The clubs in the A-League seem to be starting to get the hang of youth development.
Whether it’s linking up with NPL clubs or having success in the Y-League, here’s a look at who is doing it best.
Adelaide United
The Reds’ youth team had a good NPL season, finishing fifth out of 12, with ten wins, five draws and seven losses.
They made it to the second week of the finals after beating the Adelaide Comets and then losing to the North-Eastern Metro Stars.
In the Y-League earlier this season, they finished third in their conference with three wins, two draws, three losses.
The club has nine players 20 and under in their senior team, with eight of them on scholarships. They have about 17 games between them, with the highlights being Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Daniel Margush, while Louis D’Arrigo has been signed to the senior team.
Verdict: They are having good success on the pitch and are bringing players to their senior team. Not the greatest quality in them though.
Grade: B
Brisbane Roar
The Roar’s NPL team could have had a better season, finishing nine out of 14 with eight wins, four draws and 14 losses.
In the Y-League, they finished last in their conference, with two wins, one draw and five losses.
The club has eight 20 and under players in the seniors, with four on scholarships, and six having 43 games between them. The ones to watch are Joe Caletti and Nicholas D’Agostino. They have signed another one to watch in record-breaking NPL player Dylan Wenzel-Halls who scored 23 goals in 11 games for the Western Pride.
Verdict: Not great on the pitch but are getting in their 16 and 17-year-old scholars. Can’t wait to see Wenzel-Halls can do.
Grade: C+
Central Coast Mariners
This club doesn’t have a team competing in the NPL, but finished fourth in the NPL NSW 2, while their Y-League team finished fourth in their conference.
They have four seniors 20 and under, with one of them on a scholarship. They have 21 games between them, mostly coming from Kye Rowles and Mario Shabow. They have signed Joe Gauci and Mario Shabow, as well as Josh Macdonald, Jordan Murray and Matthew Millar from the NPL.
Verdict: Not great on the pitch and not many players.
Grade: C¬-
Melbourne City
Another club without an NPL team, City play in Victoria East and currently sit sixth with nine wins, four draws and 14 losses.
The club had a great Y-League season though, making the grand Final, and have 12 players who are 20 and under, with 11 scholars. They have 17 games between them, with Lachlan Wales and Nathaniel Atkinson the ones to watch.
Verdict: 12 players promises to get one very good one. Must get promoted into NPL though.
Grade: C+
Melbourne Victory
Victory does not have an NPL team either, but their youths play in Victoria West and are currently seventh with 11 wins, four draws and 12 losses.
The recent Y-League season saw the Victory finish second in their conference, and the champions have six 20 and under players, with five on scholarships.
This season I would look out for Joshua Hope and for Birkan Kirder, but there have been no youth signings yet.
Verdict: Not great. They really need to get more on-field success, more players and more quality.
Grade: D
Newcastle Jets
The Jets’ NPL club finished seventh with seven wins, three draws and ten losses. In the early-season Y-League they finished third with three wins, three draws and two losses.
They have six players in the 20 and under category and two have a scholarship deal. They have 46 games between those players and I would look out for Johnny Koutroumbis and Angus Thurgate. Angus is the only youth player signing for the Jets so far.
Verdict: Decent on-field success and are producing great players with it. They are on track.
Grade: B
Perth Glory
The Glory have had their best NPL season yet, making the grand final with 16 wins, six draws and four losses. In the Y-League, they finished fourth in their conference, with three wins, one draw and four losses.
They have eight players 20 and under, with 40 games between them, and none on scholarships.
I would keep my eye one Jake Brimmer and Jacob Italiano. They have not made any youth signings yet.
Verdict: Having great on-field success and producing wonderful players. Doing very well.
Grade: A-
Sydney FC
The premiers had a poor NPL season, finishing last with four wins, four draws and 14 losses. Their Y-League was better though, finishing in second for their conference.
