Where is Australian football going?
What kind of footballing nation do we want? What are our demands when it comes to playing style? Do we even care about the contents as long as we win?
These are the questions that permeate Australian football.
Some love seeing silky, sleek combination football, some the physical side to the game, others the tactical battle, many don’t care as long as the team wins.
It’s a taste thing.
But irrespective of what we want or wish for, what are we realistically going to get now and, more importantly, in the future?
I’m confident Australia will qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but it won’t be through mesmerising football.
It will be through sheer Aussie spirit, grit, mental strength and willpower. Is that a bad thing? No of course not.
These attributes are who we are and what our sporting teams have been built on, regardless of the sporting code.
The opponent always knew the ones from Down Under will fight for every centimetre and cover every blade of grass.
Of course we will see passages of good play, but not on a consistent basis.
Australia has a mental strength that is superior to many other football nations, but we don’t have a team at the moment that can play spellbinding football, so it’s a case of accepting what we are shown.
It’s so much easier to accept when the end result is World Cup qualification, so much easier to accept when spirited, backs-to-the-wall performances - like that against Japan in World Cup qualifying - are served up.
Our mentality always was, is, and always should be making the opponent work hard to get anything against us. The opponent must always know that against Australia, it will have a massive fight on its hands.
Will this be good enough as the game constantly evolves, and countries that in the past were not renowned for great technical ability are constantly improving in that area?
I don’t believe so.
At the moment we’re not producing the same calibre of individual skilled players of the past, nor do we stand a chance of producing the kind of young talent Germany, Spain, France, Brazil or Argentina have.
We’re not doing near enough at junior level, not enough quality information or inside knowledge is being passed on to kids of how to improve their technical ability and awareness.
Our path in junior and youth development appears to be on dangerous ground. It’s a ticking time-bomb.
From what I’ve seen, our juniors and youth, right up to the recent Olympic team have encompassed neither great skill levels nor a great winning mentality.
Yes, we have a system in place and a philosophy, but all that means little if the technical quality and mental strength of players is not progressing parallel to the tactical side to the game.
I watched the final of the Institute Challenge at the AIS last December. The teams tried to play out, had a set system and were tactically not bad.
I realised very quickly, though, that there was not one standout player, not one with great charisma or character, nor a player that demanded the ball and was prepared to take responsibility, and that opinion didn’t change once the final whistle was blown.
I think we’re overlooking the need to develop a winning mentality for the sake of frantically trying to produce technically gifted players that we’re just not producing at the moment.
Not producing technically gifted players is one thing, but not preserving our mental toughness, which has always been our strong point, would be an absolute disaster.
Uzbekistan destroyed the Joeys 4-0 a year ago, we haven’t qualified for the Olympic games and now Japan is whipping us 5-0 at youth level.
Lack of skill or mental strength? Both? Without a doubt, both.
I want and wish for the whole package. I want to see young Australian footballers with great technical ability, awareness, character and a winning mentality.
The belief that small-sided games and more touches being the answer is wrong. Information and inside knowledge is king.
All this talk about systems means nothing if we are not producing talent with individual qualities and awareness to solve on-field problems, as well as possessing mental strength to conquer trying on-field situations.
These attributes overrule any system. Players with great individual ability and awareness can successfully play in any system you throw at them.
Joeys, AIS and youth coaches are seen as development coaches, but what exactly are they developing? Tactics would be one component, but I see their various jobs not as ‘leaps and bounds development’ when it comes to the technical side of the game.
It’s minimal at the age they are working with. They are getting and dealing with players that have the most critical period of technical development already behind them.
It also poses the question of the viability of the AIS, now and beyond. Have these kids in recent years been drastically improving to justify what is being invested into the program?
It doesn’t appear to be the case.
To me, the program has given the impression of being motion therapy more than anything else: a place where our ‘elite’ young players have clocked up training hours, received lessons on tactics and kept fit. Now they are being billeted.
I hope I’m wrong, but it’s not exactly the right environment to get the best out of them.
The program isn’t what it once used to be on a wide range of components.
Wiser would be to concentrate more on grassroots where the stars of the future are moulded.
We need to have former players visiting junior clubs and schools all around the country, helping junior coaches, teaching and passing on knowledge to kids at young ages.
The skills acquisition program as a shell is a step forward. The results still remain to be seen and will, of course, hinge on the contents of the program.
In general though, I see too many static drills at junior level around the country, a lot of ‘how’, but nowhere near enough of ‘when and where’ with ‘high intensity’.
It’s the when and where with high intensity that is vital for development. Knowledge and intensity being passed on to acquire knowledge at high speed is what’s needed.
It’s not that we still have a long way to go. It’s deciding where are we actually going.
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/ned-zelic/blog/1113854/Where-is-Australian-football-going
I'm posting this because
1) Good insight into Australian football for you lot.
2) If this was your country would you agree with these sentiments?
