theprof wrote:
the difference between the two systems:
one club wants to develop talent though an academy and age group teams - ie they invest in youth and grow them
the other wants regional clubs to develop the talent for them and select them for their reserve teams or OPL or Aleague team when the peak where is the investment of the money the OPL gives them?
both identify talent sure, one actually invests money into developing it, the other does not. And yet the one system that identifies tale young and invests in developing said talent doesn't get into the league that is built to develop and grow talent.
Auckland's development pathway is win:win. AFC presumably like it, and the Northern Region clubs definitely like it. The local clubs get to keep their best promising young players as long as possible and then take pride in the fact some graduate to A League pro football. Plus as Chopah says if Van Fitzharris ends up in Europe one day, Tauranga City should be in for a nice fat payday.
One of the gripes of local Wellington clubs seems to be that the Nix 'poach' their best young players as 12-13 yr olds.
But there is no right or wrong way. The Nix basically has a larger 'catchment'. From Auckland to Bluff. Though maybe now it's more Taupo to the deep South. Xuan Loke and his dad chose to leave off the radar Dunners early on for Welly. The Weenix Academy has a boarding house and now a charter school, so young kids from around the country, can train daily in a high quality environment.
AFC has I'm guessing close to 3M people living within 2-3 hours of the 09. So much easier to keep a close watch on dozens of talented youngsters spread around the various Northern League clubs. I'm guessing AFC have a couple of Football development managers, who get around the clubs holding training sessions and keeping tabs on when the best prospects maybe signed into the Reserves team (Squires).
Auckland are helping to develop young NZ talent, just in a different way to the Nix.
One of the gripes of local Wellington clubs seems to be that the Nix 'poach' their best young players as 12-13 yr olds.
But there is no right or wrong way. The Nix basically has a larger 'catchment'. From Auckland to Bluff. Though maybe now it's more Taupo to the deep South. Xuan Loke and his dad chose to leave off the radar Dunners early on for Welly. The Weenix Academy has a boarding house and now a charter school, so young kids from around the country, can train daily in a high quality environment.
AFC has I'm guessing close to 3M people living within 2-3 hours of the 09. So much easier to keep a close watch on dozens of talented youngsters spread around the various Northern League clubs. I'm guessing AFC have a couple of Football development managers, who get around the clubs holding training sessions and keeping tabs on when the best prospects maybe signed into the Reserves team (Squires).
Auckland are helping to develop young NZ talent, just in a different way to the Nix.