I think the general feeling will be the time was right for this to happen whilst also hoping this prompts the club to develop a long term vision that also sees up compete in the ACL as opposed to building a squad aimed purely at winning the a-league.

This isn’t a real surprise as Muscat has been showing sings of frustration this season and I think for his development as a manager/coach a change of scenery could be beneficial. I hope he gets a role somewhere overseas as despite my misgivings about him at various times over the years I think the potential is there for him to be a very good manager. Taking charge of a team whereby he isn’t restrained by salary cap constraints might see him develop greater tactical flexibility as I felt lately at Victory he struggled with what to do with the remnants of the squad he inherited from AP. All in all his time was a success and there was some great football played along the way, in the end I think he was a victim of the club always chasing immediate success which shaped recruitment and tactics.

A lot of the negativity towards the a-league mainly centers around the lack of emotional investment in the league fans in the game’s heartland have. Whether we have promotion/relegation, first past the post, shiny new franchises etc. is all irrelevant if people just don’t feel a connection with the league. All sports now seem more interested in chasing after the casual sports fan to the abandonment of the fans loyal to the sport. For competitions such as the AFL and NRL this can work as they’re long established competitions in the national landscape but the a-league isn’t and can’t afford to alienate the very people who have kept the game alive despite the decades of inept administration. I’m a Victory fan and have been a member for all bar 1 season of our existence but I am becoming increasingly detached from the club mainly due to the playing home games at 3 different venues, combined with all the issues around active support. AAMI has a capacity of approx 30,000 which is ample for our needs but the club insist on playing games at Marvel where with the exception of the derby against City average crowds aren’t any bigger than games at AAMI, and even then those extra fans are mainly causal fans. We have no training base so train on public land, no club house type location where we can gather etc. which all creates the feeling that the club only exists on match days.

I do wonder with GWS whether it will take the next generation that comes through for them to have success. The way they were setup with so many top end draft picks does seem to have created a ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ scenario/attitude amongst the playing list (from outside anyway). Maybe the next generation coming through is a more balanced set-up that is more a ‘proper club’ that has lived the age old sporting arc of boom, bust and then boom again.

A thought provoking piece as always Paul so thanks for that. Sports is a great reflection of society and the issues you raise re: Victory’s engagement (or lack thereof) with both the local Japanese community and with Asia more broadly reflect Australian society’s views of ourselves. Despite geography and immigration data showing us to be an Asian nation, we still refuse to accept this and continue to align ourselves more closely with Europe and the USA. The ongoing push back from some in the game against the +1 rule (hello Greg Griffin) shows that football is not immune to what’s happening in society in general. Combine this with the lack of work done by the FFA to engage the various diasporas after the successful staging of the Asian Cup in 2015 as further evidence that there are too many people involved in the game in Australia whose motives for doing so need to be questioned. The issue of Honda and how best to use players with profiles such as his is a microcosm of how leaders at all levels in Australian society show a complete lack of understanding of how to engage with our Asian neighbours and an unwillingness to learn how to do so.

What we’re seeing now is a result of the obsession the media and most coaches have with pressure and effort instead of skill. Listen to any call of the game (radio or TV) read any article and the first thing nearly all the commentators or writers mention is pressure. When a side is losing if their tackle count isn’t through the roof that’s used as a stick to beat them with for not trying. Case in point is Carlton against North. I’m sure the Carlton players did try but their skills weren’t good enough, this week against Pies their skills were better but all the talk is how their pressure was better so that’s why they almost won. In a competition whereby the winner is decided by a one off game and the fixture is driven purely by commercial interests it doesn’t allow for proper analysis of why a team won or lost (there are some exceptions to this but I am talking generalities here). The home and away season is purely looked at through the prism of wins and losses related to where you finish (i.e. the goal is to win enough to be in the top 4 and then the old cliche of anything can happen in finals is trotted out). I am a Geelong supporter and the reason we won yesterday is our skills were better than North’s. In general play they outplayed us and should’ve won but their skills let them down. Gerard Healy did make this point towards the end of the game but it’s not something in general that gets talked about a great deal. West Coast showed last year that if you place an emphasis on skill and have the courage to keep trying to execute your skills then you can beat a team whose only goal is to apply pressure. Time to get back to celebrating skill over pressure.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2019-more-crowd-violence-as-fans-fight-at-end-of-carlton-v-collingwood-mcg-match/news-story/88adf7bc907ebe76b81cf90938ee6d0d?nk=cbb7e054f7191ab700f8742b62356390-1557706599

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2019-three-men-charged-following-ugly-afl-crowd-brawl-after-carlton-v-richmond-game/news-story/7dc735a60ace6fc8c556f263a53f3819

Pot Kettle Black

In a final anything can happen and I will always take losing the final over losing the semi-final. COYS – Moura will never have to buy a drink or any food in Tottenham ever again.

