Im under the impression that all teams will play 4-3-3. I know that ACT will be playing that formation as that is the formation they have been training with leading up to nationals.

Just over 2 weeks to go! \:d/

NNSW squad still not posted on their website. ](*,)

Re: The FFA mandated 4-3-3 formation, I'm also under the impression that all teams will play that formation, especially with 1, 3 or 5 FFA bonus points up for grabs in each group for playing style, which I suspect that a 4-3-3 formation would be a large part of being eligible for those points.

Not long now mate.\:d/

Has the squad been picked yet?

Not sure if the bonus points system is still in place, although 1-4-3-3 should still be the system played by all squads.:-k :-k :-k :-k :-k

Yeah mate, squad's been picked. Just waiting for them to realise that some people are interested in seeing the selected squads for 14's and 15's. If it's still not up in about a week, then I'll post the squad here anyway.

Sounds like ACT are in good touch for these championships. Good enough touch for 1st in your group.

Tell you what MM if they dont win the group it will be a massive disappointment for all. The ACT technical director has already told the boys that he expects nothing less. And to be honest, the boys are pumped to make up for last year, so it will make for an interesting week. Go you good thing lol.\:d/ \:d/

Poor choices by the selectors seeing as the team placed dead last, in last years comp.
In the team many small players who can not hold there own, it will be interesting to see how the team goes in coffs harbour.

Interesting situation this.
Paul lonton was selector and coach last year when they failed to win a game.
After his massive failure he is moved to Ipswich to take over the development of that area?
This year he is brought back to Townsville to select and selects the same team?

If they win a few games that will prove he is a poor coach, but he will say that it proves that 1 more year in the COE program has really benefited these players and it is a resounding success.

If they fail to win a game he will say it was a poor year group and he was not to blame for last years failings. He will be asked why then did you select them again. He will claim they are the best of a bad bunch.

Either way he will come up smelling of roses after falling in shit.With all his political wagering he will be head of the FFA one day.

As for small give me a team of technically skillful small players every day over large lanky ones as was selected in the U14s Queensland country side this year.

Well the ACT U/14 boys played the Matilda's this morning. The final score was 5-2 to the Matilda's but I thought the did very well. At first the boys were a little anxious and awestruck conceding a goal within 45 seconds of kick off. It did take them about 30 minutes to actually get into the game although they conceded another 2 goals in this period. So halftime score 3-0.

The second half was a much improved effort and the boys came out and took the game to them scoring 2 goals in 15 minutes. Then late in the game the girls scored 2 more to finish off the game.

To wrap it up, the girls played at a higher tempo and applied a lot of pressure on the boys, which the boys were not used to. Very good learning curve as I believe that this kind of tempo and pressure can only help in their development leading into the Nationals.

intersting that they brought lonton back, but it is fair from a bad crop many good players were unlucky to make the squad, i noticed fnq got a high number of players in ? they did win the comp but did they deserve that many players in the team, who are the week links in the team does anybody know ?

Probably not fair or right on the kids to name kids who may be week links.
I personally wish them all the best; just think selectors and coaches should be accountable for the results.
What lonton has done to keep his job with football Queensland is beyond me? Then again Football Queensland is becoming an enigma to all of us.

i Also wish them the best, but. Have seen the majority of the kids pla and it is not upto the national standard which they will come across in coffs, it baffles me how lonton had kept he's job but hopefully after the 15's play in coffs and if last year is anything to go by it will be poor from qld country lonton will get the sack and next year they will field a stronger team.

I agree
Wouldn’t it be great if just once Queensland country would put the best possible team on the park? any team any age. JUST ONCE.

