The next generation of Joeys opened up their national team careers this week with a win against Switzerland. With players playing club football in Italy, Belgium, England, France, and Croatia, the cohort has a large quantity of overseas-based talent, a positive sign that Football Australia is taking the national teams at younger ages more seriously, especially important with Danilo Treffiletti (Italy and Monza), Paul Okon’s son Gianluca Okon (Belgium and Club Brugge), and Noah Slunjski (Croatia and Hajduk Split) all being players that have received interest from their respective nations.
The Australian-based players are relatively spread out, with Perth, Melbourne City, Melbourne Victory, and Adelaide all producing three players. The Brisbane Roar contributed two, with Sydney FC, the Mariners, the Sutherland Sharks, and Gold Coast Knights having one each selected.
It’s worth noting that Western United, Macarthur, Newcastle, and the Western Sydney Wanderers all contributed no players. Serious questions need to be asked especially about the Western Sydney Wanderers, who should have one of the best youth programs in the country based on their location and size.
Danilo Treffiletti: The only player in this team with prior Joeys experience, Treffiletti is a midfielder for Monza in Italy. Along with representing Australia last year, he has also played for the Italian national team, which is obviously a good sign regarding his quality. He has a wonderful pass, is a strong ball-progressor, and sees the game very well. The midfielder has played above his age with Monza and will be very interesting to watch in the coming international period.
Marcus Neill: Another foreign-based player and the son of Socceroo Lucas, Neill is a striker for Sunderland, having moved from Liverpool at the start of this calendar year. The move appears to be a positive one as Sunderland’s head of recruitment said, “the plan for him is to join the U-18s with an eye on the U-21s but the last thing we want to do is loudly broadcast his arrival to the world and place unnecessary pressure on the boy.” Sunderland clearly has high expectations for the son of a former Socceroo.
Besian Kutleshi: A Melbourne City centre-back with impressive size and ball-playing ability, Kutleshi is certainly a player to look out for. He recently made his debut for Melbourne City’s top academy side, with players much older than him. Melbourne City clearly values him, and it will be interesting to see their long-term plan for him.
Amlani Tatu: Tatu has a pretty similar story to Nestory Irankunda, he is an electrifying forward of Burundian heritage who plays for Adelaide United. The first thing that sticks out about him is also his shot power, but he is a lot more than that. Tatu is an outstanding one-on-one player and appears to be a little bit less direct than Irankunda, liking to cut inside. He is quite technical and can move his body in a way few other Australians can. Another serious, serious attacking talent to watch out for in Adelaide who scored for the Joeys against Switzerland.
Quinn MacNicol: He is the third youngest A-League player ever, youngest Brisbane Roar player ever, and the youngest ever Australia Cup goalscorer. A technically gifted midfielder, MacNicol is probably the most-known player in this cohort and his elevated status as the only player in this team with A-League involvement is not unwarranted. A good ball-playing midfielder for the Brisbane Roar to look forward to. He scored twice against Switzerland and is truly a huge talent, both within and beyond the context of Australian Football.
Jai Ajanovic (Goalkeeper, Central Coast Mariners)
Nickolas Alfaro (Midfielder, Sydney FC)
Max Anastasio (Attacker, Angers SCO)
Antonio Arena (Attacker, Delfino Pescara)
David Bolongi (Attacker, Gold Coast Knights)
Alex Bolton (Midfielder, Perth Glory)
Aaron Cartwright (Attacker, Melbourne City)
Jordan Graoroski (Attacker, Sutherland Sharks)
James Houridis (Midfielder, Melbourne Victory)
Alexander Houridis (Midfielder, Melbourne Victory)
Feyzo Kasumovic (Defender, Adelaide United)
Besian Kutleshi (Defender, Melbourne City)
Quinn MacNicol (Midfielder, Brisbane Roar)
Jayden Necovski (Defender, Melbourne City)
Marcus Neill (Attacker, Sunderland AFC)
Malual Nichola (Defender, Adelaide United)
Gianluca Okon (Midfielder, Club Brugge)
Christian Pullella (Defender, Perth Glory)
Noah Slunjski (Attacker, Hadjuk Split)
Amlani Tatu (Attacker, Adelaide United)
Hayden Thomas (Defender, Perth Glory)
Danilo Treffiletti (Midfielder, AC Monza)
Oskar Von Schrenk (Goalkeeper, Melbourne Victory)
Rhys Williams (Midfielder, Brisbane Roar)
Grem
Roar Rookie
Hopefully a 4-1 win.
