawthorn is delighted to have been associated with the program over the past four years, with a number of the players showing genuine improvement in their football and life skills as a result of the scheme.

The various player recruitment concessions granted to Gold Coast 17 and Greater Western Sydney between 2010-2012 has made participation in the NSW Scholarship Scheme even more important as AFL Clubs face the real prospect of compromised drafts and diluted talent pools.

To read more information about the NSW Scholarship Scheme and Hawthorn’s scholarship holders, please see GM - Player Personnel and Strategy, Chris Pelchen’s article in the latest edition of Club magazine HawkTalk.