Kruse was 26 and Son was 19 so i think Son have larger motivation and bigger upside but you're right maybe Kruse lacked motivation whilst being at a club where he wasn't going to get consistent game time.

Any1 here watch Huddersfield last night. Looked out of it. Forrest played like a team possessed
Mooy was involved in a few good things, but they got bullied out of the game, not their usual free flowing attack
Really sux because they needed a win really to keep within reaching distance of the top 2. '
Now I think it's only third , but that is if they manage to pull their finger out and start getting some Wins on the board again.

Son also developed through the youth ranks at HSV. Daresay a better education than what Kruse got.

This argument comes up time and time again and makes no sense. There is a huge amount of players getting game time who are young in the league and a whole lot of them are average. Look at a guy like Connor Pain. He has had so much game time despite, realistically not showing enough. The fact is that in a year or two he will join in and become one of the "journeymen" that you mentioned. Mahazi was young and promising a few years ago and is undeniably average. Pasquali chose to left and would have had a whole lot of game time if he didn't. How many opportunities will Jesse Makaronous get based of his under 17s form? 

I always think that our young players don't develop fast enough based on the amount of A-league games they get. I think there is definitely a development problem in terms of coaching and improving players. The truth is, however, our most promising young players leave very quickly and we are left with the less promising young players until they come back after failed overseas attempts. Leckie, Kruse, Ryan, Sainsbury, Goodwin, Amini, Rogic, Juric, Langerak- All these guys were given an opportunity at young ages in our league and actually played in successful teams. The problem is they quickly decided to leave after. Look how fast Gersbach left after showing a year or two of promise. A-league clubs are forced employ average Australian players due to the fact that the best ones leave as quick as they get offered a contract and having a team full of under 19s will not win you any proffesional league. 

son didnt lose 2 years to injury.  kruse has not returned to the same form pre injury.  he is slower and nowhere near as sharp.

I've compiled a couple of tables comparing the current national team to the 2006 World Cup squad, to give an understanding of where everyone was at when they were younger players and who they went on to play for in their careers. The reason I chose age 17 specifically is that they're still classed as teenagers during that time, and many of the overseas players I listed in my earlier comment are all around the age of 17 at the moment.

The current squad:


Other recent Socceroos at age 17: Tom Rogic (Tuggeranong United, Australia), Jamie Maclaren (Blackburn Rovers, England), Chris Ikonomidis (Sutherland Sharks, Australia), Matt McKay (Queensland Academy of Sport), Tommy Oar (Palm Beach Sharks, Australia), Matthew Spiranovic (Australian Institute of Sport), Ryan McGowan (Heart of Midlothian, Scotland).


The 2006 World Cup squad:


Contributors at youth level (for players when they were 17) from both tables:
- AIS: 12 players (Moore, Emerton, Milligan, Skoko, Grella, Kennedy, Langerak, Degenek, Sainsbury, Grant, Kruse, Spiranovic)
- Sydney United: 5 players (Kalac, Popovic, Culina, Jedinak, Juric)
- Marconi Stallions: 2 players (Schwarzer and Beauchamp)
- Wollongong Wolves: 2 players (Chipperfield and Sterjovski)
- Bulleen Lions: 2 players (Bresciano and Leckie)
- Central Coast Mariners: 2 players (Ryan and Amini)
- Overseas clubs: 12 players (Neill, Wilkshire, Kewell, Aloisi, Smith, Williams, Wright, Mooy, Troisi, Irvine, Maclaren, McGowan)
- Other NSL/NPL clubs: 12 players (Covic, Lazaridis, Cahill, Viduka, Thompson, Vukovic, Behich, Luongo, Burns, Rogic, Ikonomidis, Oar)
- Other A-League clubs: 1 player (McGree)

Son hasn't had the horrid run of injuries Robbie's had. His career is done now. Was one of our best players a few years back.

Yeah, however wasnt there a change in the youth system that happened in like 2010 meaningwe havent seen the success of this yet., as players right now who went through that youth system designed for 9-12'year olds would still be to young.