Antman
Roar Rookie
I’d like the FA to fund a Canberra A-league and NPL side/s. Does anyone know if a national body can fund a club directly? What are FIFA rules? With the plan to sell their talent OS.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Just had a quick read. Great how many times they use “national” and “regional”
mrl
Roar Rookie
Go you Joeys!!!
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Thanks Ian, always good to hear about our juniors. Love the video of Quinn's goal, off the keeper from Waddingham's shot. His goals from the Joey's match looked good, both in the first two quarters of the match which I assume was a more difficult time with better players on the field.
Harry Brill
Roar Rookie
Really good write up. We’re definitely producing some cracking young players in bulk now. My generation (gents born between 95-99) are what I refer to as the “dark ages” of youth football. Not many high quality players to show for how many of us actually played and I put it down to the broken pathways that existed during the 2010s. Now, however, the academies are stable, NPL standards have improved for the most part and participation numbers are bigger than ever before.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Here’s a link that explains some of the strategy. My understanding is that FQ has already implemented the FA strategy, probably because Qld is the most geographically decentralised State and talent identification is so much harder.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Because it is an either/or. The AIS can play no part in developing players who have come through a system with a coaching team, club, State Rep sides & coaches! It would disrupt things and add no value. Taking players out of their homes, out of the school they know, away from friends and families is a last resort and thinking that - out of the thousands of U16 kids nationally - we can identify the best 18 nationally and send them to Canberra for two years is absolute folly. The AIS concept had its time, but today it would hold development back (as it did 15 years ago when some administrators/coaches resisted the new system and worked against it in favour of AIS) The AIS “as was”, now exists in all the capital cities (Graham Arnold apparently doesn’t know this) And why would you have an U23’s national team for the NSD? National teams must select the best and most appropriate players - not just those from a competition. There’s a lot of work gone in to making these pathways perform, and a lot more to do, what we don’t need is a new flavour-of-the-month approach disrupting them. The key word is pathway. It’s a planned and structured journey.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
Why is pathways/AIS an either/or? As an extension of both, I'd like Football Australia to fund an U23 team as part of the NSD.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The evidence seems to be the pathways are definetly not working at non A-league NPL clubs. The NPL clubs are being shown for what they are bottom feeders off rich parents and producing little. The rego fee junkies have been the clear cause of sabotage to the Australian national team in the interesting of paying senior players to win state titles should have nothing to do with youth development.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Great write-up, well done. I’ve said for awhile that the pathways are working and producing technically gifted players who have a good appreciation for how football is played. These pathways are also producing great young coaches as well. It was a stuttering start 20 years ago with many people impatient for results not realising a broken system needed a generation to work their way through from basically mini-Roos, through (what was) SAP, and in to open football. And it did get restarted 12-ish years ago. As a coach (and club VP) within the Queensland Academy System you could see the difference kicking in about 5-6 years ago in terms of the young players and the sheer volume of good young Australian coaches working with them. 10 years ago you couldn’t find a B Licence coach, now you’re tripping over them and many with a plan to go to A. And all competitions are improving, from the junior pathways to NPL and even spilling over in to community competitions such as City and Metro leagues. We need to remember though that talent generation is like fine wine production - some years are vintage, others not. Don’t panic if we have 2-3 poor years, it will come around if the system is allowed to work. Australia is getting more things right than it is wrong in this space (and there’s still a lot wrong lol). And we need more of everything — believe me “a home for the Socceroos in Sydney” will make sweet FA difference to the pathways. Arnie will know that :angry: Does anyone still want to argue that we should close the pathways down and instead send the best 18 kids to the AIS for two years to see if we can create a golden generation once every 50 years …. anyone? ….. I’ll wait :silly:
Grem
Roar Rookie
This result follows Sydney FC’s youngsters taking on European teams and winning. We are producing some great talent and if nurtured, the future is bright. 12th best women’s team in the world, 23 rd best men’s team in the world, a brilliant World Cup in Australia last year, talented juniors, highest participation rates of any sport in the country - I’d say we ARE a football nation!