News that Ryan Edwards, the son of former Socceroo Alistair Edwards was having trials with Adelaide United was met with mixed feelings.
First of all it is great to see that he may well be on the road to following in his father’s footsteps, and that another Western Australian is possibly stepping up to the next level.
However the downside is that we could possibly see another Western Australian player end up playing for another team, in another state.
We believe that finding the right club is a very important part of a player’s development, just as finding the university with the course that suits your long term ambitions, but it is worrying that Western Australian talent is moving interstate.
Ryan has been at the AIS – which we understand now has a very short future – but surely if the FFA is going to take talent from other states to the AIS, the A League clubs in the states that they come from should have first option on the player.
It means that the player will have the support of their family, should things not be working out. It also means that the already hemorrhaging A League clubs do not have the added expense of helping find them accommodation or have to pay a higher salary to cover their rental costs.
Western Australia has in the past year seen Eli Babalj sign for Melbourne Heart from the AIS and also Trent Sainsbury sign for the Central Coast Mariners. We are very happy to see young Western Australian talent make that step up, but it would be preferable to see them playing here in their home state.
The same would apply for many of the A League clubs, home grown talent will always inspire fans more than imports.
Thanks as always for your comment.
That is Why we enjoy covering the Youth League on the station. Home grown talent playing with pride.
This club has to develop local talent and this is what we beleive the Director of football role should be doing. There may be players not quite good enough when they are too old for the Youth team but with continual coaching may be a year later.
Sadly to some players it is just a job, not a privilege to be playing a sport you love and getting paid for it
After the Glory game on Sunday, I can honestly say that I would rather watch our youth players try their best and get beaten 3-0 than watch a bunch of has-beens and never-were’s like we had to do.
You can see and hear the genuine interest in the club when local players break into the team such as Scott Neville, Harnwell all those years ago, Risdon, Pearson, Jukic and Howath.
On the weekend, every time Pearson got the ball it was almost like the crowd were willing him on to do something special because he was one of our own.
The same could certainly not be said of players like Baird who have been brought in but have added little to our team.