Australia’s highest level of youth football has seen an absolutely astonishing 76 goals scored across its 15 matches so far this campaign, an average of just over five a game.

Indeed, not even at its halfway point, the competition has already seen scorelines of 8-3, 7-0, 6-6, 6-1 and 6-0 across its four rounds.

Though the Y-League has always been a free-scoring league – at this point last season 49 goals had been scored for just over three goals a game average – the action has been taken up another notch this year.

Leaving aside the gripes one can have about how there surely must be some sort of market that would tune into a simple stream of such an attacking competition, the question of just what is causing such an explosion of offensive productivity must be asked.

Though Australia being about to produce a new generation of attacking talent hitherto unseen on these shores might be the sexy answer, according to respected and long-time youth development coach and current Melbourne Knights Assistant Lachlan Armstrong, the real answer is likely more mundane.

“Just the timing of the A-League fixtures and the eligible players being involved with A-League,” Armstrong said when asked about the bounty of goals. “Depending on whatever weekend it may be, if an A-League team is playing on a Friday night then the youth team might get access to the players that have been on the extended bench.

“It may be very possible for a full-strength youth team to be playing an understrength team because the other team has got a lot of players involved in the A-League team on a Sunday.

“You’ve also got to take into consideration that there’s a lot of A-League clubs – and so they should – that see their training as a priority so kids are missing game time to shore up the numbers in training.

“I think a lot about defending is about playing with those alongside you and building those relationships and having an understanding of how each other plays.

“Players training with the A-League is fantastic and this is maybe a by-product of young players training in an A-league environment that are coming back virtually to just play games on the weekend.

“It is easier to set up teams in attack than it is in defence, especially if you don’t get to work with them day in and day out. Maybe that’s why we're seeing some average to poor defending, as a result.”

Casting his eyes further afield, Armstrong also said the current nature of youth football in Australia may lend itself to producing more high-scoring games, with fewer panel beaters being developed at the back that could stem the bleeding.

“In a development environment, you’re mostly concentrating on attacking principles and creating players,” he explained.

“Holistically, you’re coaching individuals to become a first-team player. Yes, you are doing it in a team environment but success for a youth coach is how many of those individual players are going to become contracted first-team players.

“To a certain extent, the results don’t matter if you’re producing players every year that go on to represent your first team.

“I guess the other thing is the curriculum. All our kids we’re working with now are products of the curriculum and that’s very much an attacking focused document - what we do with the ball.

“I was at a conference on the weekend and I think there’s been a realisation that maybe we’ve gone too far in that direction and that a lot of kids coming through the current curriculum aren’t great defenders, because we don’t work on it as much as what we used to 10 years ago.

“I think it’s very hard to say there’s a quality centreback that we’ve got coming through in the young national teams for example.

“Perhaps it’s that attacking focus of the curriculum that might have left us with a little bit of a hole of quality defenders coming through.”

Central Coast Mariners v Newcastle Jets – Postponed

Originally scheduled to take place on Saturday morning, the Y-League version of the F3 Derby was postponed on Friday afternoon because the predicted Air Quality Index (AQI) reading was forecast to be in the extremely hazardous range thanks to nearby bushfires and wind conditions.

Defined by Columbia University as when the Air Quality Index exceeds 300, such conditions are considered hazardous for everyone and “may prompt emergency condition alerts.”

Unfortunately, such conditions are likely to be an increasing concern not just for the Y-League, but all summer sports in the face of climate change.

“I do think that as climate change continues to bite over the next few decades, sporting bodies are going to have to look at changing the timing of events that are commonly held in summer,” the Climate Council’s Lesley Hughes told The Guardian earlier this year.

“It’s not just the big international events, it’s kids’ sporting events as well.”

Ultimately, though, sport is a secondary concern when so many lives are being uprooted by the still ongoing fires that are raging across Australia.

Adelaide United 3-2 Melbourne City

Adelaide came out firing from their bye week in round four’s opening contest: dramatically defeating a visiting Melbourne City at John Smith Park on Saturday morning.

After a cagey opening, Adam Leombruno put the hosts ahead in the 39th minute when he drove a low shot beyond City keeper Joe Gauci, only for City to answer back a minute into the second half when Idrus Abdulahi struck from close range.

A solo effort from Binyam Kebede restored the Reds’ lead in the 57th minute but City once again equalised when Jordi Valadon, taking advantage of Dakota Ochsenham coming off his line to half-clear a loose ball, chipped into an empty net in the 78th minute.

Yet, late drama was afoot with what proved to be almost the final kick of the game when 86th minute substitute Daniele Bressan pounced in the 95th minute of play to secure three points for the hosts.

Sydney FC 6-0 Western Sydney Wanderers

Sydney FC romped to the top of Conference B in the Y-League Sydney Derby, putting six of the best past their crosstown Red and Black foes in a curtain-raiser to the Harboursiders A-League side who then put five past Brisbane Roar on Saturday evening at Jubilee Stadium.

Australian U17 representative Jaiden Kucharski got things going in just the third minute of play when he latched onto a pass from Marco Tilio and laced an effort past Jack Greenwood in the Wanderers’ goal.

Nine minutes later it was two when Tilio went from provider to scorer as he curled an effort from the top of the box in the 11th minute.

Kucharski capitalised on Wanderers failing to clear their lines in the 33rd minute to make it 3-0 before Jordi Swibel turned in a Cameron Peupion to further pile on the pain in the 33rd minute.

Swibel then made it 5-0 in the 68th minute before Kucharski put the cherry on the sundae with his hattrick in the 70th minute to begin a memorable day for the Harboursiders.

Conference B’s representatives in the Grand Final for two-straight seasons, the loss leaves the Wanderers four points adrift of both Sydney and Central Coast Mariners nearing the season’s halfway point.

Perth Glory 0-4 Brisbane Roar

Roar’s undefeated start to their title-defence rolled onward on Sunday as Head Coach Chris Grossman’s side made the trip west and recorded a comprehensive win over Perth Glory.

The side in orange took the lead in the 39th minute when senior-listed player George Mells found the net on a fast break before Dauntae Mariner sent his side into halftime with a 2-0 lead when he fired home in the first minute of injury time.  

Keegan Jelacic then made it three for the visitors when he struck in the 49th minute and then grabbed his brace in the 81st minute to seal the win.

The three points earned at Dorrien Gardens see Roar leap to the top spot in Conference A heading towards the season’s halfway point – a point clear of second-placed Adelaide United.

Glory, meanwhile, remain rooted to the bottom of the conference.

The only side thus far to have played four games so far in Conference A, they have just a single point – earned in a madcap 6-6 draw with Melbourne City – to their name.