SYDNEY has stolen a march on North Melbourne by enrolling the sons of premiership stars John Longmire and John Blakey in its youth academy.

The three boys can be groomed for careers at the Swans, the club Longmire coaches with Blakey his assistant.

The academies afforded to the four northern clubs came under siege last year with Collingwood president Eddie McGuire saying they could “go and get players and hide them away and train them from 12 years of age”.

If they make the grade, the Sydney trio could graduate from the Swans academy onto its senior list — or choose to join North as father-son selections.

Nicholas Blakey (in the under-15s), Thomas Longmire (12) and Billy Longmire (10) flirted with North’s father-son academy in 2013, but haven’t been involved since.

McGuire renewed his attack after learning of the boys’ academy enrolment.

“All I’ll say is, it’s going to destroy the game, it’s as simple as that,” Eddie McGuire said on Triple M.

“I don’t care if it’s Sydney or Brisbane or anyone else, tomorrow they’ll all kick into me as usual and I’ll have the silent colleagues in Melbourne who are about to cop it right in the ear.

“Forget that they’re going to get all the father-sons if they live in Sydney.

“They have got the equivalent, and this is understating it, of 600 father-sons — but I’ll give you the kicker: 600 father-sons who can play.

“So it’s not like it’s just the luck of the biological lottery that you get a kid like Darcy Moore who can play.

“You can go through at age 12 and get the best 600 a year, not once, per year and you can train them and feed them and school them.”

media_camera John Blakey’s sons are father-son eligible for North Melbourne and Brisbane Lions.

Nicholas Blakey is entrenched in Sydney’s academy and coach Michael O’Loughlin said “there was a lot to like”.

He would also be eligible to Brisbane Lions under the father-son rule.

O’Loughlin said despite the boys’ pedigree the academy was crucial to fostering their talent in the NRL heartland.

“A lot of the (academy) boys play a second sport, so we have a lot of challenges. You’ve got league, union, soccer (and) basketball — it’s a really competitive market,” he said.

The Swans said they had about 550 boys in their academy, helping boost involvement and grow the game’s exposure to the next generation.

Former Greater Western Sydney academy manager Lachie Buszard said the academies were vital to growing the talent pool, which benefited all clubs.

He said without the development program it would be significantly harder for Blakey and the Longmires to make it.

AFL recruiters were split over whether the boys should be Sydney or North-bound.

Some said they would be “seething” if they had father-son prospects ripped away.

Others said without the academies the boys could be lost to other sports and pointed out academy graduates allowed more draftees from other states to remain at home.

media_camera John Longmire and John Blakey are coaches with Sydney.

“This academy wasn’t here when I first started in Sydney, so there’s a lot more boys talking about the game and they’re really proud to put their Swans academy shirt on,” O’Loughlin said.

“Nick’s a good, young player.

“He’s got a lot of work to do obviously but certainly from what I’ve seen — I’ve only been at the academy one year — there’s a lot to like. But he’s still very young.”

Longmire’s boys are expected to increase their involvement.

“John Longmire’s definitely got a son involved in the academy, but they come to training once a week and have a bit of fun,” O’Loughlin said.

“It’s more an introduction to footy than identifying them as elite talent, because they’re so young.”

AFL laws stipulate players must have resided in a club’s zone for at least five years to join its academy, which the league and recruiters say is tightly policed.

Last November Gold Coast missed out on No.13 pick Lachie Weller (Fremantle) because he had lived in the zone for four years.

The Kangaroos declined to comment.

The AFL last week moved to reform the controversial academies and father-son draft bidding system.

The overhaul is aimed at placing a fairer value on the special-access picks with clubs to provide feedback to the league this month.