Does anyone know why the club has been so apprehensive to look at the local leagues for signings in recent years? De Vries, Howieson and Randall came through that avenue for Auckland FC and have been very solid at this level. I don't believe the difference in quality between a high-level local league player and the A-League is that large.
Some of our better players over the years have come from there as well (Riera, Krishna, McCowatt, Payne, etc). I understand that leaning into the academy model requires us to show academy prospects that they have priority over these players, but it seems a bit ridiculous to just give up this avenue.
The last players we signed from National League clubs were Corban Piper and Luke Brooke-Smith. One of which we just sold for im guessing solid money, and the other is a very useful squad player. The last ones before that were Nikko Boxall (only really came in as squad cover) and Clayton Lewis (gambling issues aside was a very handy player for us).
Some players playing in the local leagues I think could be useful would be Nathan Rostron (tall, quick, strong, young defender at Auckland City), Nathan Lobo (could provide solid cover for McGarry at LB), Kian Donkers (played a little over in Europe, tall striker), etc.
