Apart from the 2 Hubs is in Melbourne and Auckland it would be hard for AFC to release wider first team squad members for the OFC League.
Getting a player back from Honiara, Suva or Port Moresby will be tricky, if they are needed to cover injury concerns around the ALM first team squad. AFC were a bit jammy with not many injuries in the A League last season.
Just like CU signing up some Southern League guys on short 6 month contracts, AFC may do similar getting in a few older players from other Northern League clubs, or even a few from Aussie NPL clubs. The Nix looked closely at Matt Ellis for the ALM. That sort of early 20s guy might be on AFC's radar, re the OFC League.
The Island teams will be likely be de facto national teams, so both CU and AFC will need to sign some older players to flesh out all the callow 19-20 yr olds. They just may not pay them much, selling the league as a shop window for moving up the pro football chain.
Getting a player back from Honiara, Suva or Port Moresby will be tricky, if they are needed to cover injury concerns around the ALM first team squad. AFC were a bit jammy with not many injuries in the A League last season.
Just like CU signing up some Southern League guys on short 6 month contracts, AFC may do similar getting in a few older players from other Northern League clubs, or even a few from Aussie NPL clubs. The Nix looked closely at Matt Ellis for the ALM. That sort of early 20s guy might be on AFC's radar, re the OFC League.
The Island teams will be likely be de facto national teams, so both CU and AFC will need to sign some older players to flesh out all the callow 19-20 yr olds. They just may not pay them much, selling the league as a shop window for moving up the pro football chain.