Mini battle for academy bragging rights today. Anyone know enough about both to assess/contrast how they're doing. What is the measure of success?
Probably not, but that's never stopped me having an opinion.
Wests were miles better. Elijah Just is such a fabulous player. I hope the Phoenix are keeping an eye on him and I also desperately hope that him being at Ole doesn't rule him out of anything. Wests have a great squad, and a Kiwi squad as Declan has noted. It's really encouraging to see.
They're more direct than I think people realise. The like to play either a smothering game in the other team's defensive third or a fast break counter attacking game. They defend with every man behind the ball.
United will rue the defensive error that led to the first goal. I thought they had defended quite stoutly until then. The second goal was a superb individual finish and maybe the 7 foot Keegan Smith will wish he'd done better, but still, what a peach of a goal!
United are on average a year or two younger than Wests too don't forget.
A pretty fair result, but I think both sides will be pretty pleased with how their respective 'projects' are tracking. The challenge for both Academies is whether they can meaningfully transition players to further things. United have the inside track on that front (see Singh, Sanjay).
United have lost some seriously good players from last year's team: McGarry, Bell, Singh.
Declan's view on Nix may depend on player's passport. Think he was keen for Tyler Boyd to head elsewhere for this reason. Can't imagine new nix coaches dismissing good talent in their own backyard.