Expamsion of the league would mean that it would create greater opportunities for young Australian footballers to play regualr minutes and hence it would greatly improve their development

Updates on Curtis Good? What happened to him he got back from injury a while ago and his not in the bench for newcastle xi

this is great.  it's the kind of apples and apples comparison we need to look at when we start seriously comparing the teams.  i did a similar thing on the original nt thread not long after it was created splitting the current and golden NT into numbers of players in each tier of football.  i split the clubs they played for into 3 tiers - i think it was 1. top flight leagues and UEFA champions league.  2. mid level european teams (belgium, england 2 etc) and the rest.  the numbers actually started to look fairly similar. but this was before china started pulling our players out of europe.

Another update on our Aussies abroad:

ENGLAND:
- Mile Jedinak and Jackson Irvine played each other in a 1-1 draw. Both got yellow cards.
- Brad Smith was on the bench (what a surprise) as Bournemouth lost 3-1 to Chelsea.
- Bailey Wright played a full game as Bristol won 3-1 over Wolves to boost their chances of survival.
- Aaron Mooy played a full game as Huddersfield lost 2-0 to Nottingham Forest
- James Meredith and Cameron Burgess played each other as Meredith's Bradford won 2-0 to keep their promotion hopes alive
- Aiden O'Neill made a substitute appearance as Oldham won 2-0 over Fleetwood.
- Liam Driscoll played a full game as the Reading U18s won 2-1 over the Liverpool U18s. Another Aussie - Kosta Sparta - was on the bench in the same game.

SCOTLAND:
- Lyndon Dykes assisted a goal as his team won 2-0.
- Jesse Curran and Chris Duggan played a full game as their team lost 3-1.
- Tom Rogic came on as a substitute in Celtic's 3-1 win over Kilmarnock.
- Scott McDonald and Ryan Edwards played a full game as their team won 1-0.

NETHERLANDS:
- Jason Davidson played a full game as Groningen lost 4-3 ADO Den Haag. Ajdin Hrustic was on the bench.
- Stefan Mauk was on the bench as NEC lost 5-1 to Ajax.

Damm look at the amount of playersee had in 06 who played on the top 5 leagues and mow we only have one plauer

Excellent work mate.
Just wanna point out that Luke Wilkshire also played for Wollongong Wolves right before joining AIS and then Middlesbrough within a year of turning 17. He played for us right up til then. Funny that Wollongong is a hotbed that produced 3 of the golden gen but gets fuck all of  a look-in by the FFA for the A-League. FFA could bring in a club proven to produce quality players but yeah nah lets instead bring in plastic SS franchise FC???

Langerak starting in the derby against Karlsruhe. It should be a heated match.

Brilliant info WolfyWolf! 

Leckie up later today. Ryan got a clean sheet last night. 

Another goal for Neymar Burns as Tokyo reserves win. Hoping he joins up with one of the other Aussies in J League action soon that would be cool.

Juric starting. 

Sainsbury benched

lol just got carded for diving. Misses the next match.

Curtis Good update:
After recovering from injury quite a while ago Curtis good has only made one apparence this season against Oxford United in the u-23' where he played for a half.
Good still has not played a senior game for newcastle united and has not impressed enough to get a look in
Good joined them at age 20 in 2013 and is now 24

Speculation of possible Melbourne City loan move option for Curtis good
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/newcastle-uniteds-forgotten-man-curtis-12866979

Leckie starting in a huge match for Ingolstadt as they host bottom side Darmstadt, a win would put them one point behind 15th and 16th and right back in the hunt to stay in the division. Only six more matches after this one so they need to start picking up points.

cheers , they been winning odd one recently. Really wish Leckie would start burying more goals

Its on bein 1 for anyone with foxtel. Massive 6 pointer

Inches away from scoring.

Ingolstadt 1-0 up leckie almost had one to

he;s always good in those little battles up front. :P
good stream

Jamieson's also starting. The Swedish season just got underway last week.

yess Leckie big part in that play 2-2 ffffffffffffffffffffffsssss

Leckie does really well providing that assist