you didnt read what i wrote properly lol – best young australian ATTACKING fullback.

farrell is not an attacking fullback, if he wants to have a long career; he needs to work on the attacking aspect of his postion.

its rare to be purely a defensive fullback and go far, especially given how the next evolution of full back is “inverted” – farrell has a long way to go.

madanha is one of my discoveries, he is an out and out winger – the club will do a diservice to his abillities shoehorning him into a full back position.

he just doesnt have the defensive mindstate to be a full back, thats not me being disrespectful – its just extremely difficult to convert such an attacking player into a defensive one.

barnett has had major issues with both hamstrings, hes played a couple of matches in the NPL but thats it this season. – he was in the plans to be a started in midfield, unfortunately hes struggling with his body

hahaha its been a ‘stripped down’ adelaide united team all sesason.
goodwin (best player in the league gone)
gauci (best goalkeeper in the league gone)
popovich (best young australian centerback gone)
bovalina (best young attacking fullback in the league gone)
+ bernado & hall
add into that, the sheer amount of injuries (including barnett who was earmarked to be a starter but has not played a single minute) have had this season
adelaide have not even been able to field their strongest XI for 2 weeks in a row this campaign.

i’d be more worried about off the field associated with the club, not saying its a pattern but this is the 3rd ‘incident’ with people closely associated to the club in the last few years.

*stajcic – although this incident happend just after he left.
*tonyik – was hidden by the club, before i revealled it (and resulted in my ban on this website) – then it went wild online and widely reported across various news outlets
*torres – the latest

3 ‘incidents’ now in recent times, all coincidental? or a wider problem within the club?

as for fabio, remember hes on $16k a week + goal bonuses – another terrible waste of money

dont really want to compare lolley with ibusuki – 2 different positions after all, but

9 goals and 7 assists – for a left foot and not much else

as opposed to

13 goals and 3 assists – in an unselfish role for his team

if you’re unwilling to admit that lolley has been an unmitigated failure for the $30K a week he earns (+ goal bonuses and million dollar house he lives in) then thats on you. – id expect him to score close to 20 goals and more than 10 assists for what he earns a year

remember you could get ibusuki, clough & angel torres for what lolley earns a year.

i know alot of what has been going on at roar (still waiting on someone to say what happened with ben cahn besides myself)- but i generally will let Waz or any of the other qld guys speak first on info (out of courtesy)

i dont know if you saw those posts a few weeks where Waz and me were discussing comings and goings from brissy that i was 100% aware of:

given how zadkovich wants brissy to play, zawada is a better fit than ibusuki – however ibusuki is on a much cheaper wage.

*milusenic – leaving the club
*halloran – likely coming to club (already has a decent contract offer from brissy)
*trewin – wrong move to rival a league club, should’ve gone to europe (poor move by his agent)
*jelacic – wants to try his luck and push really hard in pre season, ive heard nothing about him being loaned back to any a league club. (wouldnt be surprised if is loaned back in jan 2025 though)
*hore – contract extension signed, will be announced at end of season
*o’shea – staying with brissy, he had the chance to go to perth on marquee wages last season – turned it down as hes very happy with the QLD lifestyle
*majok – been offered a contract, still has not accepted
*gomulka – has interest from a lot of a league clubs, has not been happy with his lack of minutes up until recently

spoken with you alot about Ben this season Waz.

i like Ben, really nice guy on and off the field and i will try and give an honest critique because i have no doubts he will read this hahah

people forget the nasty injury he suffered in korea and the surgery he had to fix it, not being succesful 100% – that first season back with adelaide he was hampered with that injury (that wasn’t widely reported by anyone, besides me – and that was for a reason)

this season his attacking input has been a lot less than expected (4 goal + 6 assists – i would’ve liked those 2 the other way around)

i think its ok for me to say hes been frustrated this season with being dropped or constantly having to change position. – veart and ben’s relationship has definitely changed this season.

hes still working hard and well liked by team mates and fans – hes always been the consumate professional whilst at adelaide (even this season)

in football good things come to an end though, i think he’ll be very motivated with brissy next season – he knows a lot of people have wrote him off this year and will be chomping at the bit to prove the doubters wrongs

either player would do a job at brissy, if played to eachs individual strengths.

thats going to require a change in tactics to accommodate either, which im not zadkovich is capable of implementing in the off season.

wrong answer, especially when you are looking at it from a $$$ point of view. (contrary to popular belief ,sydney are going to be hurt next season financially more than most clubs with the lower tv deal payment)

talay is a savvy manager, he’ll wheel and deal in the summer – but i wouldnt expect massive signings.

lolley for what he is being paid (over a million dollars a season) is massively under achieving, ibusuki is not.

the only visa player this season who was on the outer (and still is) at adelaide is tunnicliffe

if played to his strengths, ibusuki could easily be a 18-23 goals a season a league striker – his conversion rate will always be a concern for any manager.

thats not me throwing the player under the bus either – hes an excellent trainer, great team mate and very good with the fans.

