Oh for sure I understand this seems to all be a bigger issue between NNSW and our man at Wallarah.
I've never met him so will not speak about him, other than to say anyone that does speak about him generally have strong opinions (both good and bad).
But plenty of people on here are bemoaning the fact that our kids aren't making it to the highest level. So if there's another program available that has their own lofty goals then that 'should' be a good thing.
It seems though that the 2 programs are already blurring the lines, if that's for the betterment of the kids, then awesome. If it's not, then that's not so awesome.
Speaking 2nd, 3rd or maybe even 4th hand here.
The way the NET vs SAP things was explained to me was this:
SAP ran firstly as a 10-12 YO development program where the associations (Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Hunter Valley) selected then ran a team (or 2?). These teams then played each other every weekend along with Emerging Jets and North Coast teams maybe?
Newcastle Football didn't like the program as in their opinion it was not developing enough talent early enough to feed into the NPL clubs. NF pulled the pin on the SAp program as they and Northern couldn't agree. Newcastle started the NET program (11's and 12's I think) for all Newcastle Football clubs, not just the premier clubs. Northern then directly ran its own SAP teams in place of the Newcastle team. I think the last is stil happening in 11's and 12's this year and next.
The change to the premier club SAP program is almost a hybrid of both. More clubs so more players being developed earlier but following similar curriculum to the SAP training. Also supposed to have the benefit of a distinct pathway from SAP - NPL Youth - NPL at the same club, how this works in practice is still yet to be seen.
Within 2 years there won't be Association SAP or NET programs. Just the premier SAP. We'll just have to wait and see in the coming years if it is an improvement over the past programs?
As I said yesterday I make certain I don't post any unsolicited comments in here and this one caught my eye so I did some research.
Called a friend who has a boy playing for Hamilton 10s SAP.
Only last weekend
Hamilton 2 wins
Magic 1 win
Drawn 1
Last Season his sons team only lost once in all 4 games to Magic. Newcastle is a small community magician. Don't make sh!t up.
On a positive note it was mentioned that the weaker Magic team last season are by far the better football playing team this year.
I've watched a few teams this year, and all of them last year. The better Magic team and the better Olympic team have the best collection of individuals in the program. There are def kids 'as good' as most of them playing for other teams, but as a collection i think those 2 have the best talent.
Ive also seen both these teams 'get beat' and saw one of them played off the park a few weeks back.
but the objective of the program is to get the most talented kids and make them more talented (at this age). The games/scores/systems/style/tactics etc arent supposed to matter.
So id still contend Olympic and Magic are doing the program the best.
Now, some of these other teams that have good kids, and play really well as teams, and 'win' a fair majority of their games, and it will be dope if they all hang in there til 12/13/14 or whenever because they wont get picked for the Jets, but there will be at least 6 clubs capable of consistently playing the E-Jets and beating them.
From there, we'll see how kids respond to pressure/tactics/systems etc and if the boffins are smart they'll reset it again and pick the absolute best of that whole NPL talent and build a solid A-League level future.
For anyone interested:
9's Olympic are playing 9's Jaffas SAP at Wallarah Oval on Sunday 9am.
The games were extremely well played last time out. Great to see what the kids are already playing like at this level. Gives you hope for the future.
I'm not sure if the Talent Support Program is subsidised or if it requires substantial payment?
https://northernnswfootball.com.au/t...e-footballers/
Last year it was just 13's and 14's. I know 10's have also been incorporated into it this year but not sure about what the long term scope of the initiative is?
Maybe $200 max.
Hamilton Olympic youth played the Jets youth teams this weekend in what was a top of the table clash in nearly every age.
13's
Jets 2-1
14's
Olympic 5-1
15's
Olympic 6-3
16's
Olympic 3-2
Great results for Hamilton, It's a bit concerning that a couple of the jets teams capitulated once they were down though.
Has anyone been involved with the proposed NPL/NEWFM Youth proposals for next year? I saw David Eland's comments in the NMH
https://www.theherald.com.au/story/6...eyond/?cs=6188
and thought his comments toward the end of the article about decoupling the youth from the seniors to be generally the opposite of the conversations I have had with people at NPL and NEWFM clubs.
Imagine a scenario where relegation and promotion exists between NPL1 and NPL2 (NEWFM). Picture an NPL1 club where the youth teams are all very 'successful' but first grade comes last and gets demoted. Would those kids stay and be relegated? Doubtful. However, if the current NPL and NEWFM youth clubs all go into one pot, promotion and relegation will be of no consequence in this development league and kids might be less likely to jump clubs. Admittedly, in the short term there would be some massive score blowouts, but if all NPL and NEWFM are forced to run SAP programmes, the levels should begin to get more balanced over 4 or 5 years (as the kids from the u9 SAP filter through to the youth league).
The other concept in the article of splitting the existing comps mid season into 2 halves based on mid season table ranking seems crazy for a whole lot of reasons including clubs being affected by injury, illness, new (and perhaps more effective) coaching, teams getting better when they play stronger teams etc etc.
Interested in any opinions that might be out there.
"It is not that I am afraid to die; its just that I don't want to be there when it happens" - Woody Allen
It does say no clubs want decoupling of youth leagues from their senior but i cant see why not reward npl1 clubs who do take youth seriously.
As far as Npl goes if we cant get the 22 teams for promotion relegation than throw all eligible teams in npl capped at 14 if possible.
Maybe have a playoff system if other teams get their npl licence in the future to decide who goes in for that year.
Interesting, can see both sides here. Why reward teams that have good 1st grade but ignore youth, but why punish the youth if 1st grade has one bad year.
Maybe a criteria for promorion/relegation can be a club championship type points system across all grades?
Its not an easy one. Consider also the points value of juniors that come through the ranks into senior football.
I think I would like to see an NPL 1 and 2 comprising 3 senior grades with promotion and relegation and all youth teams from both NPL1 and 2 in one comp, maybe divided into two sections in which membership varies each year. I think being in the NPL and NEWFM (NPL2) should have compulsory SAP as part of the deal.
"It is not that I am afraid to die; its just that I don't want to be there when it happens" - Woody Allen