Squads still not officially posted. :lol: :lol:

Here's hoping that the U/14 NNSW players who will be playing in the Regional Youth League Grand Final on Sunday get through the game with a clean bill of health.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP UNDER 14 SQUAD

First Name
Surname
Club / Zone

Daniel
Andrews
Macquarie Football

Ryan
Bailey
Newcastle Football

Stefan
Barrie
Newcastle Football

Mitchell
Benson
Macquarie Football

Preston
Daniel
Mid North Coast Football

Ethan
Grimley
Far North Coast Football

Ben
Hay
Macquarie Football

David
Hecimovic
Broadmeadow Magic

Cameron
Herring
Macquarie Football

Je
Jacobs
North Coast Football

Beaudon
McDonald
Macquarie Football

Willis
Nadfalusi
Newcastle Football

Reece
Papas
Newcastle Football

Andrew
Pawiak
Hunter Valley Football

Zack
Smith
North Coast Football

Zachary
Sneddon
Hunter Valley Football

Jaiden
Walker
Far North Coast Football

Luke
Willard
Newcastle Football

---

That is NNSW's U/14's squad, minus Andrews and Herring.

That seems like a big squad MM. I counted 18 players there, I thought you were only allowed to take 16.

Anyway thanks for posting the squad mate. Are they a similar squad to last years u/13 national squad?

Yeah, our squad is only 16. You may have missed it at the bottom of my previous post, but that's our train-on squad, so the squad heading up on Monday is those boys minus Andrews and Herring.

This year's squad on paper is much better than last year's. Only 8 of last year's squad remain. Although we have a better squad on paper, I'm not sure if our results will be better than last year's, considering the strength of the other squads on our group. Will be tough, but looking forward to it a lot.

BTW, big shout out to the Hunter Valley 14's, beating Macquarie 3-1 in the Grand Final after going behind after a minute. Great character to come back after being hit with that. Even better, no injuries to any players in that game.

Ok my bad, sorry.

Do you live close to coffs or are you traveling and staying there for the tourney?
Man I have a 9 hour drive to get there but im so looking forward to the tourney.

Nah, I live in the suburbs of Newcastle, so it'll be a 4 hour trip for us. We're the 'home team' but it's still a fair drive. :lol: Having said that, I think that the players/families coming from Newcastle have it the best, in terms of travel (except players who are actually from the North Coast region).

Yeah, we're staying the week there. Bring on the tournament. Can't wait.

Emerald beach here I come.

Just looking at the draw and I see that Capital is playing Queensland Country in their first game, which happens to be the game before NNSW plays South Australia. So I might just hang about and watch that one.\:d/ :d



Edited by spathi: 23/9/2010 04:00:59 PM

Sweet as. Might have to watch the game before then. :p

Just googled Emerald Beach, that's a bit of a drive you've got to and from BCU International Stadium.

Its about 16-18 kms to coffs from emerald and then about 3- kms to BCU. Not hat far really, im used to traveling further distances in Canberra daily.

i wish they would, its so dam political up there and they are paying with poor results, there are quality players in the region that just arnt getting picked because of football qld being so currupt.
they should bring in selectors who have not seen the kids and let them pick a team, i know for a fact that there are many onther quality players in qld country that just arnt getting picked because of the bullshit work of paul lonton.

Well the time is almost here where the best ( so called ) 14 and 15 year old players in the country come together to match skills, technique, speed and tenacity against each other. The future of Australian football will be there for all ( or those interested ) to see.

I'd like to wish all competitors the best of luck during these championships, and because the next week is so important to you all I hope you come through the week with no injuries and only good memories.

To all that have posted on this thread, thank you for your input. I really did not expect this much input but it has been a pleasant surprise that youth football is important to you all as it is to me. So thank you once again.

To all the traveling Canberra parents, drive safely and will see you there at the games with voices blaring.
Once again good luck to all, and to all a great week in Coffs.

Cheers mate, have a safe trip up there.

I'm sure this thread will get a bit of a workout next week with discussion of what's just gone down for each day of the championships.

Thanks MM. Hope to catch up in Coffs. Lets hope it gets forum movement.

Hey spathi, I saw your boys play in that 2-0 win over QLD country. Looked very sharp in the first half, probably deserved more than the 2 goals they already had at the break. In the second half, you guys appeared to take the foot off the pedal and QLD country actually made a game of it. Nevertheless, Capital Football U/14's look very promising.