He would tick every single box for me if i was a coach (even his conversion rate would not be too much of an issue for me, given how low his wage is)

ibsuki is the lowest paid visa forward in the league – by comparison joe lolley is on more than 3 times his weekly wage (and i know who i’d rather have out of those 2 players)

looks like well known journalists are now starting to run with things i mentioned in december 2023/jan 2024:
*halloran to brisbane (adelaide will not renew on his current wages and brissy have been in contact since december) – im aware an offer has been tabled
*milusenic to NSW club/adelaide (wants to return home to adelaide, but will need to lower wage expectations – has a very good contract offer from a NSW club)
*armiento –off contract with brisbane, armiento has an offer from perth and adelaide currently (adelaide are leading the race though.)
*gomulka – has interest from multiple a league clubs and would prefer to return home to adelaide (will depend on other outgoings from adelaide though)
*musa toure – mentioned he was as good as gone in december (zero interest from monty and hibs, that was a smokescreen by his agent to force a move)
*ibsuki – 2 a league clubs have been sniffing around him since december (yes one of them is brisbane) and he has multiple clubs in japan also interested.
brissy have offered a higher wage than adelaide, i would expect him to move solely on that (he is criminally underpaid at adelaide)
*bovalina – was always going to leave at the end of the year, adelaide made an error in not tieing him to to an proper contract and not just scholarship (auckland, victory, sydney, newcastle had all shown interest)
inverted full backs are all the rage in world football currently and adelaide will be kicking themselves for the miniscule fee for a player who if he developes well in the next 2 years could be the socceroos starting right back.
*ben garrucio & lachlan brooke – adelaide are still trying to work out deals with western and wanderers to get these 2 players out of the last year of their contracts and return home to the city of their birth.
*isaias – 1 year extension (to help mentor the extremely young midfield group that is coming through)

Adelaide have had an ongoing partnership with the ADF for years, so that anzac game made sense with brisbane or even wellington

however you will find that burgeoning relationship with brissy and adelaide is in absolute tatters at the moment.

i’m not so sure that adelaide will ever see eye to eye with brissy ever again – due to brissy going behind adelaides back to the APL and trying to get irakunda suspended over the whole olyroos debacle (which was a mountain made out of a molehole from the media)

brissy werent the only club to complain either (all because they were scared of missing the finals)

would not have helped, the individual mistakes in defense cost the side throughout the group stage.

i dont want to say i told you so, but i did warn australia would struggle to get out the group (when 90% assumed it was a given)

*were players blocked by their clubs? absolutely – (this would not happen if australia fell under the european continent) the squad chosen were still good enough to advance out of this group

*squad – some players just arent cut out for international football, even at this age level – theres only so many times and games you can give to eg alou koul, garang koul, lachlan brook etc

as i always say international football is very difficult to club football, these players have had plenty of chances already and dont produce anything

*players made plenty of individual mistakes defensively across the group games + if that penalty had gone in, who knows what would’ve happened – as i said mistakes happen.

*players still not able to cope with the intricacies of the asian federation, im not talking the weather – im talking about the ‘gamesmenship’ of other countries and officiating that they are not used to.

*arrogance of players – theres always been a thing with australian players thinking they’re better than 90% of asian countries before a ball is even kicked – if australian wants to succeed, they need to change midsets.

*asian countries getting better – uzbekistan and tajikistan player better football then australian in all underage level (let alone elite sides like south korea & japan)

*coaching – australian coaching at international level has always been poor, its also very difficult for me to critisize tony (who is a good friend of mine) – if he had these 3 matches again, would he have changed things – maybe, but thats hindsight.

well i did say they would struggle to get out the group (and was proved right, like usual)

Gus: im not familiar with you as a (possibly because you’ve just popped up) but i’ll give you a response

i wont bore you with my history of the professional sport in australia, but lets talks womens football (ive told the story here many times)

a little over 24 months ago i was asked to apply for a high performance position with the australian womens national team.

my work with there male counterparts needs absolutely no introduction so it made sense given my track record that my name was suggested

i never even applied for that position (and i was contacted on 2 separate occasions in the space of a month). The reason i never applied was because i felt i couldn’t provide them with what they were looking for, because my care factor for the womens version is not the same as the mens.

its as simple as some people like fords, some like holdens.

but unfortunately in todays day and age, when you against the popular mainstream view you get labelled for it.

