Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

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milan_7
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Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby milan_7 Mon Nov 27, 2017 10:29 am

At the moment we have a flourishing crop of young Adelaide lads getting a chance, and doing well for us. It got me thinking, would you support the club going down the route of only selecting players born in SA. I think it would be a phenomenal idea and make us truly have a different culture/atmosphere from every other club, the money that we save on having a lot of local guys could be spent on bringing the top locals such as McGowan and Troisi home as well as continuing to improve our academy system. I really like what we are doing at the moment with academy players so it would be great if one day we could go all out.

If you look at our full squad, the ones in bold are South Aussies (O'Doherty and Ochieng technically aren't born here, but would count seeing they moved here at a young age).

1. Margush
2. Marrone
4. Warland

5. Regan
6. Lia
7. Kitto
8. Isaias
9. Baba
10. Matmour
11. Absalonsen
12. Ochieng
14. Blackwood
16. N. Konstandopoulos
17. Mileusnic
18. Brook
19. Garuccio
20. Izzo

21. Elrich
22. Gulum
23. Elsey
24. O'Doherty
25. Stamatelopoulos
28. K. Konstandopolous
29. Strain

37. Adlung

That is 15 of a 25 man list, probably the highest ratio of any club in the league. Even if we just did every Australian is an SA local I think that would be a big step (we are only a few players off of reaching this.
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Re: Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby blahblah Mon Nov 27, 2017 11:38 am

Personally I like the idea, though you'd have to accept less on-field success.
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Re: Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby Old Gregg Mon Nov 27, 2017 11:51 am

We can be a quasi-national team for South Australia like Athletic Bilbao are for the Basques ... I like it.
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Re: Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby EdDog Mon Nov 27, 2017 12:32 pm

Love the idea.

5 quality foreigners and the rest locals.

Plenty of talent in SA for this to work.

Like you said, majority of team currently are SA lads and they’re doing as good as any Aussie players.
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Re: Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby shinAUFC Mon Nov 27, 2017 7:34 pm

In theory yes.

There are limitations that prevent us from being able to implement thus 100%

The salary cap, as soon as someone like warland or ochieng show some form another aleague club with for room in their cap to fill the position will outprice us and we just cannot keep paying them what they are worth as they mature while remaining in the cap.

We dont play enough games to keep many of our talents. Tongyk kamau mauk goodwin are prime example who left the club because at the time they could not play the minutes they deserved ( this is the only reason sydney gave up blackwood)

The way the league is set up ut encourages a high turn over and player merry go round.

This is why ive always said there is very little incentive to play the local lads when we cant keep them from other aleague clubs losing them for free.
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Re: Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby Rojos Mon Nov 27, 2017 7:40 pm

This is what Gombau was in the first stagez of, the "Cantera" system.
Theory being that a small city cant compete with a big one unless the players share a passion greater than $$$$

I dont get the point of Regan and Lia, may as well be Mullen and Cornflakes. Hell I'd have Mauk over Audlung.

Anyway, this should be a focus of our club, giving SA players a platform to shine and move overseas, either from the youth squad (McGee, Mabil etc) or recycled (Mauk, Goodwin, McGowan)

Next on the list :
Tongyik
Koutroumbis
Mauk
Kamau

And to recruit when their o/s stint is done:
Borello
Inman
Mabil
Goodwin
McGowan x2
Djite

If we dont net $1-1.2M for Izzo and Elsey in the next 24 month ill be stunned.
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Re: Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby EdDog Mon Nov 27, 2017 7:41 pm

In theory yes.

There are limitations that prevent us from being able to implement thus 100%

The salary cap, as soon as someone like warland or ochieng show some form another aleague club with for room in their cap to fill the position will outprice us and we just cannot keep paying them what they are worth as they mature while remaining in the cap.

We dont play enough games to keep many of our talents. Tongyk kamau mauk goodwin are prime example who left the club because at the time they could not play the minutes they deserved ( this is the only reason sydney gave up blackwood)

The way the league is set up ut encourages a high turn over and player merry go round.

This is why ive always said there is very little incentive to play the local lads when we cant keep them from other aleague clubs losing them for free.
I don’t see this as a barrier to us bringing only SA lads through.

