youth minutes nsl v a league

[grazorblade]

Thanks to the legendary Andrew Howe for this. He gathered for me the youth minutes during the entire a league and nsl era. I suspect we are only catching up this year!

This is the plot from the pfa report showing playing minutes by age compared to other leagues

Andrew Howard calculated % distribution of minutes played in each season by age group for all 47 completed men's seasons. Notice the u20s crash until recently where they start to catch up to the nsl era



And here's a chart like that on page 16 of the PFA report - share of minutes played by age for five evenly-spaced seasons (1977, 1988, 1999/2000, 2011/12, 2023/24).
So in principle still a fraction behind where the nsl was which is no suprise since we don't have a h&a nyl pushing players into the squad. We also have 3 less australia based teams then back then. Interesting the purple path around 1999/2000 looks the best. Due to foriegners taking key spots, aussie scout has observed that we give youth minutes less often to key positions, with CAM in particular a worry



So while we are improving out of sight, it is still looking to be well down on the golden gen. Still, better is something to look forward to

 

[grazorblade]

Here is a plot of % minutes given to u20s by year. Noticeable drop in a league era which I mark by red. Last years is a tick up but needs to be sustained to have an impact on the socceroos. This year will be a tick up again

 

[Decentric]

Fantastic research, Grazor.

Thanks a bunch for starting this thread!

It seems lately there are so many young domestic Aussies playing AL minutes, whilst a number of older Aussies aged 26 and over, aren't there anymore. Coaches are preferring the younger more technically adept new whiz generation. However, playing a lot of them together, such as in SFC's defence, means they tend to make a lot of mistakes, particularly in positional play, due to lack of experience.

 

[grazorblade]

Fantastic research, Grazor.

Thanks a bunch for starting this thread!

It seems lately there are so many young domestic Aussies playing AL minutes, whilst a number of older Aussies aged 26 and over, aren't there anymore. Coaches are preferring the younger more technically adept new whiz generation. However, playing a lot of them together, such as in SFC's defence, means they tend to make a lot of mistakes, particularly in positional play, due to lack of experience.

Still less than Jupiler eredivisie and old nsl era in terms of fraction of youth minutes.

Pundits are way too conservative on this topic