afc9798 wrote:MatteeG wrote:Leo wrote:Flaggies have been very disappointing and Brighton have toiled away with an inferior squad this year.
Flaggies have had a forgettable season, but to be fair have been decimated this year (some quality departures/ big injuries to key players/ Lack of 'big' recruits). Depth has really been tested, last week we had some real 'veterans' running around in the Bs... The As Have shown some promise during games but havent put 4 solid quarters together too many times.
Not trolling, I am genuinely interested in why Flaggies great junior program never translates to senior success. Valleys have 18 of their best 22 that are former juniors of the club, so I would have thought that Flaggie would be around the mark with the amount of quality juniors that go through the club Do they stop playing, do they go mercenary for the money, or do they just not develop further? Would be an interesting case study.
As a sideline, to start with people talk about Brighton being "decimated". Well, Flaggies have at times this year fielded side missing the top 15 from last year's best and fairest !! And with all that, I believe that only 3 of those are playing at other non-league clubs (one due to job transfer, one due to $$). NOW THAT IS "DECIMATED" !!
No mystery why junior success has not YET translated into senior success really, Flaggies have had great juniors come into senior ranks consistently and flourish. They are not only the backbone, but the core of the side. Very rarely do we have quality players leave to go elsewhere, but the rare 2 or 3 have been for the money that they won't find here. Our great juniors have turned into great seniors as our consistently young and competetive sides over recent years shows. Our last 7 or so Captains have all been under 25 - a number of them well under !
The difference between us and Valleys, Morphett Vale, even Reynella etc. is that we were coming from a very low base. We had pretty average senior sides when these guys were coming through juniors, and very few older senior players. Most of the remaining senior players retired or moved down and these very young players have had to assume the mantle of the "older" experienced A graders from a very young age. I actually think their performances over recent years have been fantastic, but as happens with youth, you get inconsistencies.
The big difference between Flaggies and those other clubs is that they were coming from a base where they had success, they had a successful backbone of senior players in their senior sides, and if they require players to top up or fill roles they can go into the market very competetively. Clubs like Happy Valley (our nearest neighbour) have a huge advantage of the success in the 90s and more recently, the young players could step into A Grade as a young player knowing that they had bigger older blokes alongside them to look after them.
Plus, it's always a bonus if you can identify a player you need and have the money to buy them, and all of their mates
All I can say is that gradually we are getting towards the stage where our (still quite young) senior players have many years of A Grade senior experience, and we still keep producing quality juniors. The balance will be reached, and we will get quality player back from long-term injury and other absences - we are getting close to where clubs have been before their dynasties have happened (minus the old blokes - who eneded up in B's anyway)
So, don't worry .. we have faith in our players, and faith in our future.
