I think we might be getting a little carried away with the overall quality in NPL Youth. NL1 teams should be a clear step below but there are zero guarantees the bottom 5 NPL teams finish ahead of NL and even now Belswans. Trial form showed that. That's surely good for the game though?. Ambitious second tier clubs having a crack? It exists all over the football world except here where the NPL clubs have no consequence for failure. If kids from these clubs don't want to go to Lakes or Rosebuds, what's the issue? Why do kids stay at NL and play at Alder Park when they could get a start at Rosebuds and play on Adamstown 1 every second week? Better coaches? Better TD? Better environment? The NPL Youth needs something ASAP. Too many promising NPL Youth who are now 19/20 playing Zone League or AA on the beers. Only a few clubs give Youth a decent chance. Northern have created a ceiling, the ceiling stifles progress. Football suffers. FYI - Cooks Hill Youth have been 3rd or 4th best in NL1 for a couple years now. I know they culled them when NPL was granted but they dropped the ball on their kids for some reason a couple of years ago. They were always the best of NL1 but overtaken by NL.