i mean, you just repeated my point.
we cant start at Croatia because we dont have the culture they do.
We need to build that first before kids automatically choose to head out and kick a ball around vs a swim/netball/AFL etc.
Japan/USA/China are all in a similar position to us.
I just think Japan has made the better forward progress.
Their league is now at its most popular.
their mens team has consistent (if not spectacular) results on the world stage.
Their womens team has easily been one of the best 3 in the world over the last decade (rebuilding now though tbf).
their 17's have missed only one WC since '05.
Their 20's havent been as successful, but have made rd 16 last 2 world cups.
their national teams at all levels are way ahead of Australia, whereas 30 years ago they werent.
Again, they are going forward we are going backwards.
we've gotta aim for something, but we've also gotta be honest as to where we are at the moment.
once we are 'good' at football then id be thinking about being 'great' at football.
2 words....”reserve grade”.
If the best 16yos are playing against men, or heaven forbid the whole a league squad play regular games the the level can only improve..competition has to improve competitors
On another note...
Midfielder Ben Kantarovski back from injury to bolster Jets
ROBERT DILLON
Local Sport
NEWCASTLE will welcome back their most-capped player, Ben Kantarovski, for Saturday's clash with a buoyant Adelaide at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Kantarovski, who has appeared in a club-record 180 A-League games for Newcastle, was named in the squad on Thursday and is expected to be used off the bench on Saturday night.
The 27-year-old midfielder missed last week's season-opening draw against Central Coast, and a number of trial games, after being hindered by groin and hamstring issues.
But he has convinced coach Ernie Merrick that he is fit to resume and should soon be challenging Steven Ugarkovic and Matthew Ridenton for a spot in the starting line-up.
"I didn't want to rush back and have it hampering the rest of the season, so we just took our time to make sure it was 100 per cent," Kantarovski said.
"But it feels good now, nice and strong, and so it's just a matter of keeping it that way."
Kantarovski admitted it would be a "bit of a task" to displace either Ugarkovic or Ridenton, who have developed a solid partnership while he has been sidelined.
"That's the ideal scenario," he said. "That's what you want in the team, everybody fighting for positions all around the park. I think we've got that right across the board, and that just shows the depth of our squad."
The Jets will be chasing their first win of the season against an Adelaide side riding high after Wednesday's 4-0 thrashing of Melbourne City in the FFA Cup final.
Kantarovski watched the final and was impressed with what he saw of Adelaide, who were coming off back-to-back defeats in their opening two A-League games.
"They did well, credit to them," he said.
"They worked hard and beat Melbourne City with a really direct sort of game. It was a good performance, at the end of the day.
"They didn't concede, and they scored four goals.
"But that's ideal for us. We get to play a good team and show what we're about, so it's even more of a challenge.
"Nobody wants to back down from a challenge, so we'll be really excited to play Adelaide at their best."
The clash with Newcastle will be Adelaide's third game in the space of a week, but Kantarovski said the Jets had no illusions that their opponents might be leg-weary.
"It's just a matter of sticking to our game plan," he said. "It doesn't matter how many games they've played, we want to put them under pressure, attack them consistently, score goals and win the match. Whether they've played one game in a week or three games, we still back ourselves to do a job."
Multiculturalising clubs was essential in order to get more neutrals to follow a national game. Living at Hamilton I didnt follow Hamilton when I was a kid cause that was for my Italian mates. Dont know why we didnt just mix. It was easier to follow de-enthnised NRL. Yes even another town was ok. Yes all cultures played at these teams but we felt we didnt belong. Now we still have cultures who cant stand each other here due to historical wars. If we had Broadmeadow Magic Jets in the Aleague i still would follow NRL and or AFL. Was it good for existing clubs? nope. Did it hinder the skills being bought into the country from migrating families? maybe. Can we use it as an excuse now? no way.
yeah look as someone who understood the reasons for 'de-wogging' the A-League. I can also understand the attraction of the new A-League going to a Marconi, or Olympic or Sth Melbourne and inviting them back in. The real money is in TV rights. If the TV has something to offer the neutral, like an old school/new wave derby etc then it might just work. The A-League would be ecstatic with avg 12k fans per game and a growing TV audience. then its big Marquee matches dominating the headlines. (dirty little secret, no one actually goes to NRL games yet it gets a billion dollar tv contract).
the A-League has a big library to tap into, if they do it right, it will work. but i can understand the apprehension.
The De Wogging of the game has done **** all though
The only thing it has done is disenfranchising a large amount of people in this country that love the game
Mainstreaming it was never the golden egg
Lowy and co have done more harm than good
Melb Victory did a lot better job picking up fans from former NSL clubs people here realise.
