Accordingly, the coaching staff work hard to utilise a common football language through all their teams to allow this flexibility. “All the players speak the same language, both on and off the pitch. This allows an U13 player to play in the U20s, per se, because they understand what the model looks like and how it works. The difference between age groups is in expectations, not player tasks”.

Furthermore, the language is designed to be simple, drawn directly from the game. The Marconi coaches don’t make football sound complex, but it does just sound logical. This shared language also helps the coaches communicate better, because they have a common understanding. Therefore, between teams they can provide each other with detailed, constructive feedback.

Training also follows a similarly rational approach. Lambert firmly believes that a distinguishing characteristic between Marconi and other clubs is the broadening of the Game Training concept.

Game Training, as presented in the FFA’s Advanced Coaching Courses, focuses upon recreating football problems in training as realistically as possible - including size of the pitch (often half-field) and number of players (14-20). A fundamental problem with this, Marconi believe, is that recreating a ‘football problem’ accurately on such a large scale can take up too much valuable time; limiting the time available for youngsters to play, and in turn, reducing the number of touches on the ball everyone gets during a session.

Instead, there is a strong focus on incorporating this concept in small-area games based around positioning - like the ‘positioning games’ prescribed by the FFA’s coaching process. A critical difference is that the curriculum suggests this training component take up one quarter of a session, whereas in a Marconi session, it can be the exercise of longest duration. This allows players to get more touches, whilst still developing their understanding of the team model.

However, Lambert believes the National Curriculum comes in for unfair criticism. “The Curriculum has helped shape our coaching process and has heavily influenced our approach to training design,” he says. “It has not guided our decision to play the way we do, but it helped reinforce that what we were teaching was the way forward.”

“The Curriculum should be recognised for what it is - a way for coaches to develop a certain type of player and a certain way of playing, which is aligned to the FFA’s long-term vision for Australian football. It is not perfect, but it is a clear roadmap with certain elements to it which we believe we utilise effectively and can provide evidence for their success.”

Lambert also believes that the Curriculum is misunderstood. “From the A Licence onwards, coaches are encouraged to develop their own playing philosophy and coach according to this vision,” he says. “The FFA mandate a certain style of play in the C & B Licence because that allows coach educators to focus on teaching the coaching process. Ultimately, the key takeaway from Australia’s coach development system should be on the coaching process – which we believe we have proven works at Marconi with our unique style of play.”

What, though, is the Marconi difference? Why have they contributed as much to recent youth national teams as A-League clubs who have the luxury of enlisting the major proportion of the best talent? The coaches agree that the positive learning environment from U13 to U20 is critical.