“Absolutely not. Australian coaches are way behind their international counterparts (not just by a bit but by a lot).”

By that logic then Australian coaches will never get hired because they’re always going to be seen as inferior to international managers and thus it will become a self fulfilling philosophy.

“Very few NPL coaches hold the necessary A/Pro Licence anyway, and those that do lack critical skills and experience.”
As I said lack of experience shouldn’t be an issue as surely the whole point of the a-league is to develop Australian players and managers. As for lacking critical skills how do we know unless we give them a chance? Lack of holding the necessary licence is a valid point but only happens because the FFA have turned coaching courses into a money making venture. So they are prohibitively expensive to undertake and with only a maximum of 10 professional jobs available that’s a huge layout for little prospect of a return.

“In particular how do you propose an NPL coach goes about recruiting 5 visa players? Transfermark??” Right because the track record of signing visa players in the a-league is outstanding and no manager has ever signed dud visa players. Also I am guessing therefore you believe that all current foreign managers know every single foreign player in the entire world and don’t rely on advice from others. And furthermore I am also guessing they know every single Australian player prior to their arrival and likewise don’t reply on the advice of others? And that no clubs have scouting networks and instead blindly sign-off on anyone a manager suggests?

In regards to Robbie Fowler (and all other international managers) I would like to see a proper discussion about the merits he brings purely in terms of coaching over an Australian coach plying their trade in the NPL. Are we potentially ignoring quality Australian coaches purely because they’re not a ‘name’? I have nothing against foreign managers but surely it’s worth having the discussion every time a managerial vacancy comes up and international managers are linked to the job as to whether they would bring anything significantly more to the table than an Australian coach besides experience. After all lack of experience at senior level shouldn’t really be a big deal as after all the a-league is a development league for players so why shouldn’t it be for managers also.

Great article. Depression, anxiety etc. don’t discriminate. They don’t have a conscious awareness that says “you know what, this person is a famous athlete/musician/politician etc. so therefore I won’t target them.” Just because some people in this world have a higher profile than the likes of your average punter such as me doesn’t mean they’re any less susceptible to the foibles of being human. I believe Fremantle are to be applauded for the way they’ve handled things as Jesse Hogan was very upfront with them about his mental health issues and yet they were still happy to recruit him. It would’ve been easy for them to have decided he wasn’t worth the risk (as is often the case with sporting teams when someone has a history of ‘behavioral issues’) but instead they chose to employ him and put support mechanisms in place to try and help him. And then with the recent incident they both punished him for breaking team rules whilst at the same time showing understanding as to what caused the situation to occur and are continuing to support him.

The media also has to play a part in this and it doesn’t help when you get senior reporters like John Ralph on fox footy last week saying that Melbourne were happy to get rid of Hogan (the inference being they’d be happy he’s now Freo’s problem). The language used in general used in the media also needs to be closely examined – for example on this article was a video with the caption “Buddy Franklin slammed for ‘unacceptable’ last-quarter brain fade.” So big deal, he made a mistake. But to use words such as ‘slammed’ and ‘unacceptable’ in the context of someone making a mistake on the football field (horror of horrors he took a few seconds too long to have a set shot and was called to play on before he was ready) is unhelpful.

Really interested to see how Gorry goes, let’s not forget she’s a previous winner of Asian player of the year (back in 2014). She’s been out for a long time with injury so if she’s fit again then that adds more pressure on the current midfield incumbents which is great.

The sole reason we’re going to a 48 team world cup is so Infantino can get re-elected. It’s a play straight out of the Havelange/Blatter play book. I liked the change to the qualification structure the AFC introduced for Russia and combined with the expanded Asian Cup will do wonders for improving the quality of the smaller and middle tier nations, thus increasing their chances of qualifying for the world cup. What always made the world cup so great is the nations that didn’t qualify. Look at Egypt who have traditionally been quite dominant in Africa, winning the cup of nations 7 times, yet have only qualified for the world cup 3 times. Uruguay are twice winners of the world cup yet have had lengthy gaps in qualification. What made Germany so special for us was that it had been 32 years since we qualified. Russia and Brasil were made more special because both times it was a real struggle to get there. 48 teams means a hell of a lot more rubbish games between rubbish teams who will be happy just making up the numbers.

I think a big factor that isn’t mentioned is that the best managers in the world are either in the EPL or La Liga. By the same token judging the strength of German football on the champions league doesn’t take into account that a) Schalke are a club that has a history of flattering to deceive and rarely put two good seasons in a row together, b) Dortmund are a very young side and aren’t ready to compete consistently at a high level yet and c) this current Bayern side has reached its end point and is in desperate need of regeneration. I expect next season they’ll have a completely new squad (and likely a new manager) and be right up there in contention again. As for the national team Low should’ve left after Brasil as that was the natural end point of that generation so someone else needed to come in and start a regeneration whilst being in such a position of strength. He certainly should’ve been sacked after Russia as he got everything wrong – squad selection, team selection, tactics. Argubaly he should’ve been sacked after Euro 2016 as the warning signs were clearly there then. There is still plenty of talent in German football as evidenced by a virtual second XI winning the confeds cup in 2017 so I think they’ll be right up there again at the euros next year. After all last time they left a major tournament at the group stage (euro 2000) they made the final of the next one (2002 world cup).

