Youth stars ensure future is bright for Queensland Roar

salary cap can stay on hold (not including inflationary rises) extra money should be spent on youth development salary cap rises come only when the league is consistantly turning a profit

Thanks Towser for you thoughts. Agreed that there is way too much space between players in your average A-League teams and the lack of passing options that results from it. You'll often see in A-League games a player with only one passing option .... yeah takes the guesswork out of it for a defender doesn't it? Getting better though ....small steps and all. Gotta go - too much work.

Nice article Paddy. As eluded to in the comments so far, it's an interesting (and in some ways unique) trade-off that A-League clubs are going to have to learn to juggle - developing a strong list of up and coming young players vs focussing resources on recruiting for immediate success. The question is whether clubs' will get the reward from their young lists before they are poached by more wealthy leagues. Hopefully it continues to make sense for clubs to invest heavily in young squads and development, as it will obviously ultimately benefit the league. I for one don't get too worked up about Aussie players heading offshore to other leagues. Given a) Australia's relative population and b) the age of our domestic competition, did we really think it was going to be any different in the short term? If players can earn a good living and further their experience all around the world - including in Asia, then that is not a bad thing for Australian football. In fact it's a credit that the country is seen as such a healthy talent pool. The game will grow here and the A-League will become more attractive and more wealthy, but we are talking a process of decades, not 4 seasons. In the meantime, as capacity builds over the coming years to increase salary caps and the like, I think it would be prudent for the FFA to incentivise as much as possible the retention of young talent, whilst not doing anything to jeopardise the attractiveness to good players coming back to Aus in the later part of their career, or exceptional young players taking the next step by playing in Europe etc. Maybe a second young-marquee spot is in order? Then a third?

"cant easily be neutralised as AU did last Saturday & Certainly the top Asian teams will. This should read "can easily"

Vicentin Looking back over the 4 seasons if I could pinpoint one thing that has literally pissed me off no end & that is the number of times a promising forward move has broken down through the M& M combo or as you put it "dead-end runs". They epitomise to me the hard work ethic of the lower English divisions. Murdocca in particular for me was a better player at Sth Melbourne. Maybe it is the coaching & tasks designated to them both by Frank I dont know. But it is annoying & its no suprise over the 4 seasons that the matches that I've been the most frustrated at were against Adelaide. I saw de ja vu again last Saturday. The comment about Salley nullifying them just shows how predictable they are & why I call for a change of thinking in this respect by Farina. Heres a comment by Fossie out of the FFA's coaching conference article:- "So how can we heed Verbeek's warning? The fact is the A-League is far too open from a tactical perspective, with excessive space between back and front, which is the opposite of international trends, and this is a simple corollary of our British football heritage and the prevalence of such in our coaching ranks" I particularly noted the "excessive space between back & front bit" this is applicable to what I noticed with the Roar. Suddenly the ball goes out from defence & Murdocca or Mckay receive the ball further up the field because of their speed/work ethic . They control turn look for ? Because of the gap between back & front nobody except them can get forward fast enough to get into a constructive receiving position. In other words quite simply theres no build up play. Put another player like Salley in the hole where you expect them to be & plug it up no worries. Not saying that the Roar cant use these 2 players in a more effective manner ,Murdocca in particular has good technique & can turn on a sixpence just that the style of play there employed to do at the moment cant easily be neutralised as AU did last Saturday & Certainly the top Asian teams will. http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/football/a-league/craig-foster/2009/02/21/1234633127618.html

The main weakness the Roar had as it approached the business end of the season was your classic polar extremes problem: players over 33 and players under 22, and not enough in that meaty part of the age group where you want most of your squad to be.

Salley has made every team he's played for in the A-League (are there any left) look better while he's played for them. As unglamorous and technically limited a player that he is every team needs (at least) one and he'd been be one of the best at it in the A-League.

Towser, I've seen a lot less of the Roar than you and am interested in your comments about M & M. I quite like them. You know that I don't value players just for their athleticism - Holman comes to mind strangely , but I think it is unfair to lump these two in the same boat as him. Maybe as I don't actually see them live I don't see all the dead-end runs you speak of ... technically they are both good players but perhaps they lack tactical guidance from Farina and clearly they are not "creatives" but then again aren't they nominally (very hig) defensive mids or have I got that wrong? I do think that the Roar needs a proper playmaker there in the middle and agree with your comments about Miller playing too far up the park, whereas if he sat further back and provided balls to Van Dijk feet they could be more effective and score more goals. Regardless I've enjoyed watching the Roar more than any ohter A-League side this season but then again I'm just a neutral in this and clearly don't share your frustrations. I enjoy seeing Farina blood so many young players even if ultimately he's not the manager to get the most out of them.

Just to emphasise two things I mentioned previously. One Counteracting the M&M combo thus the Roar,the other the ambition of GCU & the lure of players to them ,with the prospect of playing in a winning team. "Salley hounded and harassed the Roar midfield for the 80 minutes he was on the park, with his tireless performance nullifying the engine-room punch usually provided by Queensland workhorses Massimo Murdocca and Matt McKay. Bleiberg telephoned Salley's agent, Lou Sticca, at half-time to seal the deal." "Adelaide United midfield Gyawe Jonas Salley will play in a Gold Coast United shirt next season - should he choose to stay in Australia." Full article:- http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,25098619-5000940,00.html

Paddy Hopefully Zullo,Nicholls learn from Pim. I'm confident they will. Also Pim must have confidence that these young players can deliver for him unlike for the Roar last Saturday. If they do perform under pressure, under Pim, it casts more doubts in my mind about our Frankie. Moore a no brainer ,but Mckay,Pim must be short of players thats all I can say. Probably sees a bit of the workhorse Holman in him.

