Yep, unfortunately A-League has been pretty gash quality for two decades now, unless you can get excited about any of the confected "rivalries" between the franchises.
It's a real shame.
We can certainly produce quality - Cahill, Kewell, Neill, Schwarzer, and Viduka were all genuinely world-class players.
But our national team is now filled with A-League players - a competition that is barely above park football standard -, and it shows.
What is the answer?
I honestly don't know.
I've thought for a long time that we need to overhaul how we coach football at grassroots level; while it is a team sport, we need to promote individual flair, and skill.
My favourite Socceroo recent times was Tom Rogic - he had some really silly dribbling, and was a pretty decent shooter of the ball.
It's no surprise that Rogic had a background in futsal, where individual skill is highly regarded.
The Socceroos seem to want to play a style that does not suit us - using our keeper to deliver the ball long, pressing the middle third, and using our wingers to cross the ball into the box.
I reckon we should start focussing more on physicality, and aggression, while promoting individual skill at lower levels of the sport.
