It will happen eventually, when all the recalcitrants are dragged in to coach in a uniform system.

Remember these tournaments are seen as development. The object is to develop a proactive playing style, like they do in the countries we want to emulate in playing style.

Reactive football may see short term results, but will not assist the development of a national playing style, a proactive one. It is much easier to play longer, direct passes later in a player's development when over the age of 19. The FFA belief is that no really successful team in world football plays a reactive style of football.

It continues that to be a top ten nation, we desperately need to play out under pressure from the back when other decent teams full press and intensively squeeze us. Germany, Brazil, Holland, France, Argentina and Spain can do this at a higher level than we are capable of playing - yet.

The QAS coach had a go at a keeper for missing the 1st line in the preperation game for this carnival

so why dont FFA allow teams to practice like this in games rather than discouraging pressing. Trying to hide the problem that Aus isnt producing the players.

[quote=slee45 Just thinking is it wise to always play out from the back ? Shouldn't we encourage the kids to sometimes think outside the square and not be so predictable?

Edited by slee45: 6/12/2012 04:12:00 AM[/quote]

yes , play the furthest safest pass

Pressing is encouraged in fact it plays a major role in the assessment of teams at the NTC championships. That and having the ability to play out from the back whilst this pressure is being applied. It doesnt always come off but most teams have the ability to play out. Dont forget that these are 14, 15 and 16 year olds, they are learning and learning fast. Thanks must go out to all the NTC coaches for the work they have put in to these teams as the standard of football being played is way above what has been seen in previous NTC championships.

For anyone still interested in results:

Afternoon session:

NSWIS 1-0 SA
QAS 1-0 NT
NNSWIS 1-0 VIC
WA 2-5 TIS (Not 100% on this, but it was 1-4 at HT and I only know of 1 goal a piece in the second half.)

in the qld JPL the feeder to the qas, teams are asked not to press the other team playing out.

x2.

Welcome to the forum, Mervan.

By who?

I'll pass that on, Spathi.

The NTC coach from this state will be assessing me for the C Licence. A few of us have made a lot of comments he would prefer us not to in the course.

It will be an excuse to ingratiate myself. This guy is an excellent coach. His forte is lecturing and the putting on demonstration coaching sessions with the NTC for hundreds of coaches at once. He is also the national under 23 or under 20 assistant coach to Alistair Edwards.

At some stage a team cannot cope with intensive squeezing and full pressing.

Arsenal had never encountered the level that Barcelona applied to them and struggled in ball possession.

When the Tassie NTC plays, other club teams try intensive squeezing and full pressing to beat them. Occasionally it succeeds. Usually the NTC prevails. Even if they lose, they usually dominate possession.

As a Tasmanian I'm pleased by this.:d However, one has to view these tournaments as development not results.

Saw the NTC at the FFA Regional Conference a few weeks ago. Their coach, Dean May, took a superb demonstration coaching session. A few of us thought they looked technically weak. Having said that I think they've lost three three star players from last year.






Edited by Decentric: 6/12/2012 11:18:44 PM

Agreed. However it seems that the powers that be don't always see it that way. I'll leave it at that.

I've been quite impressed by Tassie this week. They've definitely punched above their weight. The only poor game they've played was the 5-1 loss this morning to NNSWIS where they were ripped to pieces in every aspect of the game. They bounced back well this afternoon by dishing this out to WA. Don't be surprised to see a few TIS boys in that all star squad.

If it wasn't for the minimum time rule any team could win this tourney. All players must play a minimum amount of minutes, sometimes this can weaken a team as the depth is not what other states can provide. It has been a very open tournament and the results prove that any team can win, on any given game, on the day.

Edited by spathi: 6/12/2012 11:02:18 PM

Are you talking about VIS by any chance? They seem to play the long ball very very frequently.

I'm quite excited about this. We know we are the forgotten state, but our first Tasmanian product of the Tassie development system under Dean May, Jeremy Walker, has just played for Melbourne Heart this weekend.

