By Steve Gee | August 05, 2009 12:00am
IT'S a no-holds-barred fight for the hearts and minds of Sydney's next generation of football stars and fans. The AFL pulled off a PR coup by forking out $3 million to coax Karmichael Hunt into crossing codes, and it has now set its sights on other league stars to headline a new western Sydney Aussie rules franchise in 2012.
But it's on the suburban sportsgrounds where the war will be won or lost.
And yesterday, in the rugby league heartland of Whalan, between St Mary's and Mt Druitt, the signs were only lukewarm for football's space invaders.
On a handful of worn playing fields at Whalan Reserve, more than 1200 junior league players and a little over 100 Aussie Rules players battled it out in knock-out competitions - barely a drop punt apart.
In a sobering reality for Andrew Demetriou and his AFL bigwigs, the stark contrast in numbers and conditions - there were no Aussie rules posts, only flexi-poles for goals - symbolised the enormous task the southern game faces as it looks to establish its new Sydney club. It's why rugby league officials believe the western Sydney push could be the rival code's "Vietnam".
Whalan Reserve is one of a handful of locations where 20 western Sydney high schools are competing over three days for the Swans Cup, a round-robin Australian rules tournament. Close by in the same park, a clutch of talent scouts yesterday hovered around the NSWRL All-Schools Knockout, with more expected today as glamour schools like Endeavour and Westfields Sports High turn out.
Aussie rules talent is so thin on the ground that St Dominics, at Kingswood, is relying on under-16s Australian schoolboys league fullback Alan Niulesa to make up its numbers.
Currently mulling over scholarship offers from the Bulldogs, Dragons, Broncos and Pathers, the 15-year-old was a stand-out in his first ever AFL game against Our Lady of Lebanon.
Playing alongside 15-year-old Collingwood scholarship holder Michael Hartley and standing at a tick under 180cm, he is the type of athlete certain to feature in future bidding wars between the codes.
But while the teenager's thoughts on the game will bring a smile to the likes of Collingwood boss Eddie McGuire, who praised Hunt's poaching as a chance to stop Sydney kids calling the code Gay-FL, Alan typifies the hurdle ahead.
"It's not as gay as people say it is," the 15-year-old said in typical teen speak. "It's not too bad playing it, but it's too boring to watch. I don't think many Polynesians will play it. We like the contact of league."
St Dominics Aussie Rules player Grant Martin, 14, switched to Aussie Rules from league this season. "It's a faster moving game and for smaller guys like me it's a better sport," he said.
Former Balmain and Test back-rower Paul Sironen, who was watching his 14-year-old son Bailey playing for Holy Cross Ryde, said that while the AFL beat its chest about grassroots investment, the ARL out-spent its rival and was determined to protect its backyard.
Sironen said the battle was as much "cultural" as sporting. "At the end of the day, western Sydney is grassroots rugby league," he said.
"There's no denying AFL is making inroads, but it's a cultural battle. There's room for all codes, I think. It's what you're raised with."
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