Issues at Youth Level Now Being Exposed

[The Fonz]

The proverbial is now hitting the fan as it dawns on people that the Socceroos just aren't any good.
The pipeline of talented players from the youth level to the Socceroos has gone dry for a while and this means the national squad is just inadequate to compete at the top level.

U23: Missed out on the last 2 Olympics
U20: Missed out on the last 2 U20 World Cups. Haven't won a game at the U20 World Cup since 2003.
U17: Missed 3 of last 5 U17 World Cup

Forget about whether Ange stays or not, the whole youth system is a bigger issue.

The biggest irony about being in Oceania and not qualifying for the World Cup was that we were fantastic at the Youth Level.

 

[Milanista28]

Bring back Farina?

 

[Punt Road Feral]

Not having enough opportunities in Australia is what's killing our production line.
9 professional clubs on our shores with 5 imports per side generally taking up a starting spot leaves 6 spots per starting 11 which shows the scarcity of positions available.
A second division or expansion will both provide further opportunities to widen our net.

Yeah sure you can go to Europe but the amount of kids who go to Europe thinking their top s**t come back with their tails between their legs.
Europe really is dog eat dog and unless your incredibly resilient and can stand out from the rest, its difficult to get a breakthrough.

 

[giggler99]

The major problem is the gap between NPL level and A-league level, not much is been done with the youth systems to shorten the gap. Talent has been falling through the cracks with A-League clubs also reluctant to take risks on youths and opting for papering over cracks with recycled players.
The NPL clubs have youth teams some all the way down to u/12's but yet they get next to no support or encouragement from the state feds (who are happy to pocket the money themselves on ridiculously high rego fees) the FFA or the A-league clubs in terms of compensation when they come knocking for the youths. I mean why would or should they keep bothering if they get nothing out of it.

The system is a fail and needs to change. My two cents I think we need some kind of draft system and a full national development league that also involves the state feds not just the A-league. Instead of what we have currently an 8 week youth League and A-league teams in their respective State NPL. How it's done or how much it cost to get it done well that's the 6 million dollar question I suppose.

 

[TommyD13]

Currently we have the framework right in my opinion. I like the way we set out our season, but we need to have more professional clubs, more resources, better pitches and better coaching. This way we can go from producing what we produce now, one player of Rogic skill-level per year and a few a bit below that who will make it in the A-League, or we could produce around 10 players of that quality in a variety of positions. Also we need to stick with this formation now that we have picked it. Stop chopping and changing and give it time to work itself out. If all of our national teams have 5+ years in this system, it will become much more fluid and easier to adapt for young players coming up through the system.