YES:
I can already hear the chorus of fans from the other 14 clubs screaming, "we want the same". It's natural to have your own club's interests at heart – we all do - but if you consider the below points, I'm sure you'll see the value in the four Queensland and NSW clubs continuing to run their own academies and having primary access to those players. The only reason this is even an issue is because of Isaac Heeney. No one blinked twice when the Brisbane Lions selected Jonathan Freeman 12 months earlier under the same system, but now because the Swans landed a future gun for unders, all hell has broken loose. It's a vexed issue, but northern clubs lose players to the 'go home factor' far more often than any other clubs. While they've done well to spread the AFL message in the past 25 years, participation numbers in Queensland and New South Wales are still relatively low. The two states simply don't produce enough AFL talent at the moment, meaning their predominantly interstate lists are more open to being raided. The Swans, Giants, Lions and Suns aren't able to fill their teams with locals (like the Eagles, Crows or most Victorians clubs), so having academies to firstly lure talent to the sport, and then nurture it to an AFL standard, is a great way of levelling this out. Heeney wouldn't even be playing the game if it wasn't for the Swans' academy. Not only do rugby league and rugby get more media attention, they also get the majority of young sporting talent up north. The advent of the academies has slowly started to swing that player balance and provide the AFL with a greater pool of quality from two more states. The more players the academies produce, the more regularly other clubs will outbid their northern rivals to access this pool. Perhaps the system could be reviewed in years to come, but for the time being, having Queenslanders play in Queensland and New South Welshmen play for New South Wales is great for the code. - Michael Whiting

NO:
Let me get this straight up front – this is not a dig at the Sydney Swans, Greater Western Sydney, Gold Coast or the Brisbane Lions. All four clubs have done exceptional work spreading the AFL gospel in their expansion states. Just two weeks ago, Swans recruit Isaac Heeney said if not for the quality coaching he had received at the Swans academy he would be playing another sport. That's a great result for the AFL given the growing number of Australian sporting codes jostling to get their hands on the nation's best talent. But the integrity of the draft demands that the four northern clubs are stopped from getting the type of windfall the Swans netted last year when they claimed Heeney, who many rated in last year's top three draftees, at the bargain price of pick No 18. Yes, the draft is already compromised by father-son picks and free agency compensation picks, and the past five drafts have been skewed by the start-up concessions awarded to the Suns and Giants. But that's no reason to allow another draft loophole to remain, especially one that can only ever be exploited by four clubs. Just as the AFL has moved to protect the integrity of the salary cap by removing the cost-of-living allowance awarded to NSW clubs and just as it removed the Lions' extra salary cap space after their 2001-03 premierships, the League should scrap the club-based academy system. The academies must continue, but should be run independently by AFL NSW/ACT and AFL Queensland. With the right people at the helm, there is no reason why the AFL can't continue to convert elite young sportsmen like Heeney to Australian football. - Nick Bowen