About four of us drive Dean mad when he lectures at FFA courses, as we raise a lot of points. The other instructors like coaches raising points for discussion, but it puts Dean off his presentation.

Recently, I've thought DM is the best structural coach I've seen. He has also repeatedly offered his services to any club coaches to assist. Good on him. The only thing is the players I have at my disposal are nowhere near good enough for him to work with. He would become frustrated I think.

I might text him. I think he would be pretty pleased with your comments.






Edited by Decentric: 6/12/2012 11:21:06 PM

Victoria was renowned for this 5 years ago when I did my FFA Youth Licence. The instructor spoke about it incessantly.

If they are still doing it, Han Berger will be livid!:x I don't know how some people at Victoria are keeping their jobs if this has continued.

No, not VIS. I'm talking about other teams who don't play the best of games (technically speaking) but manage to get a good result and pick up more technical points than they deserve.

For me, the centre-back and the centre-forward are Tassie's standouts from what I have seen of them. Mind you, I haven't watched all of Tassie's games, I've also received feedback from what others have seen of them.


Edited by MidfieldMaestro: 6/12/2012 11:27:29 PM

Of course full pressing, and intensive squeezing is proactive play in BPO. I was alluding to BP when the tenets of FFA NC are appraised. Australia's mode of winning most games in the eighties and nineties , apart from when Terry Venables was coach, was to score goals from other teams' mistakes - not from intricate combination play, or from acts of individual, sublime skill.

I think your intent, unlike most others who post on here, is to troll and derail like JF. And, yes there has also been discussion by FFA in recent coaching conferences and courses about passing the ball harder to avoid interceptions.](*,)

Interesting to make comparisons. I know one of the Capital Football coaching staff. Capital Football had 17000 - 19000 players this year from a population base of 320 000, I think.

Tasmania only has 14 000 registered footballers from a population base of 500 000. The 14 000 is declining too.

Day 5 results:

WA 1-5 NNSWIS
NSWIS 3-0 NT
QAS 1-0 TAS
ACTAS 2-1 SA



Edited by MidfieldMaestro: 7/12/2012 12:32:01 PM

With this in mind, I checked Vic's technical points this morning. They have been rated the worst at implementing the national curriculum. They've been getting 2/10 and 3/10 every day for technical points.

On this note, NNSWIS were awarded 2/10 for the first day, which is an absolute joke. They outplayed NSWIS, had about 80% of the ball, controlled the game, did everything but score. NSWIS scored 2 very late goals through individual errors, then played average that afternoon vs WA but picked up 6/10 for that day. Sure, NNSWIS were poor vs SA, but 2/10??? Get out. More like a 5/10 for that day would be fair.

Because of this travesty, it's going to cost NNSWIS. Since this day, they've been getting 6, 7 and 8/10 for their technical ability and COULD be second on technical points. What game those selectors were watching on the first day is anyone's guess.

Looking at the technical table right now and ACTAS got 3 points on the first day for drawing with Tassie and losing to Vic who played the long ball all game, then the next 2 days running got 8 points (2 games per day), 5 points (1 game) and 7 points today for a win (1 game). To be fair though the first day against Tassie they were a little nervous and the second game played Vic off the park while they pumped 2 long balls and scored twice, but 3 point from 2 games ](*,) ](*,) seriously ](*,) ](*,)

Where can I find the table?

I’ve attended every NTC tournament since they started in the current format in 07, here are my thoughts on the week.
Positives

- Almost every state to an extent has embraced the curriculum and is focusing on the performance more so than the final result. There are some exceptions who are reverting to old habits when they lead by a goal late on but in the main teams are playing 4-3-3, attempting to play out from the back and keep possession. Victoria has copped a hiding in the technical points (highest daily score for them was 3/10) but every other state has embraced the FFA’s philosophy with varying degrees of success.

- The smaller states Tasmania and NT have been as competitive as they have ever been. They have probably been the biggest beneficiaries of the NC. It now gives them a guideline of how to train and develop their players and they also know how the other teams will play which would also help their tactical preparation. I hope the days of Tasmania and NT parking the bus in the hope of getting a gallant point or narrow loss are long gone.