Feel good story of the day was Tassie's upset 1-0 win over VIC country. Was a great goal to sink them, and great to see how much a win at nationals meant to those boys.

Our NNSW boys drew 0-0 with South Australia. The result was probably better than I expected and a point is all well and good, but we should have taken the points. Had 3 golden opportunites in the second half, but couldn't take any of them. Dominated large parts of the game, so this seems promising for future matches.

It doesn't get any tougher than playing VIC Metro and NSW metro tomorrow. :?

Keen to hear your take on things spathi. :)

Thanks for that

Was there a height difference between the two teams?
Queensland selectors claim that the other teams are big so they must select big players to compete.

To be honest, I can't remember any significant height difference. Is that the QLD country mentality?

QLD country 14's have some good players from what I saw today, but overall they were quite disappointing. Goals came after (roughly) 6 and 12 minutes, so the wind was quickly out of their sails and I would say ACT got home rather comfortably. However, the QLD strikers had 1 or 2 good chances to score, but didn't take the opportunities.

They showed patches of good play and I'm sure I'll see them continue to improve after today, they probably had an off day.

I didnt get to see the NNSW team play today, as you know the times changed due to virgins computer meltdown, and the victorian teams could not get here till Tuesday morning.

Anyway, it was a great start by the ACT with a very good win against a gritty U/14 Queensland Country team . As you say the ACT came out firing and scored two goals in the first half and put QC on the back foot for the whole of the half. I also agree that ACT took there foot off the pedal in the second but that is not to take away from QC detirmined attempt to take something from the game. But my opinion at this early stage is that QC is a pretty good team and should do wll from here. BTW my son scored the second goal.Sorry krones3.

In our second game changes were made to the starting line up due to the rules of the tournament made by FFA where each player in the squad must play a minimum of 125 minutes and also start a certaim amount of games ( not sutrer the exact quota on that ). ACT played NSW Country with a weakend squad due to lack of depth in the squad to satisfy these rules and went down a goal towards the end of the first half and probably lucky not to concede another. The second half was a different story as ACT made the changes needed and i can say dominated but were unlucky not equalise. The boys walked away a little dissapointed buty nevermind .

In my honest opinion I beleive that QC is a better team than NSW Country and should beat them if thats any consolation. If ACT could have started there best team they would have beaten NSW C.

Anyway tomo we play Tassie at 1.30 and that should be an interersting game, as you said MM they did beat Vic Country 1-0. If you want to find me I will be on the small hill by the sideline on field 1 during the game. I know you guys have a 9.45 game against NSW Metro but if you can get to our game it would be good.

Good luck against NSW metro tomo ( that Apiah Bright, he must be 16 or something mate ) hope it all goes well.

Thanks for the good wishes mate, we're gonna need all the luck we can get tomorrow. Congrats to your son on finding the net today, very tidy finish. He's number 9, isn't he?

I'm shocked you guys lost to NSWC, but then again, this does happen when you play a depleted side. I'm a little afraid our results might go downhill due to the same reasons. If anything, we should play second strings tomorrow and play all out vs QLD metro and WA, we can beat them and need to beat them to avoid relegation into next year's Group B. If we can move the ball like we did today and score some goals (which is NNSW 14's MASSIVE problem) we'll be right, and perhaps pick up some FFA bonus points. But, that's some way off yet. Still a long way to go.

I will most likely be there for ACT's match. I love watching football at this level and I try to get in as many games as I can. I'll watch NNSW's match, then the other two from group A, then yours.

If we don't manage to catch up tomorrow, if you get to see our game, you'll be able to tell who my bro is, as he will be leading his team out. (Given the co-captaincy. His turn to captain tomorrow.) In fact, I was in amongst all you capital football lot today, you probably even saw me. I was wearing a dark blue Japanese national team #7 jersey. In fact, I was probably standing next to you at one stage or another. :lol: