Some rationale for each choice

1. Decline of funding for the AIS
Leading up to the Sydney 2000 olympics there was a lot of youth funding. The Sydney 2000 squad corresponds to the core of the golden generation. After we finished without a single win, the program started to get defunded. Multiple golden generation players including Viduka credit the AIS as pivotal to their development
2. Lack of domestic opportunities for Australian talent
Mark Schwarzer made this point that the nsl had around 140 starting spots for australian players, so there were many chances for our pathways to catch players who would eventually be good enough to outgrow the league. Since we exported more players in that era, law of large numbers meant some of them continued to progress. When the a league started there were 7 Australian teams with 5 foreign spots each which means a mere 42 spots for aussie players, below 1/3rd of the norm in the nsl era
3. No academies for the first decade of the A league
Craig foster complained over a decade ago on the world game that the a league is the only league in the world with no connection to the grass roots or youth teams. We do seem to be producing more talent who are breaking through in europe at a younger age and doing better now we finally have academies. These academies are new mind you, so it will be interesting to see how they improve over time
4. Changes in global football making it harder
The Matildas currently have a zillion euro players because the women's game is still developing. However, some of the performances at youth level have me alarmed we will slip behind quickly. The womens game is becoming more competitive now and perhaps the last 3 decades has seen the mens game become more competitive. In the early to mid 90s the majority of epl players were brittish. That eventually dived to around 25 percent of players as africa, eastern europe, asia, usa and many other nations rose. For an interesting case study, consider that in 2005 and 2021 we had to beat the 5th placed south american team to qualify for the world cup. Now compare the 2005 uruguay squad with the 2021 peru squad. The 5th placed south american team in 2021 seams to be our team was on paper! Many developing nations are improving their player pathways, Japan now has a connected pyramid with multiple professional divisions, as does south korea, Saudi has 32 pro teams and semi pro teams below that, America has been introducing leagues below the mls years ago. We are finally introducing an nst in 2025!! The game also seems to be becoming more technical. While,we produced the occasional technician, we were team whose best qualities were grit, fitness, and physicality throughout the 90s. We weren't  a bunch of hoofballers, but watching old roos games and old nsl games, the change to everyone playing a more technical style has required a particularly harsh culture change from us. We introduced a ntc and its 2nd version with practice sessions in 2014 so fingers crossed that helps us close the gap in technique (I think it has) and the nst might help us close the gap in player pathways. But gee we have a mountain to climb. I'm thrilled with the ntc and the possible nst though. So hopefully greener pastures ahead
5.Removing nsl clubs meant removing intergenerational knowledge
With all the demonization of ethnic clubs a lot of intergenerational knowledge was just cast aside. Majority of player development is at home or with friends in a backyard and these ethnic clubs are connected to ethnic communities where everyone knows football well. A friend gave me a book about coaching in the usa compared to europe. In europe, kids automatically learn which parts of the foot to use for which action from messing around in the park with other kids. In USA, they don't have that peer reinforcement and that presents a challenge with making sure kids don't learn bad habits. Most of our golden gen seems to have spent at least some time at either marconi, sydney united and adelaide city. Who knows what was lost by throwing those (and other) clubs aside and perhaps we are about to find out what we can regain by their reinclusion. Aside from all of that, the nsl was pretty poor at producing talent in its first 15 years. Perhaps casting them aside and starting anew with the a league meant that a league clubs had to start again
6.The golden generation was a freak event and we have reverted to our level
Hans berger dismissed the golden generation as an outlier after saying that most minnows have golden generations. The PFA also made a lengthy report arguing it was an outlier. They provide a strong case and people should read it. Amongst the things the pfa listed was the roles of migrant parents and siblings constantly playing at home. Now we no longer have a flux of euro immigrants, perhaps we might get lucky with a flux of African immigrants. Would be sad if this was the reason as there is little we can do to create a regular stream of class talent. 
7. Other
Go ahead and give your view!

