Mariners - "AUSTRALIAS" team?

[shipwreck]

Just been browsing over all the news stories about the a-league out there, and i cant help but notice nearly every team except for the Mariners and maybe Perth? have sold out on getting some form of international player(s) (Brazillian mainly)
In knowing this, i cant help but wonder if playing the mariners is the closest you will get to seeing an "Australian" team of australian players, gumpy has been here for over a decade, he barely counts...
Thoughts?

[timmyv]

yer its interesting to see.
From wiki
Perth only have 2 pomies in Robinson and Young.

And you lt only have Grumps

Edit entered soruce

[Andy]

timmyv said:

And you lt only have

What?

[Coaster]

andyj said:

timmyv said:

And you lt only have

What?

Think before you speak...

[timmyv]

yea it didnt enter rest of my post, i said "and you lot have grumps", its fixed now

[forzamariners]

How is it selling out?
I feel we have the players needed already not to go oversea's but if other clubs feel the need to then so be it.I dont see how it is selling out, unless the clubs stated that they were going to rely solely on local talent.

[shipwreck]

Didnt mention anything about selling out...
I just feel a swell of pride for the mariners when i see the 11 men take the field knowing that they grew up on Australian food, learned to play on Australian grass and most of all, got their shot at the big time from Australian fans.
Id hate to see most of these 11 spots be replaced by an influx of overseas stars, potentially taking away that shot from a local kid, because isnt that really what the a-league is all about?
Long story short, i dont want the A-league heavyweights to be determined by who has the best scout in brazil (Yes Mr Merrick, im talking to you), i want it to be determined by who has the best community strength, the highest team cognition and passion and most of all, the team that does whats best for its supporters, not its sponsors..., all these things really come to mind when i think of the Mariners and i guess it all comes down to local pride, we have plenty of it here on the Coast.
Bring on all your foreign players that cant even speak english, we are waiting!

[forzamariners]

shipwreck said:

Just been browsing over all the news stories about the a-league out there, and i cant help but notice nearly every team except for the Mariners and maybe Perth? have sold out on getting some form of international player(s) (Brazillian mainly)

Thats you mentioning that they sold out.

[mortez]

IMO we could definitely use the services of a TOP CLASS foreign footballer who has learned his trade overseas to lead the way and show our younger players what "sacrifices" and "single minded discipline" is needed to succeed in the game, and become a TOP CLASS professional footballer.

Ideally some one who knows what it is like to go hungry if they don't succeed, and who has sublime skills, and has a real passion for football.

[dibo (pron. "DIB-OH")]

mortez - names? you're practically playing guess who there.

[Pete]

I thought Perth had recently brought in some players from OS?

To me, a player is a player no matter where the hell he may have originated from. Gumps has endeared himself to our Community, he's definately a crowd favourite as was Sully (Irish/British). Milton endeared himself to the Jets while he was there, so it really is up to the individual player to come into the squad and establish himself.

If we had the 'choice' of picking a Mariners First XI from any of the world's current players, I bet we'd have more than a few players from OS (Drogba would be starter for me if money wasn't an issue). Salary caps and financial constraints on clubs does bring the local player into the picture and will continue to do so for quite a while.

I think the Mariners, by setting up the Academy and taking on local players from the outset has set themselves up well for the future so long as the players coming out of the Academy have some loyalty to them in return.

But players are more mercenary in their careers now. They really have to be, to maximise their $$ while they can play at the best leagues in the prime of their careers.

[shift2]

I think that as opposed to selling out it is a credit to the youth system the Mariners have put in place.

I am not exactly comparing the two, but if you look at teams like Man Utd who have had the likes of Beckham, Giggs and Scholes come from the youth system, but also imported the big stars as well. It leaves the door open for the young kids, but also doesn't exclude the big stars.

[curious]

I'd like to see containment on the number of imports per club as protection for Australian player development in the one & only professional league we have & will have in our life time. Limits will be become more important as the salarey cap increases over time & more dollars can be spent attracting imports. I don't want see a time when half or more of the starting squad are imports.

