Junior Development

[redandblack]

Contributed by Forum Member "Whatever"

JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT, by 'Whatever"

I have spent a lot of time over the last couple of years watching under aged SANFL football and I really wonder if the clubs are really focused on developing talent or just interested in winning.

To me it is the latter; clubs have far too great an influence than developing the players for senior football. OK, I have no doubt that they try to improve their skills and have them try and play to a structure and a game plan, although when listening at the huddles there appears to be a hell of a lot of coaches going on about going harder, stay to structure, get your tackles up, play on all the time, all the usual kind of stuff. What is really lacking is explaining to the kids what they have done wrong and then explaining what they should have done. They may address this at training so I could be being harsh, but it just reeks of any mug going out to coach and say go harder and smarter boys rather than coach.

However, as much as I have an issue about that, I think the greatest problem is with teams playing kids where they will be of the greatest benefit to the team rather than playing kids in a position on the field that they will play if they make it to league level. Every club is guilty of this, including this year’s premier. West Adelaide is probably the best at playing players in relevant positions, but they also make errors.

Classic examples are Daniel Webb (West Adelaide) at 195cm or there abouts. He played a lot of time in ruck in his under 18 year because it was where he played best and he was the best player in the team at that role. However it has harmed his development as a senior footballer because he has to play CHF or CHB but has not developed himself in these roles and is now having to learn the ropes at the top level. Every club has done it over the years, play the under sized ruck for the benefit of the team but it does not benefit the club or the kid.

Whilst on rucks, let’s look at the 200cm types that run around. Basically they ruck for half a game and spend the other half of the game on the bench. Is it any wonder they take longer to develop a football brain because they only play half as much football as the other boys. Surely it would be in the clubs interest to give them time resting in a forward pocket or a back pocket so that they could make the transition to senior football easier for them. I can understand that they are generally very crap at this but surely it is better for the club and them to be developed in this way.

Then we have the undersized kids playing key position, when they really are going to have to be flankers or midfielders at senior level, so again the club has just made it harder for them. Norwood did this with a kid at full back; he is super quick and has one hell of a leap but at approximately 183cm what is he going to learn standing guys who are 190+cm. OK, the kid may have no idea in the midfield but surely he is better out at half back where he can learn to be the third up in the marking contest and learn how to run off and provide rebound.

This brings me to the midget full forwards. I don’t mind kids like Silverlock spending a quarter of a game at full forward, but if he is going to succeed at senior level he has to play in the midfield. All of a sudden at 18 he is put into the midfield and why would anyone be surprised that he does not know how to read the play and get his hands on the ball often enough and use it well enough. Eagles did it with Dawson last year, South did it with a super quick kid this year who should have been developed a lot higher up the ground.

This brings us to the obsession with midgets. The amount of kids that play each week that are close to 170cm far outweighs the amount of players of this size that play league football. I am not against small guys getting an opportunity; after all in a game of football we have more ground level contests than marking contests. But if we only see 3 of these guys in the league team why do we see 6 in the under 18’s especially when the extra ones are making up numbers in the pockets and flanks.

From where I sit I just think that football in this state could take a further leap forward if clubs took a proactive approach to developing league footballers rather than trying to focus on developing a winning team at junior level.

[JK]

Interesting article mate, like all the others in here always a good read and great to get the perspective from someone who follows the juniors closely, when I would guess many like myself can't.

One thing I would ask, is whether the mentality involved with winning constitutes (either does or should) part of a youngsters development?

[whatever]

The mentality of winning culture into kids and its importance.

There is no doubt that everyone would prefer to win rather than lose. Developing a winning mentality is very important. One can not argue with that. I have an issue with where winning becomes more important than developing juniors.

Centrals have managed to have a winning culture at senior level without having their juniors be anywhere near a dominate team. So one from that evidence would suggest that winning at all costs is probably not that important to a clubs success.

I personally feel that it is more important for a team to be competative rather than dominant. Dominant junior teams allow kids to coast in a winning environment without having to strive for success, ok that may be over simplifying it but it would be hard for a team like Glenelg in the under 18's to really know which kids stand up when the chips are really down.

Likewise if you are going out every week and getting flogged by 30 gaols it can totally kill your confidence and does not really give you the oppurtunity to improve your game. So you cant forget about scoring and trying to win either.

I dont have problems with players spending time during the game that best helps the team but the major focus has to be developing them into better players who get to senior level having been schooled in the position they are most likely to play.

[whufc]

good post whatever, Central in the 2000's have rarely dominated any of the lower grades, they did play in a couple of magoo GF's in the early 2000's but have never really dominated the 17's or 19's. Despite this here is a list of players from the league GF who played either 17's or 19's at Central

-M.Slade
-P.Thomas
-Y.Sibenaler
-R.Cochrane
-S.Dutschke
-J.Giles
-A.Switala ?
-D.Havelberg
-B.O'Hara
-E.Sansbury
-D.Schell ?

[JK]

Cheers Whatever, great to get your thoughts (which were very balanced and sensible btw)

[oldfella]

Very good read, whatever

[Down&Out]

I think what is even more interesting is the place that the U/18 competition will play in junior development in the future. Like it or not the U/18 comp is here to stay and clubs need to get behind it and use this as a major development league with its own specialised coaching and training, or legitimate "centres of excellence". I find it interesting that many clubs have not seen the benefits of this competition and from a pure money effect the bonus it can offer as a pathway to get kids signed to AFL clubs. This continues through to the use of these kids in the reserves competition were often they play out of position with players either looking to get back into the senior team or not good enough ever to go further and thus suffer. While the TAC competition is not a valid comparison- the WAFL comp certainly is where kids either play U/18 or after the national carnival they are promoted to the senior team- Look out for the number of quality kids that will be picked up in this years draft (and next year with Swallow, Darling, and matera already). Look also at the value of this with a player like Jack Trengove who followed a similar path. While people will say it is AFL driven - they need to make something of it as it is here to stay!