eg. just because i dont support womens football im instantly labelled as sexist or misogynistic.

you dont agree with taking the knee before sport starts or the traditional land owner greeting – you’re labelled a racist.

see where im going?

mauk really gets under your skin doesnt he? 😁

ive known the player since he was 12, hes someone i consider a close friend – even taking that out of the equation, you cannot statistically dispute what i wrote.

over the PAST 3 weeks (you misquoted me, i clearly said past 3 weeks – nothing more than that) there is not a better performing australian #8 playing professional football in the country.

if there was an international game this weekend, i guarantee you no matter what country it is (brazil, spain, france, germany) they are picking him based on his form. (which should always be the deciding factor on selecting for the national team, but we all know arnie doesnt select like that)

in terms of if he would be suitable (which i never actually said) we would find that out if he was brought into camp and how he trains with the squad and listens to the coaching.

hes got 3 underlying qualities that the australian national team misses in the middle of the park.

*all facets of leadership
*natural aggression in the centre of the pitch which australian sorely misses (if you want to be successful in international football you have to control the midfield)
*offers a serious box to box threat with assists, goals and defending.

regardless of your personal opinion of the player, those 3 attributes australia does not have currently.

and one again for about the 5th time, i have never said he was the answer – ive merely given reasons why he is an option that at the very least needs to be put into camp. (from there its up to him)

but just like another of my former prodigys (stamatelopoulos) who is dominating the local competition – he has never even been give a courtesy call as to why he has never been called.

arnie is not well liked in south australia (and most other parts of the country, except in NSW)

its one of the main reason why he will never ever be an international coach – he cant even do the fundamentals

“my striker laughingly shouted back “no, the A League is rubbish”. No one disagreed with him.”

and this is exactly the reason why the the a league has an issue getting fans, there’s a famous old saying that fits this narrative perfectly, “perception is reality”

the perception is the a league is inferior to most leagues in europe (which is 100% accurate), but when all you watch is european football constantly and witness for arguments sake the elite centrebacks playing eg saliba/van dijk/gvardiol and then you see someone like ben warland (not to be disrespectful) struggle to make a simple 10 yard pass multiples times in a match, which is the reality and epitomizes the a league as whole

the quality is just not comparable and that fine, but to completely bypass the only professional version of the sport in australia because you prefer:

*the money and prestige of the premier league
*the tactical acumen of serie a
*the attacking quality of la liga
*the fan culture of the bundesliga
*the pace and young players of ligue 1

is wrong on all levels, when you have the sport here in your backyard.

what’s the other common phrase ive heard for years ‘australia doesnt produce world class players’ (which is true) however the country has always produced competent players who are capable of playing in the best leagues.

there’s over a hundred teenage players in europe currently – will they progress to the point where they are a recognised name by joe blow on the street? unlikely.

*you’ve got kids being badly advised by a lot of agents (who are only looking at $$$) going to countries where they cant speak the language or know anything about the culture

(EG. i said i wouldnt speak anymore about nestory on here, but this move to germany has been in place for almost a year. His high school specialsizes in german and german is one of the easient european languages to learn. I would expect him or anyone to be fluent in that language if they have a year to study it – he is not fluent).

*cant cook a simple meal or iron clothes

*spend too much of their free time on social media or playing video games – when they should be doing something more constructive (like preparing for life after football)

australian football has come a long way, but it still has such a long way to go

as for the a league as competition, why would a fence sitter support it when 2 out of this years current top 3 play an awful brand of football from an entertainment point of view?

then we go into crowds……

its a worry that the only team with acceptable crowds this season is adelaide.

lose the derby matches (sydney v wanderers) & (sydney v victory) and adelaide jumps from 4th to 1st in crowds this season.

remember both sydney and melbourne have more than 2.5 registered members then adelaide – so why doesnt it translate to decent crowds for the 2 biggest sides in the league?

ive worked with 4 seperate NPL clubs (currently still doing contract work for 3) in a talent identification and analysis role & 1 victorian a league club for just over 12 months (western united) and im not exaggerating when i say victoria as a state has a massive problem with football in all aspects of the sport –

if you can fix victoria, you can fix every single issue with the sport in australia

because it goes against the mainstream view of womens football Marcel.

remember you cant say anything bad about womens football these days 😂 😛

you mean that stefan mauk who has been the best #8 in the country over the past 3 weeks (2 man of the match performances as well) from a statistical point of view?
if used correctly (which he has been) he is one of countries premier midfielders – especially when it not scared of voicing his opinion
east coast bias in the a league is real, its always been there when it comes to decisions of the league as whole, officiating and salary cap (absolutely no different to any big in europe in a league)
as for the serbian footballers comment – that was in relation to multiple players that australia missed out on because they were not contacted.
i could’ve easily have used croatia, england, germany as any other example

never been to a womans match, have zero interest in going to one

ariath piol for anyone who has paid close attention to anything i post, is a name i mentioned almost 3 years ago (i had put an article up on him as well)

He is one of the only south australian players that i put up a fight for to be signed by Adelaide United – however with the sheer volume of talent with african heritage coming through the state in attacking positions, he was passed over.

i was very surprised he had no other serious a league interest after being the best teenage attacker in the SA NPL with metrostars.

