Um, but you look at it and you go, well, there's things that you take into consideration as a professional that these guys need to take in, like the, the travel, the food, the food, the recovery, all of those things that just add to it, add to the experience.

Yeah.

I was, I was talking to Pete on the way here and yes, Pete's again.

And that's something we did mention.

Um, these players aren't used to the travel.

They're used to working before going training and games.

I think back and go, I don't know if I would have been able to do it.

Did he kick

But you look at it and you go, well, there's things that you take into consideration as a professional that these guys need to take in, like the travel, the food, the recovery, all of those things that just add to it, add to the experience.

Yeah, I was talking to Pete on the way here.

Your coach? Yes, pizza and tennis.

And that's something we did mention.

These players aren't used to the travel.

They're used to working before going training and games.

I think back and go, I don't know if I would have been able to do it.

on to A-League contracts.

Um, but you look at it and you go, well, there's things that you take into consideration as a professional that these guys need to take in, like the, the travel, the food, the food, the recovery, all of those things that just add to it, add to the experience.

Yeah.

I was, I was talking to Pete on the way here and yes, Pete's a tennis.

And that's something we did mention.

Um, these players aren't used to the travel.

They're used to working before going training and games.

I think back and go, I don't know if I would have been able to do it.

Yeah.

getting paid a good enough wedge to be in this uh full time but that's in other clubs um but you look at it and you go well there's things that you take into consideration as a professional that these guys need to take in like the the travel the food the recovery all of those things that just add to it add to the experience

yeah i was i was talking to pete on the way here and your coach yes pizza kenneth and that's something we did mention um these players aren't used to the travel.

They're used to working before going training and games.

I think back and go, I don't know if I would have been able to do it.

So credit to the NPL players.

I've got a 36, 37-year-old captain that works ridiculous hours and he comes and performs and he's the hardest working player in our team, which is ridiculous.

I don't know how they do it.

on to A-League contracts.

Do you see that as a problem for Australian football which it desperately has to solve or something that won't be able to be solved any time quick?

I think based on the amount of sports... we have in this country, it makes it very difficult to get the right funding to go from top to bottom.

I don't think in the next near future we'll get to a model of being able to fund it down, which is the ideal model, obviously from a development perspective as no kids miss out.

But I keep hearing that.

Football's too expensive.

And I'm a big advocate of saying that we're starting to get to a rich man's sport, which it never has been.

But I don't believe that in the NPL space it's something that's unaffordable if clubs are doing the proper things.

Look, you want to make your first team strength strong, but you just don't want these fees to get out of control.

Do you see that as a problem for Australian football which it desperately has to solve or something that won't be able to be solved any time quick?

I think based on the amount of sports we have in this country, it makes it very difficult to get the right funding to go from top to bottom.

I don't think in the next near future, we'll get to a model of being able to fund it down, which is the ideal model.

Obviously, from a development perspective, there's no kids miss out.

But I keep hearing that football's too expensive.

And I'm a big advocate of saying that we're starting to get to a rich man's sport, which it never has been.

But I don't believe that in the NPL space, It's something that's unaffordable if clubs are doing the proper things.

Look, you want to make your first team strength strong, but you just don't want these fees to get out of control.

Do you see that as a problem for Australian football which it desperately has to solve or something that won't be able to be solved any time quick?

I think based on the amount of sports we have in this country, it makes it very difficult to get the right funding to go from top to bottom.

I don't think in the next near future, we'll get to a model of being able to fund it down, which is the ideal model.

Obviously, from a development perspective, there's no kids miss out.

But I keep hearing that football's too expensive.

And I'm a big advocate of saying that we're starting to get to a rich man's sport, which it never has been.

But I don't believe that in the NPL space...

Look, you want to make your first team strength strong, but you just don't want these fees to get out of control.

The undercurrent beneath that, what do you see there? Have we got the ability to continue to have younger profile squads at a World Cup? It's

a tough question.

Without going too much into it, there's so much good about what's happening in the game.

I think the fact that we're struggling financially in terms of our A-League is a massive opportunity for younger kids to get opportunities, which is a great thing.

I think we should...

Always want to be a selling league to be sustainable and give younger kids opportunities, which means kids can.

But if I'm looking from way under, I've seen lots of things that worry me, that get me nervous, that I fear for the next 10 years.

Yeah, it's a good point.

The undercurrent beneath that, what do you see there? Have we got the ability to continue to have younger profile squads at a World Cup? It's

a tough question.

Without going too much into it, there's so much good about what's happening in the game, I think.

The fact that we're struggling financially in terms of our A-League is a massive opportunity for younger kids to get opportunities, which is a great thing.

I think we should always want to be a selling league to be sustainable and give younger kids opportunities, which means kids can.

But if I'm looking from way under, I've seen lots of things – That worry me.

That get me nervous.

Yeah, it's a good point.

The undercurrent beneath that, what do you see there? Have we got the ability to continue to have younger profile squads at a World Cup? It's

a tough question.

Without going too much into it, there's so much good about what's happening in the game.

I think the fact that we're struggling financially in terms of our A-League is a massive opportunity for younger kids to get opportunities, which is a great thing.

I think we should... always want to be a selling league to be sustainable um and give younger kids opportunities which means kids can um so but if i'm looking from way under i've seen lots of things uh that worry me that get me nervous um that i fear for the next 10 years um i think a lot of people Were, were up in halls when JDL got first brought in, in the younger age groups.

Yeah, it's a good point.

And look, to be quite frank, I...

I wouldn't mind Portugal doing well in the tournament.

And before we get to the other stuff with the top level, just spoke with Anthony Crea, what, what are you finding at the moment? What's going on at the, the level below the, the publicized part of football?

Yeah, look, I...

It's, it's a difficult question.

There's so many changes since I was a kid growing up.

Um, the amount of training kids are doing is 10 times more.

We used to train twice a week, but we used to be with the ball the whole time.

Um, I guess modern day parents, families, don't let the kids out on the street without a parent being there.

Yeah.