- The referees in general have also improved, I know a lot of work has been done in making the nationals and NTC tournaments an important part of the development pathway for promising referees and it seems to be working. There’s still the odd howler or card happy ref but the general standard is better than a few years ago.

Negatives

- Unfortunately I will be leaving this tournament without seeing any individuals who really excite me. In particular the quality of strikers has been poorer than recent years. There hasn’t been that player or two who you just know in a couple of years will be gracing the A-League and wowing the country. In past tournaments there have always been one or two attacking players that have lit up the tournament, a couple of years ago it was Teeboy and Garuccio for SASI and they’ve already made it to the A-League, before that it was Babalj, Antonis, Oar, Taggart (all now Socceroos), Gameiro, Bulut. There has been some very good players but none of the quality of the aforementioned players when they were 15/16.

- I guess this is an extension of the last point but as some people have mentioned here a lot of the goals are coming from teams losing possession deep in their own half. Probably the next most prolific method of scoring has been through the wingers getting behind a high defensive line. There have been very few goals coming from creative interplay through the middle of the park against a set defence. A lot of teams have struggled to break down a good defensive unit, something Australian football has always had a problem with. I believe the main reason is because most teams are too structured in attack and stick to the mandated style too rigidly. Players are not being taught too think creatively and no one has really broken the mould. As an example, I watched Tasmania put 5 past WA but their goals were from turnovers by the WA defenders and midfielders, not from Tasmania breaking down the WA defence after sustained possession.

- There have been too many cases of teams receiving credit for attempting to play the right way but failing. They fail because either their technique was off or they are making a poor decision that has been pre-programmed into them. WA in particular in some games found the opposing midfielder more times than their own yet they seem to pick up a decent amount of technical points each day. Teams are given credit for attempting to play the FFA’s mandated style not whether they actually succeed at it.

- This has already been mentioned here but some of the technical points scores have been puzzling. Unfortunately most teams I think will go away surprised and disappointed with at least one of their day’s scores.

- This tournament still seems to be hidden from the public. I know Han Berger’s reasons but I still think there should be some reporting on this tournament from the FFA and even videos of the games uploaded online.

Anyway, that was a long post and some may agree and disagree with what I’ve written but that’s my perspective based on what I’ve seen over the years. A forum thread like this is good so people can share the results and their opinions but Berger would hate it.

*Agree with everyone (except the Vics it would seem) embracing the aim of the national curriculum.

*Agree with the fact that NT and TAS have largely improved and are making a game of it/winning by playing the 'right' way.

*Perhaps no-one 'stood out' to you because the tournament was so close and evenly matched? That's what I took out of this week. My opinion only.

*Did you watch all the games? (Not having a go at you, serious question). I saw several goals where teams managed to break down a 'set defence' after sustained possession. Eg. NNSW had a huge amount of possession vs Victoria and their winning goal started with the left fullback and was finished from close range by the right-winger without Victoria touching the ball during the move which lead to the aforementioned goal. That's just one off the top of my head. I do agree though, that a large number of goals came about through turnovers. WA struggled big time in this regard, I agree.

*About the technical points, I still think it's fair to award decent points for a team that loses 0-1 but outplays the opposition who scored a lucky goal but didn't play all that well. I don't think the team should be penalised for poor finishing of one or two players. Having said that, some teams were awarded more points than they deserved, I agree with you there.

*Why does Berger 'hide' this tournament?


I agree and disagree with various points you've raised, but I appreciate your thoughts and discussion.

Edited by MidfieldMaestro: 7/12/2012 10:02:47 PM

Just back from the dinner/presentation function. This one's for you, Decentric.

When naming the 'All-Star' coaches (which were the coaches from QAS and NNSW), he made a special mention of Dean May and the great work he's done with Tasmania. Han Berger seemed very pleased with him. Although Tassie weren't as good in the back half of the week, I think the coaches and the players can be very proud of their efforts.