you also need to understand that A-league teams pad their squads with youth team players, almost half their first team squad come from there...whereas League Two teams have as many senior first team players as A-league first team squads in addition to a separate youth team.
With the high standard of play in the A-League, why are the crowds so low?
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I dont put too much weight on friendlies
Transfers probably a better indicator. If the expanded club world cup happened every year you could have a global elo ranking with more objective data
patjennings
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I don't know (or really care) what os league we align with. However, saying an ALM squad couldn't play the number of games is not a valid comparison. How good would some of the lower EFL teams be if they had to play in the middle of the afternoon in our summer.
Basically comparing apples to oranges.
Basically comparing apples to oranges.
it really isn't football playing in oppressive Australian summer heat
A-league teams may have a few players that are above national league or league two standard, however across the squad the depth falls of really fast. Defending at A-league level is atrocious by any measure and perhaps partly a result of the lack of consequences for finishing at the foot of the table.
Yeah and A-League clubs have to have 18-23 players on first team contracts (so pretty much 2 players per positions
) in addition to up to 16 scholarship players (full time youth team players) and then marquees on top of that.
So your argument is flawed
What a crock of shit
Ask anyone who has played A-League and they generally compare it to League One or lower end Championship.
FYI: AL clubs generally have bigger squads than League Two clubs
Not neccessarily, Shane Smetlz was bang average in the conference league, yet was a star in the a-league.
All the english blokes who play in the NPL, who have played in the lower levels in England think the A-League is on par with League two and some cases conference league.
We will never know though unless they played in a compeitive match.
LFC
Local Hero
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Seriously, HTF can you compare apples with oranges.
AL play 26 games excl those lucky in playoffs.
Championship has 46 bloody games excl the playoffs, throw in pre season warm up games as well.
L1 same as above.
IF our AL top fellas were as good as these comparo leagues are quoted how come heaps/a flood of our players are not in lower level Championship and League 1 Clubs.
I'm sure someone can post up the numbers.
AL play 26 games excl those lucky in playoffs.
Championship has 46 bloody games excl the playoffs, throw in pre season warm up games as well.
L1 same as above.
IF our AL top fellas were as good as these comparo leagues are quoted how come heaps/a flood of our players are not in lower level Championship and League 1 Clubs.
I'm sure someone can post up the numbers.
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Agree tha schmetz did well and was a conference level player
But that was over a decade ago. Its been hard to find anyone below league 1 level today capable of dominating the a league and most imports from league 1 level have been average or poor
Probably a bit of brittish pride if english players from epl think the a league is conference level!
That was 2 decades ago.
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He played on and did well for a while
LFC
Local Hero
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This is still fresh so it doesn’t reflect what’s been going on comparing leagues for say the last 10yrs.
Fact is as I said your comparing a 4cyc 26 game season to a 12cyc 46 game season and far more too loose.
Again apples with oranges
patjennings
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We've had donkey Championship players so it really depends on the player. the more experienced players tend to do well because of their football smarts.
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not sure how long ago visa restrictions went for lower leagues. It was more I read an article a couple of years ago in england saying that due to changes in the visa rules English clubs at the championship level or higher can sign players from the A league even if they aren't English and haven't played for the Australian national team. The context of the article implied that had been impossible for a while
Cumdog was Scottish Championship level which is about English League One/Two level and he won player of the year in the A-league and got selected for the Socceroos.
He didn’t win the Johnny Warren Medal lol
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I wouldn't call him scottish championship level his transfermarkt value was 400k euros when he transferred which was above average for a league one player in 2021 but not huge. He had some dominant seasons in the championship when young but didn't make the cut the level above despite a few seasons at a higher level - 18 games for rangers one season, 17 for nottinghame another and 18 games for a spfl club where he was playing regularly before being a mid season transfer to ccm
Transfermarkt has average values of a league players at 260k euros with league 1 at 420 and league 2 at 134. Squad sizes are also given and pretty similar, so that's probably where the a leauge is at
A-League Men 25/26
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