[rawmarinator]

This is all a bit silly TBH. The league unlike so many others has been set well in the fact each team can only have 4 foreign players in their side at once, hence stopping an overflow of overseas talent. Personally I believe it would be great to get a South American player for the mariners, especially with our academy. We should encourage and embrace this style of play, and incorporate this into the 'Australian' game.

I believe an exciting South American style player would be incredibly successful on the coast in a similar vein to 'headband boy' for the jets last year. Saying that, I also really respect what the mariners are trying to do, which is interlink with the local community.

There will always be more Australian players in this league, and will be tested by the introduction of top class opponents. Personally I think this is a brilliant initiative by most clubs, one that will dramatically improve the quality of the HAL's overall product.

[dibo (pron. "DIB-OH")]

curious said:

I'd like to see containment on the number of imports per club as protection for Australian player development in the one & only professional league we have & will have in our life time. Limits will be become more important as the salarey cap increases over time & more dollars can be spent attracting imports. I don't want see a time when half or more of the starting squad are imports.

there already is a 4 import limit for the HAL and 3 for the ACL.

[dibo (pron. "DIB-OH")]

curious said:

I'd like to see containment on the number of imports per club as protection for Australian player development in the one & only professional league we have & will have in our life time. Limits will be become more important as the salarey cap increases over time & more dollars can be spent attracting imports. I don't want see a time when half or more of the starting squad are imports.

...and NZ get concessions.

[curious]

dibo said:

curious said:

I'd like to see containment on the number of imports per club as protection for Australian player development in the one & only professional league we have & will have in our life time. Limits will be become more important as the salarey cap increases over time & more dollars can be spent attracting imports. I don't want see a time when half or more of the starting squad are imports.

there already is a 4 import limit for the HAL and 3 for the ACL.

Yes mate I know. I said containment.
Imports taking 4 of 11 starting spots is quite enough.

[newieutd]

shipwreck said:

Didnt mention anything about selling out...
I just feel a swell of pride for the mariners when i see the 11 men take the field knowing that they grew up on Australian food, learned to play on Australian grass and most of all, got their shot at the big time from Australian fans.
Id hate to see most of these 11 spots be replaced by an influx of overseas stars, potentially taking away that shot from a local kid, because isnt that really what the a-league is all about?
Long story short, i dont want the A-league heavyweights to be determined by who has the best scout in brazil (Yes Mr Merrick, im talking to you), i want it to be determined by who has the best community strength, the highest team cognition and passion and most of all, the team that does whats best for its supporters, not its sponsors..., all these things really come to mind when i think of the Mariners and i guess it all comes down to local pride, we have plenty of it here on the Coast.
Bring on all your foreign players that cant even speak english, we are waiting!

That smacks of racism.

You might not mean it, but, that is how is comes accross to me.

[uncleyellow]

It doesnt smack of racisim.... Its called passion! and pride in the coast and our team!

Lets not confuse pride with prejiduce!

I agree with the lad and Im married to a Macedonian.

[brett]

Racism? Puh-lease. Why does the r-word always find its way into discussions about overseas influence on Australian football?

The fact is, each squad has a core of the best Australian players outside the top European leagues, and then the remaining 4 signings determine the image, or ethos, of the squad.

Some teams elect to go for risky but high potential South American signings, others for big marquees, others for young locals. It's down to what the coach prefers and what will work best for the team and also what will attract fans in that market (you can see in this thread that some Coast people get passionate for locals, rather than big-name foreign stars, for example).

I believe that all clubs should find a balance in this for the sake of the Socceroos of future generations.

Each club should follow the Mariners' lead and set up youth development models for their regions, so that the best young players are identified and nurtured by their home A-League club.

But each club should also bring in some overseas influence to make the A-League more worldly and diverse. Some Asian influence is a must if we are to understand the Asian game and compete in the ACL and in the Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers.

This is an area that the Mariners lack in, because Lawrie's preference is to sign 'known quantities' only. Whereas other clubs have shown little endeavour in setting up an academy type system as we have.

So it's about getting that balance right, and I would say no club has done that as yet.