Towser - good to get a perspective from a Roar fan, cheers for that. You make some pretty intriguing points. Interesting footnote in that Nicholls has just been named in the Socceroo squad for the Asian Cup qualifier v Kuwait next week. Joining him in the squad are Moore, McKay and Zullo.

As a Roar fan I am naturally disappointed,but I question the wisdom of relying on a young inexperienced player as you describe him Paddy "of throwing a dummy-spitting, ground-thumping tantrum every time he fluffed his lines" In this respect Frank failed to recognise the occassion & whilst for him as a coach & for ther club as a whole it is an admirable & necessary trait to have a youth production line, the main focus of a professional football club is to win on the park from a fans view. I am a fan thats what I support the Roar for. Yes I'm interested in next year & beyond but if all I,m doing is looking into the future at a "potential"winning team then I am wasting my time following a football club. Franks job is to produce a succesful & if possible entertaining winning team for us the fans. No fans a professional football club is a contradictory term. Frank relied on a young kid(How can we think otherwise nobody got into a goal scoring position). I dont want to hear that he will be all the better for another year under his belt(he undioubtedly will) I want the player in that goal scoring position to put at least one or two of the several chances presented on a plate away. I dont need teenager tantrums, I have no sympathy if he doesnt deliver,19 or 29 hes in the first team in a preliminary final to deliver a win for me the fan now. In contrast we had another 19 year old Luke De Vere. For me the fan he did his job(Learning well from Craig Moore). Just another player no consideration of age & what he may do next year. As for the M&M combo . People rave about their workrate,industry. These arent shearers their footballers. Give me one well timed weighted through pass into space from a midfielder than the 90% unproductive energy wasted by these two. The amount of times a Roar forward movement has broke down because of the.:headless chook " runs of these two was the main reason fans became disgruntled earlier in the season due to our pathetic home record(note these 2 are origonals from Season 1). As I said yesterday any organised,experienced disciplined team (AU)can counteract the 'Energiser" runs of M&M. Nobody can counteract the quick & decisive thinking of a creative midfielder. Charlie Miller is creative but for me besides his fitness level he always seems to be to far forward to want to score rather than create from midfield. Frank styles his team play around the M&M combo,if we get to the ACL in future the Roar will be further exposed by better more technical & tactically disciplined teams. Van Dijk needs the ball on a plate at his feet,then he delivers. Why wasnt he the one receiving the majority of the chances & not young Mitch the other day. Only Frank Knows. Earlier in the season I called for Frankies head. I still feel the guy is limited(LIke his National team stint) in what he can acheive at the Roar. A bit like as I also said yesterday A coach in the lower English leagues. Great at that level,but when the step up to the next division happens due to promotion is found wanting. I dont want the Roar to be the " nearly ,but what a marvellous youth set up team" I want to see success. With Frank Farina I'm still not convinced he can deliver this despite the recent good run. Franks excuse for losing the match was the "wonder goal" from Barbiero. "Thats Football" he said. Yes it is Frank but putting a team on the park with the right tactics of winning a game in a crunch match is also Football & what I the fan want. Not some throwaway line. Contrast Franks resigned attitude to the Clive & Miron show down the motorway. Even before a ball is kicked there in the middle of the Olympic podium every season.

I think, inspite of his poor effort on Saturday night, Mitch Nicholls is a star of the future. He has been the most impressive of the Roar's players, perhaps along with van Dijk, since they began their hot streak at the back end of this season. If he'd played even 50% better maybe the Roar would be heading to the Dome this week. He's only young but he has all the skills to succeed. He just needs to develop mentally, as does Zullo. Zullo probably more so given his whinge in the press and also the element of thug that seems to creep into his game when things aren't going right for him. The issue is can they keep all of these young guns here long enough to win a title before the inevitable exodus to Europe or Asia? Don't forget they also have Adam Sarota, the NYL player of the season.

A side to look out for in the next 2-3 years, but it will be interesting to see if the Queenslanders share the same optimism. The glitz and glamour of Cullina coming back might steal some supporters away from Roar, a side that will definitly earn even more respect in the years to come. I'm sure a lot of Victory fans would have preferred to see the Roar in battle this weekend. PS: For those reading this who don't know what ``fugue'' means (pronounced foog), it is defined as: ``loss of awareness of one's identity, often coupled with disappearance from one's usual environment'' (Oxford dictionary, 1982).

Good article.. Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts.. All jokes aside, a good read Paddy.

The Roar are almost there, c'mon boys, lift!

Not enough references to Coldplay in your articles Paddy. Pick it up mate.

Yeah lots of very true points, totally agree with the article and queensland seem like one of the few sides that are very stable both on and off the field - a credit to farina, one of the more passionate coaches. But their promising future aside, a grand-final appearence this year would've been the perfect way to further develop the brand in the state with two new teams entering the market. It also would've given them the ACL ticket in 12 months time, to show off after their home-state rivals first season too..