2020 NPL Youth Thread

[Dontknowmuch]

It simply supports the point made in the SAP thread that the talent is too diluted. There are just too many teams and not enough talented kids

It has more to do with competitive parents and the ruthlessness of most of the stronger clubs. All the parents want their talented kids to play in the stronger clubs and the stronger clubs show no loyalty at all and will remove their own long term club kids without even giving a 2nd thought. Hoping that SAP will make a difference the more I hear and see it is just making the situation worse.

Take Olympic for example they arguably have had the best youth teams for the past 5 to 6 years maybe 10 other than the Jets of course but how many of them have actually made it to 1st grade? You would hope a lot at least enough to not have to recruit older players like Hodgson and the Faj brothers to play who i believe are all in the senior playing group this season and were not last year.

What parents need to start to realise that only 1 to 3 kids from each age group will actually make 1st grade and all the kids congregating at the strongest clubs is actually in the main stunting their individual development and giving them less chance to play 1st grade at the club. Winning by big margins and and not being tested every week is poor development, hence why the Jets have been screaming out to get back to Sydney and hopefully in the next 5 years we will see a better player come out of the that system than we have in recent times and a lot more of them.

Parents leave your talented kids at your local club and to those strong clubs be loyal to your juniors and make them better players rather than discarding them for better ones. Yeah you might not win as many trophies but you will have an even competition and much more loyal players that when they get to 1st grade you not have to pay ridiculous amounts of money for them play to play for you, hence then you can lower your Youth registration fees.

There fixed all the issues in one post. Fat chance of it happening to many ego's at play.

[Hunter403]

It has more to do with competitive parents and the ruthlessness of most of the stronger clubs. All the parents want their talented kids to play in the stronger clubs and the stronger clubs show no loyalty at all and will remove their own long term club kids without even giving a 2nd thought. Hoping that SAP will make a difference the more I hear and see it is just making the situation worse.

Take Olympic for example they arguably have had the best youth teams for the past 5 to 6 years maybe 10 other than the Jets of course but how many of them have actually made it to 1st grade? You would hope a lot at least enough to not have to recruit older players like Hodgson and the Faj brothers to play who i believe are all in the senior playing group this season and were not last year.

What parents need to start to realise that only 1 to 3 kids from each age group will actually make 1st grade and all the kids congregating at the strongest clubs is actually in the main stunting their individual development and giving them less chance to play 1st grade at the club. Winning by big margins and and not being tested every week is poor development, hence why the Jets have been screaming out to get back to Sydney and hopefully in the next 5 years we will see a better player come out of the that system than we have in recent times and a lot more of them.

Parents leave your talented kids at your local club and to those strong clubs be loyal to your juniors and make them better players rather than discarding them for better ones. Yeah you might not win as many trophies but you will have an even competition and much more loyal players that when they get to 1st grade you not have to pay ridiculous amounts of money for them play to play for you, hence then you can lower your Youth registration fees.

There fixed all the issues in one post. Fat chance of it happening to many ego's at play.

Agree with some of what you have said but not all

My son spent u13 to under 16 inclusive at the one NPL club. Top four 3 out of 4 seasons, 2 grand final wins and a semi final loss on penalties. That team were virtually unchanged over the 4 years. Of that u16 squad, only 2 were not retained for the 18s out of those that wanted to stay (some decided to go closer to home). The majority players that left over the 4 years were those seeking opportunities in the NSW NPL. Very few were sent on their way.

My observations over the years would seem to suggest that it is the weaker clubs that ditch the kids. I can say that the majority of kids in my son's team were there for the 4 years, as were those at Olympic and Magic. It was the weaker clubs, looking for quick solutions to their lower table positions, that discarded kids faster than a bride discarding her nightie.

[Dontknowmuch]

Agree with some of what you have said but not all

My son spent u13 to under 16 inclusive at the one NPL club. Top four 3 out of 4 seasons, 2 grand final wins and a semi final loss on penalties. That team were virtually unchanged over the 4 years. Of that u16 squad, only 2 were not retained for the 18s out of those that wanted to stay (some decided to go closer to home). The majority players that left over the 4 years were those seeking opportunities in the NSW NPL. Very few were sent on their way.

My observations over the years would seem to suggest that it is the weaker clubs that ditch the kids. I can say that the majority of kids in my son's team were there for the 4 years, as were those at Olympic and Magic. It was the weaker clubs, looking for quick solutions to their lower table positions, that discarded kids faster than a bride discarding her nightie.

How many of your kids team in the U13's were juniors at the club?

[BS detecor]

How many of your kids team in the U13's were juniors at the club?

I’d say close to zero. Magic are the only club that bring their 12s through to NPL.

[Hunter403]

How many of your kids team in the U13's were juniors at the club?

Now you are testing the memory....
As I remember, 2 or 3 came from Morisset, 2 from Newcastle Football, 3 or 4 from Warners Bay, one from Nelson Bay and a couple from Macquarie Football.
Recall that back then, there was no SAP as it exists now.
Kids played in either the Newcastle/Macquarie/Hunter football or in club community teams. There were no NEWFM youth teams. All NPL clubs got their u13s from either of those two sources. Some clubs got most from Newcastle/Macquarie/Hunter football, some just got a couple and the rest from community league and some got nothing but community league.
At that time the Newcastle/Macquarie/Hunter football "graduated" about 90 kids and the NPL needed about 150 or more. There was no even distribution of the Newcastle/Macquarie/Hunter football kids, they went where they pleased. Community kids made up the shortfall via trials. On top of this, this was the first year that the Jets ran their programme.
Some were lucky enough to have kids "steered" to them from Newcastle/Macquarie/Hunter football, some actively recruited but I think all relied upon kids from outside their internal club arrangements. Magic did rely primarily on kids from their own club as they refused to participate in the Newcastle programme and their kids were encouraged not to go there.