People here also massively over rate the following South Melb and Melb Knights have.
They also fail to realise how much of their young talent over the years was poached from smaller clubs who focused on jr development.
disagree
The people that lived for the game didnt go away. They may still follow or play with their traditional club at the 2nd level and maybe head to an Aleague club as well. Dont under estimate the power of other sports. People will prefer afl nrl union cricket for a long time to come so we'll be always picking from a small sub group regardless what ffa does.
Mainstreaming was never to be the answer but it *enfranchised more than it lost. I take it you were part of the original system.
Last edited by Jim; 26-10-2019 at 03:32 PM.
I just heard the club's for sale. I heard it on an old podcast with McKinna.
It was daily news at some point.
The Lowedown: Jets rue one that got away
DAVID LOWE
Local Sport
It was a storyline all too familiar for Jets fans.
In front on the stats sheets, visually on top in the contest, but behind on the scoreboard. Was it the home-ground blues, highlighted in the Herald last week? A failure to convert good scoring opportunities? Poor concentration resulting in the concession of sloppy goals? All of the above?
I have to say I don't really buy into the home-ground argument in the sense that it affects the players' performances or confidence. The statistics may tell a different story, but by and large the Jets fans are as loyal and patient as any set in the league, so there is no psychological hill to get over for the playing group.
Certainly there were some goodish opportunities that went begging on Saturday afternoon, but none that we will remember for years to come. No "how the hell did he miss that?" moments, but the regular share of "that was so close", head-in-hands incidents.
For my money the Jets should have won the game 1-0, courtesy of a moment of real quality from Abdiel Arroyo, but they allowed an understandably off-the-pace Adelaide back into the match, through a drop in concentration, intensity, and poor game management.
In saying that, I acknowledge the resolve of Adelaide, given their midweek exertions, and the substitutions made by their coach at half-time. But despite improving in the second stanza, what they produced shouldn't have been enough to reverse the result.
We can argue ad nauseam about spurned chances creating pressure at the defensive end, against clean sheets and defensive security at one end reducing the pressure at the attacking end. It's a chicken v egg debate, but Adelaide's goals were poxy, ugly, soft, messy ... insert your adjective of choice.
Contrast that to the tsunami of attacks the Wanderers repelled against a Sydney FC side completely in control of their derby fixture a couple of hours later, and you get my drift. And the Wanderers get the most unlikely of three-point presents.
Given the difficult conditions, the heat and wind combination, being among the least conducive to good football, I thought the Jets and Adelaide did a commendable job of entertaining the crowd, but individual errors cost Ernie Merrick's side three points.
And the harsh reality is that five very gettable points have been dropped in the first two games of the Jets' season.
Five very gettable points have been dropped in the first two games of the Jets' season.
You sense that a trip away to defending champions Sydney FC on Friday night could be the perfect scenario to make a stand, notch another good road result, and show that the team can compete with the big boys. I don't doubt that can happen, but poor concentration is an absolute no-no against arguably the best footballing side in the country.
The other no-no, when facing the Sky Blues, is allowing yourself to be outnumbered in midfield, because if that happens you will run and chase for much of the 90 minutes.
I think it's fair to say that Adelaide got a foothold in last weekend's game when James Troisi and Riley McGree started to find time and space in the centre of the park, and Sydney can present twice the problem.
Brandon O'Neill and Luke Brattan sit deep, Milos Ninkovic and Alexander Baumjohann who would comfortably start as chief playmakers in most teams, play further forward, start wide, but vacate the channels for overlapping fullbacks, and present constant, comfortable, creative threats in central areas.
If that creative smorgasbord of options pulls your defensive shape apart, the pace and predatory instinct of Barbarouses and Le Fondre up front is quite a handful.
I noted with interest Ernie Merrick's comment that the return of Ben Kantarovski meant he felt comfortable enough to play with a midfield diamond, narrowing up the attacking line to a front two, and providing an extra body in the engine room.
You'd imagine that would be the minimum requirement to negate Sydney. In fact the sweet sounding and aesthetically pleasing diamond may have to be a less attractive hybrid, to deny Sydney control of the contest.
As a general rule I am more comfortable with Dimi Petratos playing as one of the front three, with licence to roam, against the stronger sides, with an extra body in midfield to provide help when the game stretches. More so than ever with Matt Millar getting up and down the right flank.
It's an important game in terms of the result, and the playing group's confidence. It's the litmus test for mine right now.
The tactics will be key, the concentration critical, and I have a hunch the Jets will give a very good account of themselves.
Story in The Herald today about how in form Ridenton is and how his hard work is paying off.... I must be watching different football games?
WE DON'T DO WALKING AWAY !