It’s got nothing to do with workload. If you throw an inexperienced teenager into a first team and tell them they’re replacing one of the most experienced players in the team, they’re more than likely going to tank it… It’s about slowly building up the pressure and allowing them to deal with it and get used to the completely different pace and level of play in the a-league vs NPL… I mean you have experienced players coming from overseas struggling to adapt…
this is why they train with the first team constantly. we always want to put some ceiling on these young players, if they arent up to the rigours of 1 game a week in this comp they aren’t up to it and are never going anywhere. it doesn’t matter who they’re replacing, that’s pure mindset and the club should have set them up nice and ready.
You’re just suggesting going from one end of the spectrum to the other in the way we develop young players. It’s not like we’re a development club. The drawbacks are plenty if we were to go with your approach.
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It’s posted earlier in this thread he missed most of last season with stress fractures in the back.
But yeah, just play him every week, what could go wrong?
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You’re saying we should replace one of our top players and we should have a youth player good enough to calmly step in. I’m not sure where you’re getting anything to do fitness in what i’m saying? I’d expect a 16 year old to be fit enough to play every week. I mean the way all youth are developed is they go thorugh reserves and youth teams before being subbed on a few games into the first team. Then maybe a few lesser games starting and then a slow buildup until they’re starting players. Training and playing are two completely different things. I mean tit’s the equivalent of getting some kid fresh out of Uni to work as the CFO of Qantas… Sure they may have the knowledge, but they don’t have the experience
It will be retre Caceres. No change the whole season.
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Training is good and all, but it doesn’t replace match and career experience. Youth team players training with the first XI is essentially work experience.
You wouldn’t throw a work experience kid who comes into the office of a national company a 2-3 times a week for a few hours each, and then one day turn around and say ‘Hey Presto, you’re now a the head of XYZ department when he’s never been in a situation like that before’. You’re just setting them up for failure.
Countless young players have been blooded too early across the A-League, no matter how much talent they have, and have crashed, burnt, and then found themselves playing NPL for the rest of their careers.
We’re not in a situation like the Mariners or the Jets whereby we have no option but to play some 16-17 year old and hope for the best. I’m all for bringing through good quality youth players, but throwing them in the deep end and expecting them to be as good as the player they’re replacing instantly is just insanity.
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play the kids
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Being thrown in the deep end worked for King.
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Joel King is still pretty raw and hardly a standout player at this stage. Alex Gersbach would be a better example, but then again he was a lot more talented.
Nieuwenhof had a broken vertebrae that kept him out last season. That’s not a simple ankle injury. I think Corica taking his time is the right thing. Astonishing how many people don’t really think about how injuries work. Or try to check.
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I think King is also a very very special talent. A back four in our system is much easier to slip into and learn than CM, replacing our arguable best player. If Brattan is an ACL, I think the best combo is Retre/Hoff. Caceres I’m still not sold on as a CM when there’s no Bratts
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Not at first. He looked very shaky at left back for a little while. Yes, he grew and improved over time, but he also had Wilkinson and McGowan in that first half of the season when Zullo first got proper broken. Now he’s experienced, and is also continuing to learn, develop and improve.
Obviously some players have the mental audacity and ability to be able to slot into the role - ala Gersbach - and he was sold overseas almost straight away, but most are going to take a while to find their feet.
In leagues where your season is 30-40 games, including cup appearances, you can sort of get away with blooding them in cup games - like Sydney Olympic - but in the A-League where it’s basically a sprint from Round 1 to the Grand Final, if you’re wanting to achieve a Top 4 position consistently and contest for things like Champions League on a regular basis you can’t be throwing raw players in the mix and hoping that it’s going to work instantly. We’ve seen us throw youth players into Champions League matches before, and completely sink at the pressure. That’s not going to do their confidence or potential ability any good.
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But I guess my point is how do we know Calem isn’t capable of it unless we try him out? I know when King started there, we were tearing our hair out on this forum waiting for the next fuck up and now there’s no question that he is nailed on as first choice LB even if Zullo returns from long term injury. There comes a point where you have to trust the kids otherwise they go somewhere else for game time.
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In this example, Hoff is coming back from injury. I do believe he deserves game time, but being thrust into a role he isn’t ready for (covering for Brattan for the whole year) is something I think should be avoided.
I’d like to see him start against Macarthur if he’s ready.
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I have no doubt that Calem is brimming with potential and ability, from the limited amount I saw of him in the last Champions League campaign and the opening game of last season, the kid has the ability to go places.
Had he not gotten injured shortly after scoring that pearler against Wellington in Round 1 last season, he would have undoubtedly been given more and more game time to impress, hone his skill, ability and overall attributes.
However, he picked up a serious injury that could threaten to derail not just the season gone, but the whole of his career. Stress fractures in your back is no calf niggle, or tight hammy. I’m no medical expert, sure, but I don’t think it’s an overly common injury in football. It’s more prominent in something like cricket - fast bowlers get them all the time, due to the contusions and twisting of muscles, ligaments what no in your back whilst bowling. Brett Lee suffered with them majorly during his early years as a up and coming fast bowler - and it probably took overall 2-3 years to fully recover from them (from memory, he was in a back brace for several months - I assume CN was the same).
Now, if Brattan had picked up a small muscle tear, or 2-4 week injury max, you could probably risk him in the short term. But coming back after a 12 month layoff, and expected to jump into a central midfield role, where you’re directing play, to have him playing in such a highly physically demanding role week in week out for 70-80 minutes, you’re just asking for the stress fractures to start up again, and spend an even longer period of time on the sidelines than 12 months. And that’s if the injury doesn’t then fuck up your back to the point where you can’t walk, let alone run in the future.
If Brattan - as suspected - has done his ACL and out for the next 9-12 months, and if we want to compete for finals, Champions League trophies, we’ll need to replace Brattan with somebody of similar quality.
If we’re happy to play and make up the numbers each week, then sure, throw all he youngsters in. And watch as the complaints roll in on a tidal wave every week as we hold up the rest of the ladder.
King has played 55 A-League games, Gersbach played 31 for us. Gersbach looked promising but still very raw for us.
Completely agree on the injury side but I think the “don’t start Calem he isn’t mentally ready” stuff is overblown and fundamentally unknowable.
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‘Raw’ might not be the best descriptor of King at this point, I’ll admit. The Gersbach stat just proves my own point though - a player obviously that good, you play him while you can.
I’m all for giving Hoff as many minutes as he can sustain. But having the expectation that he’s Brattan’s replacement and therefore has to match his output could lead to him choking.
At some point, of course, you have to give a player minutes or he’ll be off. Max Burgess and Cam Devlin are two recent examples - although I can’t say I was missing either dearly.