Quote Originally Posted by W8 WATCHER View Post
from all accounts,
Cookers let go many of there foundation players in all there age groups. It's a sad scenario, as those players were part of their success and promotion.on the basis they would attract players from other Npl clubs.
we all know its his coaching style
This simply isn’t true, the majority of 2021 youth players who were keen to progress to the NPL were retained.

The club had a very decent team in the age group that would have player u16s in 2022 - In 2021 the u15s ran 2nd and in 2020 they won the u14 Grand final. The issue was simply the existing players not being interested in playing NPL despite all efforts by the club to convince them otherwise. Turns out that when the bottom 3 or 4 teams get flogged every week by the top 3 or 4 teams it turns players away all together.

COVID/Unknowns around trials etc all played a role in effecting the club’s ability to attract external talent. I'm told, In August had 40 EOI responses from external players for u16s positions however with all the unknowns around COVID lockdowns at the time, most players had resolved to remain at their existing clubs by the time trials were allowed in November.

The final nail in the coffin for the team this year, was that other clubs were struggling for numbers and cooks hill decided to take the bullet to release their players so that a couple of other teams would get the numbers they need to fill their own teams.