ah just write "6" or "7" if that is your choice since it looks like those options are not available

We are far less reliant on luck now. Our golden generation was luck because the drop off from our first team was massive back then. That's how you know. We are on our way to producing big 5 players in this generation imo

We could have a few as soon as next year

Comparing our 15th to 30th best players in 2006 and now would be interedtinf dor comparing depth

I am excited producing the next generation of dole bludgers LoL

Carn you Centrelink Socceroos lol

Rules in working laws changing for us and largely others from other euro countries 

players don’t need to go overseas and make a living now 

The divide/cast of the ethnic Clubs was a massive hit towards devoloping AND AL Club NOT having youth academies for so so long was massive setbacks for our youth and game.
Coupled with the closure of the AIS was a triple whammy.
GG making the grade a fluke ? thats just direspectful to all those individuals who worked their arse's off getting somewhere and the sacrifice's involved in going offshore with bugger all support compared to the modern days - turn it up.
Besides the drop off the cream always bubbles to the top even today !!!

tsf yep players don't need going OS nowadays to make a living BUT IMO the competition isn't there enough talking todays standards and QTY of games.
You can have the best coaching standards applied BUT without competition and games games games only so few will make it.
We shall see what lights make the top 5 comps and actually become key and regular start up players, then and only then can we say we have stepped up and produced.
Not just 1/2 players but half a dozen at least in the big time and holding their spots !

This ^^^

One of the biggest problems is geographical.
You can't just hop on a bus and head to somewhere and get the international experience needed to take the next step.

Yep this.

Also Improvement in playing style, every team plays out from the back & 1st touch so important to avoid press, the first touch even for the GG was never Australia's great selling point.
Lifestyle and competition, mush more competition now, Australians (& other 1st world countries) you are playing for yourself & family, the Sth Americans coming over are playing for themselves, their family & their extended family, the Africans, all above plus playing for the village.

There is so many factors here In my opinion:

The competition globally has changed dramatically since the late 90s/early 2000s I recall we had around a dozen playing in the EPL alone now we will get lucky to get some via promoted teams! 
These days there is competition for places all over the world vying to get into the top level of Euro football whilst Australia had the advantage of sending over players due to their euro connections now that advantage has completely diminished as the rules are alot more relaxed for working visas.

I also agree our geo distance is a big disadvantage for us, alot easier living in Europe where you can drive down or go via a train into any euro country and play against best v best especially at younger age groups and get that exposure and overall get noticed, whilst Australia has to spend a-lot more money and time to get that exposure unless the players live over there.

Even in Asia they getting that exposure but they have a tone of resources and cash to compete, but onto Asia qualifying into youth world cups was a pathway of getting the exposure and getting noticed by top leagues and clubs but qualifying via Asia has gotten alot harder than it ever has been since we joined in 2006 and therefore qualifying has dried up completely.
U17 level we haven't qualified since 2019
U20 level we haven't qualified since 2013 
And recently the olyroos have only qualified for the Olympics twice since we joined Asia.

This was a catalyst for the GG which was the international exposure they had from world cups and Olympic games which has been missing in the current era since we joined Asia, Oceania we struggled to qualifying for senior world cups but it helped the players get that international exposure and overall recognition when they qualified for under age tournaments.

Im sure we could improve more in our own backyard but without the international exposure and competing with some of the best countries in the world it be hard to get players on that level and why I don't see it change that much unless something changes.

It will be interesting to see how FA tackle this challenge, apparently Ernie Merrick is going to soon release a technical report in a plan to get Australia to develop top class players and aim to be a top 10 in the next 10 years but overall the landscape has changed since the golden generation days and therefore if Australia wants to change it then it needs a rethink in how it does things.

