In the final response of a 19-minute long post-match press conference after Friday night’s 1-0 win over Melbourne City, Western Sydney Wanderers boss Marko Rudan spoke at length about what he believes is an ‘issue in Australian football’.
After the match, Rudan spoke glowingly of Priestman, before being asked about Badolato – which prompted him to discuss the growing number of A-Leagues youngsters heading to Europe at a young age.
Watch Rudan’s full answer in the video below
“Our job is not just to create good footballers and develop them, and we’re only a small part of their journey, we want them to go further and further, but it’s also to make sure that they’re good human beings mate, I always say that,” the Wanderers coach began.
“So that they know what it takes to be a professional. They all want to go overseas, they all say the same thing. But my job is to make sure that they’re ready for it, because it’s a lot harder than what they think.
“It’s easy to say something. But when you go there, and you can’t speak the language and someone and they look at you and you’re a foreigner, you’ve gotta be a lot better than the locals, you know, and they don’t want to take you out for lunch and or go for a coffee with you and things like that.
“That’s hard mate, that’s why a lot of them come back very quickly. So I believe we’ve got a bit of an issue there where a lot of them go a little bit too early and they come back.
“You’ve heard the national team coach say it and a lot of senior coaches say it, get your games in, work hard. If you can do it in this league and play 50 to 100 games of quality and consistency, you’re going to be better off.”
MATCH REPORT: Young Wanderers lead the charge in win over Melbourne City
FRIDAY RECAP: Penha, Davila dazzle in six-goal thriller, finals race tightens
HE’S BACK: Brisbane Roar sign Olyroos midfielder on loan from Belgium
Rudan continued: “In my first year at Wellington. I saw Sarpreet Singh and Libby Cacace and I still speak to both of them.
“Libby has gone on into Belgium and to Empoli now and he’s playing Serie A. Sarpreet… (is) starting to go a little bit the other way. And it’s a good learning for a lot of these young ones. Be ready, mate.
“It’s no different to when we were playing. We had to play 100 games, 150 games, until we thought we’re ready to go. And there wasn’t many of us going back then.
“So my biggest issue is I care for the young ones, we’ve got so many good ones.”
Rudan then spoke directly to the reporters sitting in the press room, suggesting the media has a role to play in helping to keep the feet of young Australian and New Zealand players emerging in the A-Leagues firmly on the ground.
“But you guys have a job to do as well, because you guys love to talk about them and talk them up very easily,” he said.
“That’s also an issue for me in Australian football. Because then they go and read it. And I know you guys have a job to do to talk about things, right? And I don’t take that away. But you know, these kids need good guidance and good care.
“You know, they read blogs, they read things, they’re on that thing all the time, on social (media) all the time. Right We can’t police that, but we’ve got a duty of care for them, to look after them.
“It’s not being mean or nasty. It’s just about okay, you played a good game, used all these superlatives to talk about one performance.
“You’ve got (Nestory) Irankunda who’s the next one – what a player, what a talent. But you can see he needs a little bit of care there. You know, is it getting too much for him?
“He’s going to Bayern Munich. Sarpreet did the same thing, got loaned out and everything else. You know, are we really doing the right thing for them?
“I just think it’s a bit of overkill mate sometimes that’s all.
“I’ve got no problems answering questions about the young ones because everyone loves hearing about it but we also have a duty of care to protect them.
“We want them to go over and stay there. Not wanting to come back to the A-League, mate. Then our job is not done properly.”