They only have one 20 and under player in their senior team, which is Trent Buhagiar, who they just signed from the Central Coast Mariners and has played 50 games.
Verdict: Only one youth player is not good enough and they could do better on the pitch.
Grade: D
Western Sydney Wanderers
The Wanderers’ youth team were the champions of the Y-League. They don’t play in the NPL but in NPL2 they finished 11th out of 14.
They’ve got eight players 20 and under, with three on scholarships and ten games between them.
The ones to watch are Keanu Baccus and Abraham Majok, while the club have signed Tass Mourdoukoutas from the youth team, as well as others.
Verdict: They are producing well and playing great on the Y-League side, but they need to give their youngsters more game time.
Grade: B-
I have not put the Wellington Phoenix in as I don’t think they will survive in the league past this season.
144
Roar Guru
Definitely some things to improve on Jordan. Research is always key, facts, facts and more facts!!! but don't stop writing. I was like you a few years ago, eager to write but sometimes it's best just to slow down a bit and look over what you've written, double check, triple check all your elements and make sure everything adds up. I learnt it best to write an article if you are comfortable with all the research you've done that support your point. Look deeper, don't be afraid to spend some late nights looking up archives of stats etc. Don't let people get you down but take some valuable lessons from it all!
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
That is why i think that South Melbourne and Wollongong should get the 2 spots
Marvin
Guest
Odd way to rate academies. Seems to be results based. Any Academy winning the league they are in aren't providing the right challenge. It is all about player development; they should typically be younger than the average team they play, and winning the league should be a rarity. If it is not, the players are playing at too low a level for their optimal development. And you will probably look a little silly when this article gets dredged up next year by a Phoenix fan.
Tren Geraedts
Guest
Great Job Keep It Up
Ur Friend
Guest
HI JORDAN NICE ARTICLE
Nemesis
Guest
I don't know enough about the 9 other ALeague teams, so I'll only focus on the team I follow. This article is pure nonsense. Factually incorrect & part of the reason I no longer can be bothered with The Roar website. 1) MVFC does have an NPL team. We've played NPL for 4 consecutive seasons. In our first season we were top of Div2 in our side of the Div2 conference. The #1 team from each Conference in Div 2 got promoted. #2 teams from each side had a playoff. MVFC won that. Then we had a playoff against the 3rd bottom team from NPL1. MVFC won that match and got promoted to NPL1. We struggled in NPL1 because all ALeague clubs can only field u20 players in the NPL senior division & got relegated back to NPL2. Some of the youth who've been at MVFC NPL & graduated to the ALeague, or to foreign clubs: Nigro, Deng, Waring, Theoharous, Pasquali, Hope, Kidar, McGilp You can have your own opinion that MVFC has a D rating. You cannot have your own facts.
Lionheart
Guest
There's nothing unusual about clubs attracting players at that late teenage stage, from other clubs. They all do it, mostly scouting from the NPLs. Jets recently signed a youngster from Olympic FC (Brisbane) and Western Pride (Ipswich) lost three players to A League clubs early this year, plus one to Roar. Apparently City has a very good academy with excellent facilities too, plus the EPL link, can't blame any kid for not taking up an offer if it comes.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
"using their EPL connections to lure talented youth players from around Australia in the hope of getting an EPL contract which no other club/Franchise can offer." Correct and it's working.
Paul
Guest
2 of the players were ex-Wanderers in Najjarine and Najjar. And Roberts who is at Wanderers now was actually a western Sydney boy before he was at Melbourne City. Heartle$$ are using their EPL connections to lure talented youth players from around Australia in the hope of getting an EPL contract which no other club/Franchise can offer.
