Roar set to sign another Spaniard

It's playing a part I think. Plenty of lower league clubs over there not paying players on time too

jb - on the youth picture I don't think it's a reflection of their policy, rather on the group concerned. There was very much a focus on the conveyor belt feeding the first team. Certainly Aloisi was complementary (and genuinely pleased but surprised at the number of Queenslanders in Roars first team squad) - there was an undercurrent to the whole night along the lines of things at this club gave to be better across the board do yes Aloisi is probably contrasting BR with his time in Europe but that's promising, unless of course it detracts from his day job.

Waz - Had a read at the summary and to be honest did not read anything that filled me with "great expectations". In coaching terminology alone for how long has the pitch been shown as a three part field,front,middle and back thirds and for the young writer to suggest that this may be something new that the football staff did not want to discuss, only raises doubts in my thinking. Craig and John are both experienced professional footballers and would know how to answer any question they deemed "simple" without insulting the intellegence of those who ask questions.The one thing that did cause concern was this seemingly "writing off" of young players by both men citing 2 years as the time necessary to bring a kid to HAL standard. This almost flies in the face of the philosophy that the fans have been fed for the last few years with names like Brattan,de Vere,Donnachie,Brown and Clut all apparently having come through the erstwhile youth program. If one wanted to be cynical it could be taken that these 2 ex-pros, having watched what is going on at big clubs overseas and having viewed the standard of the youth teams,have decided the quickest and easiest way to achieve success is to acquire tried and teated players from elsewhere.Let us hope that is not the case for it should be the aim of the club to sell "playing for Roar" to every kid who kicks a ball in the State. Cheers jb.

Thanks for the link Waz

A really decent summary of last nights fan forum for anyone that's interested: http://footballcentral.com.au/the-roar-review-season-preview-part-7-fan-forum/#.VhSngGbXfCS

One also wonders whether the collapse in the Spanish economy has playwd a part in the "switch" from Dutch to Spanish? Cheap Spanish talent flooding the market?

Yes Waz ,first thing I noticed upon checking footage of Hervas was the "mongrel", won't go astray in the A-League despite the search for technical players. As usual Roar's success this season will come as it has done previously from the players and coaching staff, back room shenanigans (as long as everybody is paid) poor marketing, both annoyances, little we as fans can do practically, on the park is what counts. Unknown of course at this stage as great players(relatively on a world scale as decent effective players for the Socceroo's) like Aloisi and Moore don't always have the same success in coaching etc. Should be able to tell though within a few matches. For me "Roar outlook" also looking better this week with the new Spaniard added. Looking at losses, well never really rated Brattan as highly as others and in my mind an easily replaceable player.

It is jb. I firmly believe Spain is just a coincidence of history for Aloisi - he's used his connections there to identify and secure two decent players; Corona at 34 is a veteran but it's not youngsters that are in short supply at Roar so it's okay; Hervas looks like your classic marquee-in-waiting (like Bes was when he arrived) with age on his side, natural talent, but somehow unable to find the right place or stability in Europe. I think Ange is more responsible for the shift to Spanish players than anyone else, with first Roar and then the national teams shift to a more technical style of playing players from Spain, Portugal and even Italy will fit the "new" HAL. And you might be right on the visa thing, Broich is next for his citizenship so I suspect we'll have another visa slot freed up for the next close season. But for now, things are looking up for Roar - we've been written off as strugglers and 8th or 9th place finishers - I just love it when Roar are written off; here's hoping :)

Waz - Are we seeing a subtle change of philosophy away from Dutch influence to a Spanish influencewhen it comes to the importation of players to play for Roar in the HAL.??? This could have been influenced by 2 factors of course (1) the success of the Spanish players performing with Adelaide and (2) the experience and contacts made by JA during his 6 year sojourn in that country during his playing career For students of the game this is going to be an interesting experiment for both these signings have played at reasonable levels in Spain although Corona could be said to be in the "veteran "stage of his football life while Hervas appears to be a free agent after a long spell at third tier league teams on loan. With Henrique now becoming an Australian citizen are we seeing a new "strategy' being uncovered for with Polenz,Broich,and Solarzano all having passed the 3 year "live in" requirement, allied to JA's evaluation of young locals,it could be if these 2 show up favourably we could see the franchise become an importation/assimilation identity working closely with the immigration policy employed by the government. This is not as far fetched as it seems for that is how many of the successful clubs in Australian footall existed before and during the NSL.with the examples of the Brisbane reps in that league,Lions and City, having more than their fair share of "migrant" players not to mention the NSL's most successful team ,Hakoah /Eastern Suburbs which was peopled by players from all around the world. The following season is going to be extremely interesting to see how this "new" trend pans out. Cheers jb

Impressively one of the Roar blog sites (The Roar Review) had extended YouTube footage of this guy up within 4 minutes of the announcement last night which was impressive. Naturally of lower quality than our new mate Corona he none the less looks to have the qualities on the ball you'd expect out of Spain with a decent range of passing on him. Interesting from the footage shown he appears to have a bit of mongrel about him and looks to be quite competitive and a bit of a ball winner so I'm wondering if he's the replacement for brats in the holding midfielder position and Corona is to be given more freedom further forward?