So with the A-League season drawing to its glorious end I've been trying to get up to speed with the domestic competitions (brand new territory for me), including where our Academy teams feature in them. Predictably I'm now utterly confused about which teams the Academy even fields, so I was hoping someone here could help clear things up please.
In the men's competitions we have the Reserves in the Central League, the Thirds in the Capital Premier and the Fourths in Capital 1. Are these actually all Academy teams, and if so are they the only men's / boys' ones? Do they participate in other age-graded competitions, or do we also have age-graded teams for those ones?
For the women's teams all I can find is an out-of-date page on the Reserves, and that we have an Academy U18 Girls team competing in the Women's Central League. I assume the Reserves can include 18- and 19-year olds, so does that mean we have other women's / girls' Academy teams outside the local domestic comps? If so, where do they play?
Sorry if these questions are already answered in this thread, 59 pages of erudite commentary is a lot to read through... But thanks for any clarification!
EDIT: And of course within minutes of posting this I realise I'd overlooked an Academy news item that talks about U17 / U15 boys and girls teams. But I'm still not clear on the Reserves pathway, which is what interests me most as a source of future first-team talent.
In the men's competitions we have the Reserves in the Central League, the Thirds in the Capital Premier and the Fourths in Capital 1. Are these actually all Academy teams, and if so are they the only men's / boys' ones? Do they participate in other age-graded competitions, or do we also have age-graded teams for those ones?
For the women's teams all I can find is an out-of-date page on the Reserves, and that we have an Academy U18 Girls team competing in the Women's Central League. I assume the Reserves can include 18- and 19-year olds, so does that mean we have other women's / girls' Academy teams outside the local domestic comps? If so, where do they play?
Sorry if these questions are already answered in this thread, 59 pages of erudite commentary is a lot to read through... But thanks for any clarification!
EDIT: And of course within minutes of posting this I realise I'd overlooked an Academy news item that talks about U17 / U15 boys and girls teams. But I'm still not clear on the Reserves pathway, which is what interests me most as a source of future first-team talent.