[Captain_Carl]

Today I witnessed a magnificent game. U14 Valentine vs Olympic at Cahill Oval. Olympic won 1-0 but there was 2 winners on the day. Olympic collected the 3 points but Valentine collected a whole lot of respect. Olympic are the benchmark in the 14s and thoroughly deserve to be where they are. Valentine were not rated at all preseason but are starting to become known as a side that will give it their all win, lose or draw. Today Olympic won the points and Valentine won the respect of many.

[Jim]

I’d say close to zero. Magic are the only club that bring their 12s through to NPL.

Magic arent any kinder to their weakest players.

There were quite a few that missed out this year from their 12's last year. One lad who went to Charlestown from Magic 12's would fit into the current 13's Magic team. They will also drop a player if a better one comes along. They all do.

Olympic already had some of the best already so the need to ditch is lower.

It's normal that a team in the bottom 5 recruit new kids. They obviously need better talent to try and compete with the stronger clubs. Lets face it the kids often are attracted to the big 2 so other clubs have to look harder for the talent.

[Captain_Carl]

I suggest you go have a chat to the Magic people and you will discover there is only 3 in their 13s NPL that played in their 12s last year.

[BS detecor]

Yeah, current TD likes to rock the boat. Previous years 9-10 players would go through from the 12s to NPL and they were always competitive

[Reds Forever]

I suggest you go have a chat to the Magic people and you will discover there is only 3 in their 13s NPL that played in their 12s last year.

Four players from Magic Juniors were selected. With remainder chosen from various SAP programs of Macquare, Newcastle and Jets.

Not just a Magic thing, even Lambton cut players and they were runaway premiers in U12A last year. Olympic added a number of Newcastle SAP kids and one Jet.

Out of interest, how many did Valentine retain from last years U12 development squad?

Adamstown and Charlestown were pretty ruthless with cutting players from their u12 squads.

Fingers crossed this will be last year of Junior clubs selling development squads as a pathway to NPL through Senior clubs.

[Swanky]

To all the “ experts,” quoting numbers on how many players Olympic did, or didn’t keep from last year’s 12A team, that lost to Lambton in the GF.

FACT- The Olympic 13s 2020 squad: Has 10 players from last year’s 12As. One 12 year old, whom was with the Club Juniors until he was chosen at Under 9s to play with the Jets has returned, making 11. Another 4 boys were selected from our trials. That’s pretty loyal numbers by anyone’s imagination. A strong, well-structured Youth programme, with suitably qualified coaches ( who are all by the way ex- or current Olympic players ) makes for competitive teams.

[BS detecor]

Fact - everyone knows for years Olympic dumped almost their entire under 12 team and dropped a ready made ex Newcastle TD’s number 1 team straight into the 13s.

[Captain_Carl]

Out of interest, how many did Valentine retain from last years U12 development squad?

1 from their U12 development squad
5 who are Valentine juniors returning to their club after SAP at Macquarie
1 x 12 year old from Jets whose junior club was Valo.
5 who are Swansea juniors joining Valentine (their closest NPL club) after SAP at Macquarie.
3 others from out of area.

[Aegon]

Not sure why there is an even an issue - most clubs will hold trials and look to add players every pre season.
Nearly all teams face attrition from players leaving the game, going to other clubs etc and of course if they see a player obviously better than someone they already have on the roster they will look at replacement.

I'd honestly be more surprised at a club that retains all its players without trying to shop around.

[Aegon]

Are youth fixtures not being replayed for washouts this year?

[Hunter403]

Are youth fixtures not being replayed for washouts this year?

No, unfortunately.

[samcan]

Four players from Magic Juniors were selected. With remainder chosen from various SAP programs of Macquare, Newcastle and Jets.

Not just a Magic thing, even Lambton cut players and they were runaway premiers in U12A last year. Olympic added a number of Newcastle SAP kids and one Jet.

Out of interest, how many did Valentine retain from last years U12 development squad?

Adamstown and Charlestown were pretty ruthless with cutting players from their u12 squads.

Fingers crossed this will be last year of Junior clubs selling development squads as a pathway to NPL through Senior clubs.

Player rotations shouldnt be an issue for any club as long as they are trying to objectively strengthen the squad.

What we dont need are teams that are already blessed with talent pretending they are more loyal. They will cut anyone just the same. Loyalty comes into it down a grade or 2.

[Dontknowmuch]

Player rotations shouldnt be an issue for any club as long as they are trying to objectively strengthen the squad.

What we dont need are teams that are already blessed with talent pretending they are more loyal. They will cut anyone just the same. Loyalty comes into it down a grade or 2.

Why are they trying to get to strengthen the squad by taking strong players from other clubs? Why are they not working with the weaker players to make them better? We all know the answer.

Its these same clubs and parents that get on here and around town saying how weak the competition is. It's not every club some clubs do it very well but as long as the stronger clubs remain ruthless in getting all the good kids in the competition to their club the competitions will always have a big divide.

[Aegon]

Why are they trying to get to strengthen the squad by taking strong players from other clubs? Why are they not working with the weaker players to make them better? We all know the answer.

Its these same clubs and parents that get on here and around town saying how weak the competition is. It's not every club some clubs do it very well but as long as the stronger clubs remain ruthless in getting all the good kids in the competition to their club the competitions will always have a big divide.

Maybe a player points system needs to be implemented at Youth Level.

[mge61]

Base it on your postcode or address similar to the school system.