https://www.australiacup.com.au/news/jankovic-gap-between-a-league-and-npl-really-not-big

Closing the gap has probably been the APL's greatest achievement

Don't forget delaying the NST (an maybe even killing it for good) thats a pretty big win for the investors.

Football across the world has in general become closer with the sharing of tactics, info and sports science. A second or third tier nation is capable of beating a top tier on a given day.

I have noticed teams in general are a lot better than when I played here. 

Having said that, lets not kid ourselves, if it was a-league v npl during the season of the a-league most matches would be over after ten minutes. But obvious considering it's a professional league 

“People have this perception of football that it needs to be the same thing. If you’re at the top of the league you need to be playing a certain style. I think that’s completely wrong,” Jankovic said.

“Football can be played in so many different ways and I think people need to respect the different ways of playing.”

I refuse to respect the way tony Popovic plays 

With the attacking talent he had Victory's performances were often dire.They did get to the GF but when leading 1 nil it appeared he tried to shut up shop too early and gave the initiative to CCM.

As we know - this is not comparing apples with apples AND this is the biggest issue our game has to date.
I get all us in NPL land get the sugar hit beating a AL Club during their off season even though being Pro they should be fit enough to cope, lets call it a pre season game and full timers despite it a Cup game.
Their chilles heal now is that the AL clubs are playing more and more inexperienced youth in these games compared to the early days where it was more evident NPL clubs ran out of gas against more seasoned Pro players.
Sure the NPL are in season - so called match fit but still part timers.
Ofcourse IF it was reversed playing during the AL summer season it would be alot more challenging for the part timer NPL players thats a given.
This whole 2 different comp seasons is a farce for us in the big picture and its showing by more cupsets.

This article says one main thing of note imo of our plight :
“They deserve just as much as anyone to be playing at a professional level. Whether that’s second division or A-League, the opportunity needs to be there.”

Not exactly the equivalent but the Jets came up last year for a friendly against a Coffs select 11 from the premier league there. In the past teams from the area have made the final 64 of the Australia cup so they're not too bad.

Anyway, preseason for the Jets mind you, they belted the local lads 17-1.

Bit of a reality check for a few of the local blokes I would have thought.

:) ... its a "way" I suppose.... 

I think more to the point the underlying message is that there are thousands of talented players coming to the stage in their development (17-22yrs) were they either go football full time or play part time NPL.... 11 Australian professional clubs just isnt enough.... Let those Coffs Harbour boys train 6-8 times a week, have a nutritionist, physio and staff around them and make sure they dont have to hold down shitty, often menial, jobs just to be able to play football and THEN put them against the Jets selection mate... I dont think ti will be 17-1 again.... 

Yep, stats don't lie. Looking at the a-league numbers from last season:

• Players 18 & under --- 26 games started --- 1996 total minutes
• Players 21 & under --- 278 games started --- 22926 total minutes
• Players 23 & under --- 410 games started --- 34332 total minutes

Spot on.... The fact that there are "cupsets" is more an indication that there is latent talent that COULD be developed further NOT that one set of player is better than the other or that Aleague clubs are still not yet match fit or whatever.... we desperately NEED more professional clubs....  Its so sad that those at "the top" dont really seem to give a shit.

Was just  about to make the same point. The gap is still wide but only because one is part time and the other is full time.

Their shouldn't be that much of a difference between top flight clubs and the NPL in cup games.

As we all know ,cup games are far different to league games, where one off games are often referred to as " Banana skins ".

The bottom rung of A leagues clubs should be snapping up NPL players and playing them, as there is no threat of relegation.

But there are too many players mate.and not enough spots... thats the point..... Aleague clubs take a few sure (and put them on "scholarship" contracts wtf that means... but there are literally hundreds of pretty decent NPL players out there that reach 17-18 and go "right' I better get a job and keep playing part time ... whatever percentage of these kids (I dont know it could be 10 or it could be 100) have the talent to be Socceroos.... we are failing them. 

Oh yeah. Agree. What I meant was the gap is huge given the situation, as it stands.

Yep. Say 5 players under 23 per team. That's a total of 55 professional spots in the whole country. Nowhere near enough. 

More often than not, they go. it's time to quit this football thing and get a stable secure job. Happened to a mate's brother about 10 years ago. Everyone was telling him to focus on the football as he definitely had potential, but his brain (and his parents) were telling him to get a degree and get a stable career. Funnily enough he did end up getting that elusive European contract in Spain, however it's as an engineer at a multi-national and not a as football player. Point is, he may have pursued that football career had the opportunities been there. He's fortunate in that his parents would have supported him either way, but not everyone has that luxury. Plenty of young guys simply can't take the risk. Especially now with the cost of living being what it is.

I wonder whether this is one of the topics they're still working through during NST discussions. What age bracket? How many in the squad? How many on the pitch?

I'd probably choose U21 minimums for NST. If you haven't made it by then in the NST then it's probably time to shift down to NPL.

So the problem boils down to, not enough money for full time football, for say another eight clubs ?

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

That's why the FA needs to grow a pair and make the NST happen irrespective of how unpopular it is. It's in the best interests of football. We need pro-rel too. 

I listened to a podcast on YouTube called suited and booted mentioning the same topic they called an NPL and A-league player explaining the differences and what’s it like playing against each other it was an interesting to listen to.

I do feel the gap isnt as big as once was mainly due to the workload difference, one is training everyday the other 3 times a week plus working on the side, but talent wise it’s not a big gap.

Take away the foreign players and if you put everyone on the same playing field in terms of workload and the gap isn’t as big as people perceive it to be.

Lucky we didn't have that mindset back in the 80s and 90s of the NSL days. 
Nearly all players would've been part time back then. 
Older players juggling full time work and family commitments with training 4 times per week and travelling interstate for games. 

Maybe created a resilience among the players?? 
Understood sacrifices? 
Focus and drive to succeed as a footballer? 

Some things are worth the risk. 

Players generally find their level. 
Perhaps the engineer buddy didn't have the right mindset? Rather than lack of opportunity. 

The big man put his  money down with this statement :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxwf-GeUlYY

In a way you are right....If clubs arent able to participate on a national level there is a set limit on how much revenue they can expect to make from sponsors, partnerships, memberships, match day takings and advertising...  No money coming in for the clubs means no money being paid to players... its not rocket science mate, I KNOW you understand how the whole thing works everywhere else in the world.... 

Shot? 

Weather was full on

Difference is the risk is way higher now. Cost of living increases haven't been matched by wage increases. It's a very different environment now.
Not saying parents were rich back then, but they are definitely poorer now. 

100% shot,  had the wind behind him, a decent left peg and saw the keeper of his line :)  Weather was nuts...