Piol ended up paying his own way to Sydney with a couple of the other adelaide boys that were passed over and after a recommendation from yours truly, he was signed to the wanderers academy.

Unfortunately like a lot of teenagers who go to the wanderers, he got lost in the shuffle of the sheer volume of players at the club and was soon on his way to macarthur.

regardless of the result, I was absolutely ecstatic that he scored and had a great chat with him after the match.

macarthur are ever so quietly building a very strong south australian core of attacking talent (raphael, piol, bernado)

i’ve been very critical of the football media in this country reporting things inaccurately, especially when it comes to nestory – i should not have people coming to me wanting clarification on what has been written.

as i’ve always said, you need to be able to read between the lines when it comes to anything the media reports, a player or a coach says or even myself – there are many agendas at play.

hidden away in the depths of this article, is a small paragraph that should’ve been emphasized more.

mike made mention of nestory hanging around after to sign autographs (nothing unusual from him). – i had a chat with a few of the players in the tunnel after the match and left at quarter to 10 and he was still there signing away.

45 minutes after it all finished, he was there with tears still streaming down his face and his mother’s arm around him signing autographs for every fan that wanted one (young and old) with many also crying.

smoke and mirrors Waz, never believe everything you hear reported from the media

players will be lost and players will be gained, that is unforunately an everyday occurance when you hold dual nationallity status or in certain cases can quality for 3 or 4 different countries

theres plenty of sliding door moments, where things could’ve changed had people acted quicker – lets looks in the past few years at the sliding doors between australia and serbia an an example with players either born or qualifying through a parent for both countries:

strahinja erakovic – who many believed (including myself) would have a great career in europe after becoming a regular starter at 18 for red star belgrade and was sold for 13 million AUD recently.

while his career hasnt gone like i expected, hes only recently turned 23 and hes still better than any CB/RB playing for the socceroos

he has never been contacted by anyone from the Australia FA (they were not even away of him)

william millwood – ex red star now partizan player who turned his back on australia after a lack of interest and is now fully ingrained in the culture and football in serbia

hes developing nicely through the different underage national sides – australia does not have many technical dribblers like him

luka jovanovic adelaide united- was contacted by the serbian fa, but then they essentially ghosted him for months – now the player is up in the air whether he wants to represent australia or serbia (preference has always been serbia though)

contrary to popular belief, this site has had many complaints from my postings – including clubs (remember last year when macarthur wanted a whole portion of one of my articles removed for revealing there financials) as well as players.

i will always try to provide as much information as possible, but i also have a certain duty to protect players/clubs (especially adelaide) as much as i can

i dont particularily want to to discuss Nestor (i’ve said more than enough on him that has been not been public knowledge over the course of the past 3 years and i’ve countered every misleading report by any journalist that has an agenda)

i’ve also discussed in great detail the run ins i have had with arnie in relation to player data + alot of the trepedation from current and past adelaide united figures (including myself) for selecting al hassan when he was already carrying an injury; only to get badly injured and has never been the same player since or lived up to his potential.

arnie is not well liked in adelaide, not sure that will ever change if he keeps selecting injured players *cough* goodwin *cough*

i have not once said i could do a better job than arnie, all ive ever wanted is for him to actually coach the side like an international coach – he breaks the simple fundamentals when it comes to international coaching over little things by not selecting the best performing players.

as for dual nationallity players, this is what i know:

circati – has been blocked by his club, he is comitted to australia (italy has shown little interest, because they have a lot of really good CB’s coming through.

robertson – made it clear he wants to play for australia but is struggling with injuries

volpato – theres a misconception that he turned his back on australia, hes matured mentally alot later than many of his peers of the same age group.

he’s concentrating on club football and i wouldnt be too concerned that he is being selected for italys underage side at the moment

as for communication i know for a fact that no one from the socceroos has directly/indirectly made any attempt to communicate with AP over why he has not been selected in the past 2 squads (a goalscorer like that gets called up by any other country in the world)

jason davidson has also not had any communication in terms of why he has not been called up to recent squads (that may be age related, but theres not another better performing australian lb anywhere in the world