LAST week FFA technical director Han Berger released plans for a “football master plan” which, at first glance, seems to be exactly what Australian football needs (and has been needing for a long time).

Berger has, in true European fashion, placed an emphasis on the development of skills rather than strength, something many Australian players have relied on in the past. Training will be based around skills, most junior coaches will need a licence, all senior coaches will need a licence and 4-3-3 will be the formation of choice.

However, I believe that there is a fundamental problem in Australia's representative system which could be the downfall of Berger's plan.

I have never been an amazing football player, however, I have grown up seeing my brother pursue football very seriously. For years, I have watched his games, seen his training sessions and, most importantly, attended his representative trials.

The faults were not in the training, or the fact that he was part of the generation playing 11-a-side games at a very young age and had one of the team member's fathers coaching. The faults were in the selection of the rep teams.

My brother is a left defender. He has played on the left side of defence for years and the position has grown on him and if I say so myself, he is very good at it. He has an excellent sense of position and has a very strong left foot. However, he has never been selected for a rep team, despite an apparent shortage of talented, young left-sided players in Australia.

I've attended several of his rep trials and, to my horror, the selectors' way of determining talent was to chuck a bunch of 11 year olds onto a small-sized field, without goalkeepers, and watch them go at it.

I watched in amazement as several boys, who were obviously natural defenders, maintained their defensive position excellently while other kids converged on the ball like it was a free box of Krispy Kreme donuts. These kids spent most of the game staying back and knocking balls out of play and, when needed, feeding the ball through to the ball-hogging attackers. This situation was exactly the same in every one of the mini games I saw at the trials.

At the end of the day, the kids who got selected were the selfish, ball-hogging, aggressive attackers. Apart from the two goalkeepers (who were actually the only two who had turned up to trials), the entire team consisted of a bunch of miniature Nikita Rukavytsyas.

And we think there's a shortage of decent Aussie defenders now!

If this method of selection continues, defensive minded players will continue to be ignored and will, therefore, slip through the representative system. We'll end up having very attacking defenders or being forced to play 0-7-3 (or something like that).

A friend of my brother's has, this year, left football to pursue rugby. This kid was incredibly talented. He was about average in the pace department but his best quality was his amazing ability to put the ball exactly where it needed to go. Which I noticed, at the age of 12, was a very rare thing. He was a bit like Mile Jedinak and -  I don't want to seem presumptuous here -  I think he could've played international football quite easily. However, this kid was firmly convinced that he wouldn't get into reps.

With the emphasis being placed on speed, stamina and skills, it's not difficult to understand why this mental block could occur in young players.

Once we lose these kids (to other codes or through faulty representative systems), it's unlikely they'll ever turn out for a national team at any level. Talented youngsters need to be tracked. Players need to be groomed to play certain positions. Representative teams should be choosing a full playing squad, i.e. attackers, midfielders AND defenders.

It's a well-known fact that Socceroos great Robbie Slater never played reps. However a player like that comes once in a generation. Youth representative football needs a serious shake up if Berger's plan for world (football) domination is even the slightest bit serious about becoming a reality.

This week, Arabella proved that it is possible to juggle a football while wearing 12 centimetre heels.