Australia needs to set itself for long haul
Michael Lynch
Published: July 15, 2014 - 2:57PM

The fact that its last two remaining members of that storied class, Mark Bresciano and Tim Cahill, were the key players in Brazil this time round shows how few genuine top-level players have come through in the past decade.

Postecoglou has given every indication that he is at home on this stage, and clearly has the ability to inspire his players and get them to buy into his vision.

What Postecoglou needs to do is find some quality options to replace Bresciano as the creative fulcrum of the team, and Cahill as its main threat.

He will be reliant on the new programs being put in place by the FFA to encourage the development of technically more accomplished youngsters and the clubs for nurturing and bringing those players on.

There does need to be a cultural change at the very lowest grassroots levels of the game if long-term change is to be effected.
Those who can become the game-changers and game-winners, and Australia does not have enough of them.

Too many talented 17 or 18-year-olds have in the past left and fallen into a hole and end up playing youth or reserve team football before dropping down the divisions, their development stunted or retarded.

Making the Socceroos competitive at the highest level is a long-term project and will require vision, commitment, patience and loyalty to the coach as he tries to build for the future. Germany's Joachim Low, with an infinitely stronger talent pool at his disposal, has been in the national set-up for the best part of a decade and it is only this week that he has climbed to the summit of international football.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/australia-needs-to-set-itself-for-long-haul-20140715-zt7em.html

I've seen a bit written about this recently.





Edited by Decentric: 22/7/2014 07:45:11 PM

17/18 yo leaving the game has happened for years. Cars, girls, Uni, family/training demands. Why go to training 4 nights a week when you know you’re not going to “make it”?

At least in the current system we have a local professional league, and the fFA have tried (I stress tried) to develop a coaching system from top to toe.

I have an inclination that this "message" about playing younger players is coming from you know who?

It still seems to be the thinking that if you haven't "made it" by 18, then you never will. But of course Og and Franjic proved otherwise.

And I have witnessed very talented players that I have played with and against walk away from the game at 17/18. Atleast 2 of them that I can think of may have been playing A league today if they were in the "system" or in a pathway. 1 of the guys even went over to Everton when he was 12 or so for a trial. This guy was known around Brisbane as a top quality player the same way Ben Halloran was as a teenager

But im sure this thinking would change if players in the local league thought that Brisbane Roar for example where taking a genuine interest in the local game. As a player for example Id like to think that if im scoring a goal a game in an U16 team in Brisbane that maybe the Roar would have heard about me.

IMO Roar are the worst talent scouts in the A League and the A league is the worst talent scouts of any League I know.

Why do you think this is? is it just laziness, lack of "respect" for the local leagues. Or is it that they feel they have so few spots to fill in their roster that it isnt worth taking notice of?

And how do they go about selecting boys for their youth team? All I can say is the quicker they get an academy system going the better, just from what ive seen around the place, Roar could easily have another youth team made up of players of similar ability to what they have now.

There is a 14 yr old boy that I know of who recently trialed with West Ham, he was asked to return next school holidays for another trial. And having watched him play this season through school competition, he would have to be one of the best players his age ive seen, he was almost to technical and smart for his team mates and this is in the team that won the competition. He stood out in the same way Ben Halloran did when he was the same age

Now my question is, have the Roar even heard of him, hopefully, but probably not. He would be such a lose for the Roar if he was to sign for West Ham. Pat Theodore graduated from the same school last year so maybe the Roar should come check out what we are doing :d

Three things make up the reason Roar are so bad at scouting
1 Its not easy with young players
2 Too they are lazy
3 They just don't care.

IMO get any good young players out of Australia ASAP and let them do the hard yards overseas. JMO
For all this and because the season is so short the comp is so bad and the numbers are so small.

I have to agree krones3, I also beleive for a yong person it is an experience that will not only help them develop as a footballer but also as a person. Helping them mature and become independent.

The biggest problem is a lack of patience not only from A-League franchises but a lot of clubs further down the chain who are focused on winning rather than being focused on player and team performance or just trying to play good football.

Using the ladder as your sole criteria to performance only means that players and coaches become consumed by a fear of failure. Playing the games is now about minimising mistakes and doing anything to win "get rid of it", “when in doubt kick it out”, etc.
Gombau at Adelaide has been instrumental in developing a asthetically pleasing style of play to bring long term success. I think the fans apprecite this philosophy as they have not been so concerned about the ladder position as player and team performance

How do you know they're too lazy? Or that they don't care? We have plenty of Brisbane products in our system. We also field a NPL team full of youngsters. Lately the more well known players have been on holidays so 15-16 year olds have been stepping up. Other clubs would surely be worse at scouting than us.

Isnt that just the NYL team?

They are the only A league team in Queensland therefore have the Junior players in this state all to themselves. they don't have all the best players in any of their youth teams.

They listen to abela

don't even get me started on the value in the QAS


Edited by krones3: 2/8/2014 07:30:43 AM

Needs more promo rele imo

2016. It's the talk of many NPL clubs, behind the scenes, at present.

Chich not making at 18 is not due to lack of talent. ;)

They found Devante Clut ok ;)