For a good foreigner player we had more dud ones along the way, I felt there still has made aleague clubs lazy when it comes to player recruitment as well.

It has to be a certain standard not a journeyman looking for a cheque.

By the same token playing players that are past their best like Jair and Opseth does not make the A league standard any higher and takes valuable development minutes away from exciting young Australian players like Mo Toure who has shown more than twice as much ability as the other two combined in his lively but limited time on the pitch. Listen to the crowd when Mo Toure takes the field, who do they want to watch, Opseth or Toure?

The A league is a development league and will never be anything other than that so we should only bring over foreigners that add to the league and help the development of our young players. I can watch that quality of foreign player in every low level league in the world. Foreigners need to be a lot better than Australian players and need to add quality to the A league and not hinder our young players development and we already know if a coach brings over a foreigner and he is not playing the best, they still tend to play them because they signed them and then only go to youth as a last resort.

The only good reason to cut back on visas is too align with Asia.

Doing it so some spud like George Blackwood can be gifted a spot ahead of actual quality like  prime Berisha helps no one. 

Not keen on limits but am keen on quality.

They can't come here and just be as good as what we have, they have to be bought to be much better than what we have and that will increase the standard overall

I agree. 3+1 is a natural cap, which 'should' do the job a salary cap is expected to do in the A-League. 4+1 would make it more manageable from the current state.

That's a more reasonable argument, I think.

Wouldn't be so bad if we had 4+1, as that would just mean one visa player left out, which teams might do anyway to manage the workload.

I've been saying it for years that we should simply adapt the 3 + 1 rule with our foreign players, and get in line with Asia. 

I can't stand the fact we have our top 3 clubs in the league go into the ACL without two of their best foreign players. 

But this has nothing to do with the 4-3-3, more to do with the type of players a coach is developing within.

You can teach a player to greed or selfish but also you need to teach them good decision making, and I feel this is the art of good coaching.

Allowing players to make mistakes whilst giving them a good framework is the fine balance.

Funny , that same Nick D’Agestino was second top scorer in U23s afc Olympic qualifying tournament.

Its always hit and miss...
Some players with great CV's flop... other unknowns do well...
giving clubs access to sign 5 hopefully means 3 will atleast be very good starters at each club.

I'd like to see actual numbers of games started/played by the 5 foreigners at each club over the season.
I daresay with selection and injuries the average number of foreigners starting each game would be somewhere between 3-4. 

Iirc FFA paper says imports should be a certain level.

I guess you could bring in a minimum salary for visa players but I’m not a fan because you take away the chance to groom younger or cheaper players

You could introduce a visa fee eg. You can have 3 visa players if you have 4 you pay $100k to something and 5 $250k 

But that’s hard with a salary cap

Pensioners ambling around the pitch hardly improves the quality of the AL either, plus how much money will a 35 YO Berisha generate in transfer fees for a club?

Both sides have pros and cons.

Everyone agrees Im pretty sure that Australians playing overseas is the key. So when we have the opportunity to allow those here to at the very least to compete against experienced quality players from overseas we want to take that away from them? Instead why not work out ways to improve the level of visas that come in and as Waz said improve the development of youngsters prior to coming into the aleague. 

True. And that will reduce the quality of the A League which in turn will reduce the development of young Aussie midfielders and defenders because they’re playing against lower quality strikers. 

When it comes to strikers, Greed is good.

I understand the need for better development (people have been talking about this for years).

But game time at a professional level is hugely important to a players development.

Too many coaches are taking the less risky road of importing attackers rather than giving young aussies pro playing time. (I don't blame them, they are only trying to keep their jobs).

People do things out if necessity. Take away visa spots and coaches will be forced to give young aus attackers game time.

You would think the 4-3-3 would help develop forwards and attackers given the structure and interchangeable aspect to the formation not hinder it.

You don’t develop forwards in the A-League, you develop forwards before then. 

100% agree. We will only have 14 to 16 pro teams. They must be stacked with aussies! Visa players are taking all the attacking spots, that's why we can't develop forwards anymore!

I see what you're saying.  I would like to see the cap and the floor removed.  But even if they are, I think most local clubs will be cutting back on salaries due to all the uncertainly surrounding the economy (not to mention the reduced TV deal).  So maybe even less money for a fourth or fifth spot (maybe with the exception of City, Victory and Sydney)?)

I always feel going forward the FFA and main stakeholders the state feds and clubs need to seriously tackle the player pathways but also the envionment especially the amount of games they play per season.

20 to 25 games isn't enough, needs to be 35-40 games from u13 to u21 minimum.

And what Drew Sherman said, we need to stop thinking about the past as this makes no sense in the current day where society has changed ALOT.

I do not know why I accidently selected that quote. Anyway....all I have to add is:

I can see that people would think having too many foreign players is bad for upcoming youth .
However when I was 16 and just starting in seniors ( way back in the 1970's ) most clubs had a lot of foreign players .
Scots ,English,Serbs,Croation,Italian,Argentinian etc etc .
I am so glad I got to play with these guys as playing and training with them teaches you so much .
it was not just their skills but their attitudes and experiences that helped .
They came from a harder, tougher game .
So my attitude is yes having foreign players and coaches is a great idea as they bring foreign styles of play and thinking into our game.

I agree completely with Waz that young Aussie players are more hindered by lack of games and coaching in the teen years before they reach the A-League .
If they are good enough by the time they reach A-League they will make it whether they are fighting for positions against Aussies or Foreigners .
Maybe the Academy idea will start to bear fruit soon but it needs these kids to be playing far more games .

In my teens I played around 20 club games , 10 Rep games,and 10 school games a season on average. ie 40 or so all up .
Obviously I also trained at night for those various teams.
,,,but to me the big advantage was I got home from school and was kicking a ball against a wall trapping ,dribbling ,shooting etc every afternoon for hours .
I literally had a ball at my feet most days of the year ...summer and winter.

Kids get home now, sit on the lounge and play FIFA.
This is modern footballs biggest problem and I don't know how you get around it .
You can't substitute simply having that ball at your feet all the time .

Those visa players (should in theory) increase the quality of the league though and ensure the local players who do make teams/squads are lifted to a higher level. The solution is more teams rather than less visa players as we could have the same amount of locals with more quality imports, rather than simply making more local spots by reducing imports.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toL1tXrLA1c

The top teams though have five good foreigners from top European leagues who add value and help mentor and develop youth. If you look at the Phoenix for instance you've got players from the Premier League, Eredivisie, Bundesliga, Championship, etc.

Winter season ? Its still starting in summer . Also its for next season only? Due to the pandemic 

Eh, with the gradual shift towards a winter season (which is more in line with the AFC) then we should perhaps follow their lead and run with 3 + 1