BASED on their last performances, it’s blatantly obvious that the “Aussie-roos” are simply not up to standard.

Failure to easily overcome the likes of Indonesia and Kuwait is simply unacceptable and shows the need to drastically improve the standard of the A-League - and as soon as possible. Bringing fringe Socceroos home from Europe is a good first step. Had Moore, Jamieson and Galekovic been joined by the likes of Chris Coyne, Mile Sterjovski and Scott Chipperfield then no doubt a more favourable result could've been achieved.

But that really only solves half the problem. Ultimately an entirely domestic-based squad will include some players with little or no overseas experience. Enabling these players to compete more ably at international level and allowing them to discover just where they really sit in world football ranks must be a priority for our national administrators.

Establishing an A-League developmental squad (ALDS) would be an ideal method to further this cause. Basically, the squad would select 20-30 players deemed most likely to be capable of playing in a full Socceroos squad, or reaching such levels in the future. It would operate to fill the gap between the Joeys and Young Socceroos and senior international football. Top A-League players with little Socceroos or European experience would be prime candidates for the squad.

The Socceroos team playing Kuwait included names like Galekovic, McKay, Simon, Vargas, Zullo and Mullen. These are all good players (ok I have my doubts about one or two, but others rate them highly enough), but two facts conspire against them. They have spent little time as teammates and little time training in an elite environment.

Ideally I'd like to see some of these players regularly taken away for training camps together, and also playing friendly matches. These matches would not be ‘Socceroos' matches as it wouldn't be a Socceroos squad. The ALDS would operate as a team on its own. Performances for the ALDS would obviously affect selection for games such as the Kuwait match, but players from outside the squad could also be selected while poorly performing players in the squad might be left out.

The key staff member responsible for the ALDS would be its head coach. This would simply have to be a European. They would preferably have extensive experience in European club football both at an elite level (e.g. Serie A or Bundesliga) and also lower levels (e.g. Poland or Romania). This combination would allow them to encourage the ALDS players to train to the very highest standard, but would also give the coach a degree of tolerance for the lesser standard of our local league. Perhaps Avram Grant, Nevio Scala or Michael Skibbe?

Training camps would be operated regularly throughout the A-League season. Friendly matches could also be arranged against Oceania and ASEAN opponents. The possibility of entering the Oceania and ASEAN Cups could also be explored. End of season tours would be arranged to broaden the experience of the players involved. Financially, it should be seen as a reasonable investment as it would ultimately be beneficial to both the HAL and the Socceroos. Both would contribute funds and the HAL would primarily be responsible for the team (to distance it from Pim Verbeek and the Socceroos). If Graham Arnold's salary is sacrificed to make the project happen, even better!

Finances aside, the only major stumbling block for such an enterprise might be resistance from the owners of the players- the 10 A-League clubs. But here again a positive solution presents himself. Players named as part of the ALDS would come with some sort of salary cap exemption. Perhaps something like 40% of their yearly wage would be made exempt from the salary cap as compensation to the clubs for allowing the players to travel for training sessions or friendly matches. This would also help lure Aussie talent back home, if they could be added to the ALDS and thus portions of their salary would fall outside the cap.

If a developmental squad were to be named for the start of the 2009-2010 season based on current HAL squads, it might include:

GOALKEEPERS
Galekovic, Vanstratten, Theoklitos, Velaphi

DEFENDERS
Cornthwaite, Jamieson, D.Mullen, Thwaite, R.Vargas, Topor-Stanley, T.Elrich, DeVere, Cole, McKain

MIDFIELDERS
Caceres, Minniecon, Celeski, Berger, M.Thompson, Kantarovski, Pellegrino, Srhoj, Zullo, McKay

FORWARDS
Macallister, Simon, Porter, McBreen, Nicholls, Brosque


Some surprise omissions might include the likes of Craig Moore, Archie Thompson and Jason Culina. But all are experienced enough to not necessarily need the experience (though some sort of mentoring role in the team wouldn't be out of the question). Similarly the likes of Jesic, Grant, Neville and Grossman might be considered but are still very young and would need to find their feet at A-League level first. Perhaps a cadetship programme would run concurrently for these players.

Ultimately this is just an idea to fix a very clear and present problem for Australian football. Getting these long-term HAL players exposure to top European coaching is as important as exposing them to each other. Improving the level of Australia's local stars is critical and this is one possible method of achieving this goal.