Nick Symonds
Guest
NEWS - "Socceroos starlet Daniel Arzani has been left out of Celtic's 43-man squad for their upcoming UEFA Europa League campaign." https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/celtic-leave-arzani-out-of-europa-league-squad
Stephen WHATLEY
Guest
WHY ? Why is the current expansion of the A-League concentrating on New franchises? Why are we not telling these franchisees that to get into the A-League, they need to align themselves with an existing club in their area. then show us over the next 12 months just how good they are at developing at club level. Show us they can do the job of running a successful Football Club. Bring that club up to A-League level before being granted a Franchise in the A-League. If a consortium were to try and buy their way into a new franchise in the EPL they would be laughed out of town. They would be told purchase an existing club and improve them, no shortcuts. But here in Aust. FFA seem to prefer queue jumpers. This only removes any incentive for NPL teams to try and reach A-League Levels, or to produce skilled players who will only be taken by A-League clubs without compensation! There is genuine football below A-League levels in Australia, but FFA continues to ignore it and strangle any attempt for it to prosper. The state bodies are nothing more than FFA branch offices doing exactly what they are told and nothing more. There is a genuine argument for the dissolution of the lot of the state bodies with clubs dealing direct with a national democratically elected Federation. But stop the free ride, make these consortiums show their support for football before allowing them a slice of the pie!
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
I agree with the sentiment of some here, that the article doesn't really meet the expectation set by the headline. Playing and winning in the NPL is a factor, and signing youth to HAL contracts, but these are the senior youth. What about development of the other youths? How do club academies compare? They're mandated now aren't they? standard of coahing in academies? and scouting networks? what links have A League clubs developed with other (feeder) clubs? I've been surprised to see how extensive the networks of some EPL clubs are here in Australia, maybe wider than some of our own clubs. Melbourne City can't be discarded so easily, as in the article, when they've provided nearly one-third (7 out of 24) players to the U19 young Socceroos squad for the coming AFC U19 championships. To me that says they're doing a whole lot, mostly recruiting good 15/16 year olds for their academy I think. On the surface it seems that some clubs are happy to do that, recruit older youth, while others are recruiting much younger and taking on the development currently done by NPL clubs. Not wanting to be too critical Jordan, keep up your good work, but I do think there's much more to assessing club futures than your article covers.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Yes, but then the fees to play at any level,higher than grassroots are astronomical and all wrong even if players get a bag, a tracksuit, a ball etc etc! Trouble is money does not flow down...it all goes up the pipe!
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Waz, when the idea of letting in the A League clubs to youth league was first dicussed, the 2 Sydney clubs put forward quite contrasting ideas. Initially it was a direct response to the idea that they would get all the best players and it wasn’t fair to which we argued that we want the A League teams to have the best players as long as they have good development programs and it wasn’t about winning competitions to help recruit. WSW stated clearly they would be providing as many tests as possible for the young players. At the time SFC policy was not as clean although I understand it has changed now which is why (as you said) it is dangerous to judge results. I generally find there isn’t a lot of shared information about club policies in this area somhard to know the facts.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
i could possibly do one looking at U11s to U15s
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
is that your opinion
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Don't you hate it when clubs charge higher youth fees to pay seniors
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Yes i could of looked at that but i was mainly looking at the 16-20 year old bracket
Waz
Roar Rookie
“At WSW all the youth teams generally play in an age group a year above their actual age” ... that is a standard practice world-wide and repeated at most A League clubs I think. The principle is very simple - there is no point in assembling all the best U15s into one team and then have them play what’s left behind. The solution is to play them “up a year” where they will meet players physically and technically advanced by a year.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Yes, there are different objectives for A League clubs but there is variation within that. At WSW all the youth teams generally play in an age group a year above their actual age. This was introduced under Tony Popavich’s watch as he wanted to provide a sterner test I suppose and the objectives werenever concerned with winning. Neither Sydney club charges fees so there is norhingto stop the best players from progressing and that has been a stumbling block for years......charging high fees for youth players to pay the wages of the first graders. It is a changing landscape but how successful? Well when we see players come through the ranks and make it to first grade whether it is at the club where they did their time or somewhere else, I don’t have any other benchmark really.