You are 100% right about player turnover but at the same time, whenever an SA lad has moved on to bigger and better things, we’ve had plenty to replace them with (with varying degrees of improvement admittedly)

Looking back:
Mabil left then Kamau stepped up.
Kamau left and Mileusnic has stepped up.

Goody left and Kitto has stepped up.

Mauk left and McGree stepped up.
McGree left and Konstand has stepped up.

Add in players like Izzo, Elsey, Warland, O’Doherty, Garuccio, Marrone and there are bunch of players good enough.

I think it would be something to be immensely proud of having a heap of SA boys running around for us and the league.
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Re: Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby Ghost Mon Nov 27, 2017 7:42 pm

We would lose Lia, Regan, Elrich, Gulum and Blackwood.

Gulum is the huge loss, the rest are probably replaceable to some extent.

The best SA only team would be something like
Izzo
Marrone - D. McGowan - R. McGowan - Goodwin
Malik
McGree - Mauk
Mabil - Djite - Troisi

Margush, Elsey, Inman, Garrucio, Borrello
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Re: Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby Rojos Mon Nov 27, 2017 8:13 pm



We dont play enough games to keep many of our talents. Tongyk kamau mauk goodwin are prime example who left the club because at the time they could not play the minutes they deserved
Agree with a lot of what you say but thr above only means the club woukd be functioning on a high level.

1. Thr youth squad is producing A-league and above quality players.
2. The first team is doing so well these lads need to leave to get more minutes.

If we can get more Izzo, Elsey (sort of) and Goodwin types leaving for smaller clubs and then coming back as better players then that is great.
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Re: Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby shinAUFC Mon Nov 27, 2017 11:06 pm

Sure but the problem is it takes atleast half a season for the next kid to be even close to the level we need to be competitive.

By that time the season is gone,

Kamau odoherty mcgree mabil ochieng elsey were all heavily critisiced as first to varying degree and none hit the ground running. Mcgree is possibly the only exception.

A few tweaks from FFA abd its possible. Kids who have spent x amount of time in our youth and senoir squad could have salary exemptions.

It encourages clubs like us to develop our team abd clubs like city and sfc can buy top shelf marquees
Ppl who slap the label of truth on the 1st thing they hear, do it out of ignorance, convenience or cant be bothered picking through a thin layer of falsehood to find the real truth, or possibly even another lie
The voice in our head is the final judge
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Re: Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby View From The Top Tue Nov 28, 2017 8:44 am

Interesting idea. However if applied from the beginning would we like to have missed out on favourites (ignoring visa players)like:

Galekovich
Djite
Burns
Leckie
Ognenovski
McCain
Elrich

There may be others but that's what I can think of off the top of my head.
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Re: Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby Ghost Tue Nov 28, 2017 7:34 pm

I wrongly thought Djite was more of a South Australian.
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Re: Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby View From The Top Wed Nov 29, 2017 8:20 am

Came from Sydney I recall, but born in Washington I think.

Not originally a South Aussie.
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Re: Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby Ghost Wed Nov 29, 2017 10:07 am

Came from Sydney I recall, but born in Washington I think.

Not originally a South Aussie.
I knew he was born in Washington, forget he grew up in Sydney.
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Should we try and be the Australian Bilbao?

Postby Stuckey Wed Nov 29, 2017 10:24 am

I’d love to see it. But at a club level it would require far more support from the local leagues and clubs. If it was to happen on a national level it would require a total overhaul of the salary cap system. Which I’d certainly be in favour of.
That would need salary cap concessions to be geared towards home grown players instead of high paid foreigners.
I’d love to see a system where players that have played an agreed amount of games for a HAL club’s youth sides (at least 50 would be my number) means they count as a “home grown” player who can be exempt from the cap as long as they stay at the club. Meaning first year players are looked at more favourably and once/if they get to a point of overseas clubs coming knocking, the club isn’t hindered by the salary cap to offer a competitive contract. This system means a club can gain an advantage from placing energy and resources into their youth systems. I’d also be in favour of these homegrown players (especially the first year ones) not counting towards the player roster as well.
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