Five months ago I interviewed Iain Ramsay at Pluim Park behind the deteriorating main block. It was muddy and smelt like, well... sweaty footballers. He and Sam Munro came out of the change rooms shirtless, apparently unaware of who was about to interview them.
Ramsay, a softly spoken character, told me his goal over the next few years was "to get a pro contract in the A-League. Work hard and stay there for a couple of years".
Anyone who witnessed his magnificent display on the weekend would agree that he's come pretty far since then and is well on the way to achieving his goal.
Such is the strange paradox of Australian football. In a single match we can have disappointing performances from experienced, hyped up payers and man of the match inputs from young unknowns.
It honestly makes you wonder who else is out there, yet to be discovered.
Last week, Han Berger expressed his belief that there should be more young players in the A-League, rather than older imports. Frankly, the weekend's A-League action showed us just that. It was almost as if all the young players had heard Berger's words and planned to prove him right.
Outside of Adelaide, North Queensland Fury, while not having a team in last year's NYL competition, have used their financial cuts as a means of signing cheaper, young players.
Ex-youth league stars like Chris Payne, Osama Malik and Chris Grossman have already shown they are capable of performing at A-League level (although they are yet to prove that they can consistently produce good form).
Elsewhere, expect to see Melbourne Heart's Aziz Behich, Brendan Hamill and Eli Babalj play a significant part in the Heart's inaugural A-League campaign.
Take away the ex-NYL players and there are still some extraordinarily talented young players in the A-League (many of whom are in that awkward age group that was too young for the NSL and but too old for the NYL). Some particularly exciting prospects are Oliver Bozanic, Ben Kantarovski, Adrian Leijer and Tando Velaphi.
As a strong advocate of increasing the number of young footballers in the A-League, I'm obviously a supporter of Berger's views. Truth be told, I'd rather watch a league of Chris Paynes and Michael Marrones than a league full of older imports. Thankfully, this season this appears to be occurring more frequently and some of the more cringe-worthy imports have been dumped (Bob Malcolm...).
A particularly interesting point Berger made was that "Australia is a development country so you should create as many opportunities for your own young talented players as possible".
At this stage of the A-League, I believe there is too much focus on bringing in imports and I can't understand why this is so. These are the players that will be the future Alex Brosque's and Matt McKay's.
As Berger said, Australia is a country that plays a developmental role in world football at the moment. Our most talented young players will inevitably go overseas so why not provide them with opportunities to grow in our national competition?
We only have a small quota of foreign players, why not use their experience to educate and nurture our own talent, rather than dominate it?
I don't see why anyone in their right mind would prefer a league of imports after a game like the Adelaide/Heart game last Friday night. After a somewhat tumultuous week for Australian football, it was nice to end on such a positive and encouraging note.
Young players are better off playing regularly in the A-League than benchwarming for a second or third tier team's reserve side in Europe (or indeed Asia). With three A-League players selected in Olger Hosieck's Socceroos squad for next week's games, it's clear the new boss has nothing against our national competition.
From what we've heard from Osieck so far, he's keen to bring the next generation of Socceroos up to full international level. He will be checking out what the A-League has to offer and who's to say he won't pick someone like Leckie, Kantarovski, Bozanic or Leijer in his Asian Cup squad?