The gg had aloisi, neill, schwarzer, cahill, culina, moore and kewell leave early. We did however have grella, viduka, emerton, bresciano, sterjovski and chipperfield leave after establishing themselves here. Wonder what happens if everyone leaves after 18

Tripple whammy is a good way to put it. New fa academies will hopefully do what the ais did, the nst hopefully brings the old ethnic clubs back into the fold and the a league academies are finally here. Will be interesting to see what happens with that tripple whammy reversed in the next 5 to 10 years

Fluke is no disrespect to the individuals since the claim isnt that they were lucky rather that we were lucky to have them

Its amazing to see how much the competition has grown. Souttar would walk into any socceroos team historically yet has struggled for a year with game time. He has had bad luck mind you. At least u17s we should improve our qualification record with the expanded format. To improve u20 and u23 is crucial. Some of it will take care of itself if the a league expands and the nst goes ahead we will have a larger pool. It is crucial though to get a full time coach with club experience and youth football experience.

yep agreed re our lifestyle compared to the countries suffering farfarfar more than ours.
Come from nothing you play to survive and prosper !
Ours are living the dream, have nice roof over their heads, mental health support, over paid, mum and dad support new boots, new everything each season.
Got it all so good !
Throwing them out on the wild, learn to strive by your own means, adjust living away from mum and dad, you want champions, teach em doing it the hard way.
I know its harsh to many but its all too cushy here.
Play against a kid, heaps of kids who come from nothing day in day out on the training field, then you'll know how much "want" is in your ticker.
Whilst we don't have a cut throat league with alot to lose season in season out, training robots lacking fighting experience in the colloseum is lambs to the slaughter ala some Asian countries of late.

Yeah, agree with this.

I hear a lot that the cushiness of things here is a problem rather than an assett, whether it is the fact u can earn a living playing football in oz now or the fact kids have it too easy

Im skeptical. If we decided to turn victoria into a 3rd world country, using military to confiscate everyones stuff and made it so that victorians couldnt earn a living as footballers in australia would it really produce another golden gen?

By contrast, if we had bill gates become obsessed with oz football and offer 20mil in wages to every first division club, 8 mil to nst clubs and 2 mil to a 3rd conference league would oz football really get worse? I reckon it would get a million times better. Alternatively if Ghana, ivory coast or nigeria had an economic boom so that they become as rich as western nations do they really go backwards in football?

I think it is pretty obvious wealth and professionalism both help rather than hurt

Yep way too cushy, I think football in Australia is also starting to become like parts of Rugby where you need to be well off to pay your way into a school/academy.

How many of these academies give free scholarships? The African boys seem the only boys who come from poor backgrounds that have now pushed on to become pro's there's just more to play for with those boys. It's an issue that is only going to get worse in my opinion. 

Chris wood, burgess, mooy, luongo are all pretty old when making the epl. Even cahill, who was slightly younger than most of our gold gen, took until 25. The epl might have become a league where it takes a long time to break into unless u are an absolute prodigy. But that is ok, wood has scored more goals in the epl than cahill, viduka, kewell ot even suarez

#2 and #4

Also I don't think being poor has anything to do with it otherwise explain Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Spain etc.

Poor is from Latin merica Asia.
just a few thousand for starters.
Europe a lot of worn torn countries but the geography helps there.
seriously 
how often you guys have been around youth rep last 10yrs or so.
should see the entitlement attitude.
wake up 
it is cushy here 

Have u been around youth rep?

I had 2 sons go through from YL to U18's, opted out making it to Snrs - youngest now 23.

Muz, you do know the countries you mention above, doesn't mean XYZ up and comer, the player who breaks through etcetc come from well off fams eh ?
Italy for eg, many came from villages, farming fams, not every player from those good performing countries come from city slicker well to do families let alone not every farming or village background kid comes from $$$'s as well.
Same applies for Spain, - have no idea of the others but I'm sure they all don't come well to do fams just saying.
Many of these countires old they are, gone through heaps more ups and downs compared little ol isolated young Australia.
The DNA runs through gens whats in the soul my friend.
Football here is costing and run very differently - alot more support over there obviously, plucking up and comers out, heaps more competition and games games games.
It is cushy here thats my opinion from living in Sydney perspective.
The same applies to Briz/Melb cities and obviously its many many other places here >>>>, soccermums (in their plushy large SUV's) came to be wonder why.