Carlton aren’t that bad a side and should’ve beaten Geelong but for wayward kicking. As a Geelong supporter I have not been at all impressed with the coaching. We have so many exciting, talented players yet just like their AFLM counterparts they’re not allowed to express themselves. I understand we’re a young list building for the future and that’s fine, but play a style of play that is compatible with long-term success and accept it’ll take a few years before the players mature into their roles. Especially considering we have the advantage of the bulk of our list will also be part of our VFLW setup the ultra-defensive style of play designed only to mimimise the damage in the short term does no-one any favours. I really hope Adelaide go on and win the flag as it proves you can win without playing ultra defensive, stodgy footy.

Teams will only be able to have 6 players in defence at center bounces as they’ll need 6 in midfield and 6 in their forward line. So the theory is a) the opposition forwards will have further to run to get to the ball after it’s bounced thus less congestion in the middle of the ground, and b) less congested forward lines for attacking players to run into as again the opposition forwards will have further to run in order to push up and help out the defence. As I say that’s the theory, the reality will be interesting.

Not to mention the obsession all Australian commentators have with ‘banter’ and the need to be funny. I also find it disappointing so many football commentators can’t pronounce players names correctly (it took a twitter user to tell Brenton Speed how to pronounce Ola Toivonen’s name).

I recommenced reading A History of Football in Australia: A Game of Two Halves by Roy Hay, Bill Murray for a better understanding of the answer to that question. I’m paraphrasing here but a big fact was that football wasn’t a game played by the British Aristocracy (that was cricket) and as they were the ones that headed up the Empire in terms of the exporting of “Britishness”. When eventually a wave of Scottish migrants arrived that did play the game it was too late Aussie rules in the southern states and rugby league in the northern states had already taken hold. Aussie rules was popular in the south as plenty of space was available hence easy to play a game that had loads of players involved. So when you look at a list of the world’s football powerhouses throughout history none of them were former members of the British Empire.

The Australian Professional Football Clubs Association (which is essentially the body representing all a-league clubs) in their recent blueprint for an independent a-league advocated for a scrapping of the 3+1 rule and want to import more foreign players. The FFA would have no say over that as they’d not be involved in running the a-league (under the blueprint the a-league clubs released).

In terms of development, in the other football codes you can still make massive leaps in technique at the professional level so the emphasis on youth development isn’t as vital as this can take place at the professional level. Australian rules is a good example of this, plenty of players have come into the system with terrible kicking skills but with constant practice improve immeasurably to the point whereby they become an elite player. And if you’re not elite kicker you can still move the ball by hand or concentrate just on tackling. In terms of analysis of game style/structures there’s not much of this needed in the other football codes because they’re all high scoring so this negates the need to develop any great particular philosophy on how to play the game (especially in aussie rules with the draft so you’re restricted as to the type of player you can get). Granted there are some exceptions to this but by and large it’s case of get the best players you can and work with what you’ve got to come up with a plan to win that week’s game.

And they get a lot more than 8 home games every season.

I’ve said for a long time now that the Chris Scott era has a distinct whiff of the Gary Ayres era about it when we went from a very attack minded team to a very dour, middling side. At least he could point to lack of quality players. I agree that the odds of another team similar to the 2007-11 era are long and that’s fine, but at least try and build a similar game style that as fans we can all enjoy. If only Mark Thompson had kept his stuff together I reckon we’d still be watching a highly enjoyable game style whilst also genuinely contending. Not saying we’d have necessarily won any more flags but sure as hell we’d have won more than 3 finals since 2011.

Lost in all the discussions about what the professional game/league(s) should or shouldn’t look like and whether we should have “franchises” or “clubs” is the one fundamental question we need to ask – what do we want the professional game/league(s) primary purpose to be? For example. do we want its purpose to be to develop players capable of playing at senior international level? Do we want it to become the dominate football code in Australia? Do we want our league to be the predominant league in all of Asia? IMHO once we answer what we want the game to be in Australia then we can work backward from there in determining what the best set-up is.

Well that’s a blow, I thought that The Roar forum determined the rules/criteria for all the sports listed on there.

“He made the wrong choice. ” No he didn’t. Playing in the AFL is only a job and thus Dangerfield did what the overwhelming majority of people wither do or wished their circumstances allowed them to – he prioritized work/life balance over money and that a happy family life away from his day job constituted a success more so than winning a grand final.