When I was player coach at Woolston and Christchurch city, they were in regular contact . Even once Ricky Herbertt asked me to play Michael Sands at centre back, as they were looking to select him there for 23s.
If you look at 2 all whites in particular ,Siggy and Claps , it took a phone call from Steve Sumner to the coaches ,to say you need to come and look a these players,
We did ,however, in the past let them know if we feel we had a player, that is worth a shot.
Napier is a good tournament for us as most of the coaches are there from the secondary schools and u20a so we can or the players can ,state thier case then.
The coaches will speak to ntc coaches or academy coaches at the moment by the looks of it from the outside, to select thier team.
I tell you what wouldn't do any arm, is having a provisional tournament 6 months before they pick these squads, were you can be selected from academy or ftc or club ,just the best 16 in the province your from. At least the coaches could see over a long weekend , that no one has slipped through cracks.
The other thing it would highlight especially for our area is ,are we behind other areas in ability.
You could say that asb youth league could do that but again the coaches are only going to see the games that play in Auckland.
In saying that for these kids to have a better chance ,13,14,15 is where they need to be getting the good coaching more games each week against tougher opposition .
Parents are paying a lot of money to send thier kids up north, say we had a few better equiped teams here with good learning environments with good facilities and tip coaches ,where they could go and play 0ther Pp in the north island and other academies, for a better word ,in town , would parents be more happy doing that .
Even when we do ftc tournament in Wellington our kids may be the best in town ,but what I've been told they are not playing the best from Auck or Welly,so again we aren't getting a gauge to see if they are good enough to make the world cups squads,