and here in lies some points that trigger me for course of conversation......
Wood I put aside he's a kiwi, done well good on him I admire it and watched him but as per the others mentioned, age, blooming or identified good enough to make it say around 25yrs.
Great there is a very small % who have made it to the top flight leagues, is that our badge of honour or our out clause - to me due to our ongoing circumstances the state of the game here I ask ?
People here say players should stay longer till they mature and get more runs on the board hence the age argument ? - well imo therefore they are NOT making the grade soon enough for there is countless more younger making it ! not all are prodigy's at all, only the few are but heaps of U25 let alone 20's are holding places in top flight.
Thats is the BAR isn't it ?
Does that question our comp isn't competitive nor big enough because so many are struggling to break through earlier ?
For thats the BAR to me.

Mooy made it, late and showed his class despite lacking any pace.
Wood a bit, Toon loaned him after giving him 35 chances - I watched most of those games and Burnleys, Burnley he did better - by the way Suarez only played 110 games compared to Woods 200 odd :)
Luongo, well hit and miss glad to see him promoted, hopefully he can keep up for its a whole new ball game compared to EFL, Wood has learnt quickly from those experiences Forest just avoided relo and ended at - 18 GD though he's there.
Burgess is the classic aussie like some of the GG in the past, came here 11yrs old, went to Fulham @ 16yrs !!!!! youth academy am I right ??
Came up through the ranks lower divs and Clubs, been in a Team that combined have excelled and gained promotion, kudos to the bloke gonna enjoy seeing him in the top flight, @ CB he's in for a real pressure cooker of attackers, spinning fast ball and play, hope he survive's and makes the grade for I'll be rapted as hell.

Here is the biggest difference. As you say Souttar, he has it all, height, speed, great tackles, great in the air, great on the ball, the perfect defender, but just not good enough to please some coaches who needs his ball playing ability to bet better.
This was not a prerequisite in 2006, Souttar would walk into most PL sides in the early 2000s.

LFC, my mate's son was told by a rep coach to forget about making it, 'while you train for 2 hours a day & go to school & go home to play your FIFA, most Africian kids are training 8-10 hours a day'.

hehe too true mate agree......
Like to say we can't compare how Moore/Neil played to todays game as mentioned, they done a ok way back then.

Whilst our entitled ones are wrapped in cotton some applaud their development as mentioned but they are 2/5 steps behind not talking ability (even though they are behind) but in drive/hunger/desire/competition.
Even the africans have FIFA nowadays so do the kids in the slums of Uruguay/Argies etcetc lol but they know its the quick and the dead, dog eat dog and their leagues are just as cut throat.

Oh nice!

Was there entitlement from other rep kids? 

I agree what we do in training is a small part of development compared to how many hours a player trains at home or with other kids

I guess it is ok for players to make it late if we have enough of them. We are about to triple the playing stocks with expansion and an nst.

Our league is good enough that if you are in the top 30 players you can get a start in those 10 or so 2nd teir leagues, buli 2, efl, seri b, eredivisie, jupiler etc. If you start there before 23 you have a great chance of making another step up. But not enough of our youth havr succeeded in making the grade young enough

8-10 is a lot but viduka was told to train 8 hours a day apparently by the ais and he did.

How early do u need to start putting in those hours? I imagine if you wanted to at least get ok grades 2 hours is the absolute maximum and maybe 8 hours on the weekend. So for a parent to encourage their kid to do 8 hours they have to gamble on them making the grade, since you are screwing over their academic prospectz. With only 11 pro clubs and few making it overseas that seams a heck of a risk! How do you even fit in those 8 hours? School starts at 830, so at most you can fit in 90 minutes in the morning. School then finishes at 330, so if you have no commute you can go to bed at 10 if u skimp on homework and only train