Time to scrap our NPL team and enter a proper reserves in the AL2.
The latter.
Oh FFS Sutherland have just hit the lead in injury time away to Manly. Both sides down to 10 and in the 90th minute Manly rounded the keeper but didn’t take a pot at the empty net from 35-40 yards, instead tried to dribble the covering defenders and ran it out for a GK. 
Sutherland go up the other end and pinch it.
Gus having a horrid time but to be fair so are most of the players tonight.
NPL 2 
Those last 2 goals have been incredibly poor.
Gus Hoefsloot has had a nightmare tonight. Hopefully it’s just rustiness after his long injury layoff. He’s much better than he’s shown tonight.
Will Kennedy has also been at fault for 3 of the goals and have the ball away that nearly led to another goal.
This performance is reminiscent of our early season games.
I thought in the end we performed pretty well last year.
Look sometimes you need to take a step back before you can take two forward steps. I’m choosing to look at it like this.
We go down for a season - maybe two, come back stronger and harder. We’ll know what to expect now in the NPL1.
Concern is if and when we call up a youngster for the men’s it will be a huge step up going from NPL2 to Aliga, its a big step from NPL1 to Aliga as is,
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I don’t think this is as big an issue as people think it is. Guys like Silvera, Nisbet and Balard came from NPL2 and did fine. If you’re training with the first team and playing regularly at a decent level that’s what’s important.
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How many A League quality young players have Australia’s Shame produced?
They’ve not been in NPL1 since 2017.
How many players did WSW produce while they were bouncing around in NPL2?
While it may be possible to produce a couple of players by playing in the lower divisions I think that our continued success in developing young players by having them play at the highest level possible is reaping the biggest rewards.
Also, pretty sure that if the NPL side gets relegated then all of the junior teams also play in NPL2. That’s definitely not good for the development of our 12-16yo’s.
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Who is the current youth coach?
Time for a new appointment?
Absolutely not. His job is to develop players, not win stuff, we’ve been doing that at a helluva rate and he’s also now overseeing their integration into the first team.
We’re guilty of running with a squad too young and inexperienced this year and maybe not plugging that gap of 20 yo’s who are NPL quality but not deemed future first-teamers to hold it together while the next batch hatches (the Kealey’s, Ben Gibson’s etc). No guarantee they’d have made a difference, mind, they still have to be U23 and would be still competing against grown men and ex-professionals. We’ve also covered the mid-season churn down there to death, players will always go where they’re wanted, paid, and still have a pathway so it’d be a tough sell to keep those guys knowing they’re only keeping seats warm (and in turn, taking minutes off that next batch).
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It’s separate. Youth will stay in Youth League 1.
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Surely parents and agents and the kids themselves would prefer to develop through clubs with access to NPL1 for their development. Would hate for us to lose talent because of it. That said, based on recent years you would expect that we’d bounce back fairly quickly
I actually think they’ll be more looking at the end goal rather than anything else. The options for top-tier teams are SFC, WSW and Macarthur, at least in the Sydney area. We’ve shown the most success on the pitch with our senior teams and definitely feel like the more stable club. More importantly, the number of players that have gone on to overseas contracts, or the very least other A-League contracts, after graduating from our youth, would be a strong focus for prospective players.
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Are we all but confirmed for relegation? How many rounds left?
Ever since we got promoted we seem to yo-yo in the bottom half of the ladder. I’m not saying the boys are going to win the league. We escaped relegation by the skin of our teeth a few years ago when Bonnyrigg were relegated - technically we finished last but Bonnyrigg were below us on the club championship.
4 games left, Fascists, APIA, Rockdale and Olympic:
The last two seasons we’ve done really well. We would have made the last finals series in 2022 if we won our last game, but due to a few first team callups (fu SC) we forfeited. Instead we stacked and won the 20’s GF at Parra.
Last season we were right up there until the mid-season churn and losing half the squad (there were no finals last year).
The one thing that may save us with that run in is that there’s no finals.
Only Rockdale have something to play for out of those 4 teams.
Top 6 play finals again this year. 
Sutherland will host the Mariners this weekend. Given both their superior goal differences, the winner will likely be safe from last place, making one less team for Sydney to catch. Sydney’s last four games are very tough.
I thought it was first past the post?