In his latest column for KEEPUP, former Adelaide United defender Robbie Cornthwaite explains how his former club have become arguably the best producer of young talent in the country, as 17-year-old Nestory Irankunda leads this month’s voting for Isuzu UTE A-League Player of the Month.
Adelaide United continue to lead the way when it comes to youth development in the Isuzu UTE A-League. The amount of young stars given an opportunity to shine is unrivalled, and it’s by no accident.
United have always been a club where young players feel they’ll get a chance; it’s one of the main attractions and tools used to entice players to the city of churches.
From the early days of Bruce Djite and Nathan Burns to more recent times with Mo Toure and Nestory Irankunda, and let’s not forget Socceroos hero Mathew Leckie in between; Adelaide have always been a club where if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.
Of course, the landscape and financial situation at the Reds have also played a massive part in the DNA of the team. Without the financial backing to constantly sign big-name players, the powers that be have always had to try and find that diamond in the rough, that untapped resource, or that one-of-a-kind player standing out in their youth team.
The club have always seemed to overachieve and that’s helped by expectations being set low at the start of the season. Adelaide want to win but they are never outright favourites, there’s never a lot of pressure on them to perform and this takes the heat off the younger boys allowing them to play with confidence and freedom.
While there’s a lot of trial and error involved, there are a few deliberate moves Adelaide United have been making over the past few years to enhance their chances of unearthing the next Craig Goodwin, a player who was overlooked by his hometown club early on.
Firstly, the two players for every position rule applies to just about every team and manager in the league. For Carl Veart, it’s much more than that. The first thought is to find a first-team starter in each position; that’s normal. Then it’s, “Do I have a young kid at the club who can be the back-up?”
It’s impossible with squad sizes and the talent pool to have a youth team player as a back-up for every position, but what Adelaide have are six to seven players waiting in the wings. Players like Jay Barnett, Nestory Irankunda, Bernardo, Panashe Madanha, Jonny Yull, Ethan Alagich, Assad Kusumovic and Luka Jovanovic, four of which played on the weekend. That doesn’t include Louis D’Arrigo and Alex Popovic.
That’s why Adelaide get so many minutes into the kids. Every week they play, even for just here and there off the bench. Giving them vital experience at the top level.
If there isn’t a young backup, those positions are filled by foreigners who compete with more established local players for a spot in the first XI, players like Javi Lopez, Isaias, or Hiroshi Ibusuki.
There’s one category in which Adelaide absolutely dominate the competition: minutes given to players 18-years-old or younger.
What was a massive surprise and lightbulb moment for me was, the clubs that have given the most time to players in this age group over the last three seasons pretty much make up the top six on the ladder. In fact, if you swapped Perth and Melbourne City around, you’d almost see the league table replicated.
The pathway doesn’t always end perfectly for a lot of players. Many who are given opportunities to shine and show plenty of potential are still squeezed out in favour of another up-and-coming talent who may play an entirely different position.
A number of examples include Pacifque Niyongabire, Noah Smith, Al Hassan Toure, and Kusini Yengi. Although they were all eventually let go, they all got an opportunity at the Reds, and ultimately, that experience and the chance to show what they’re capable of led to signing for rival A-League clubs; something that’s happened over the years with many other Adelaide juniors.
It has been mentioned a lot in the past that Carl Veart has spent many years working with youth in South Australia before he found his way to Adelaide United. He’s had players like Bernardo, Popovic, D’Arrigo, and Barnett since they were in their early teenage years. Yes, he knows what they are capable of, but they have so much belief and trust in one another. Those connections are just about coming to an end now. The last batch of players with whom Carl worked have just about all come through now.
Adelaide United have made a deliberate play over the past few seasons to lower the age profile of its youth team. Half the team this year were born in 2006-07, meaning they’re three or four years younger than they need to be. The Reds’ strategy is to get 30 to 40 games of senior men’s SANPL football into the players before they turn 18. The club want to be making decisions on players future before they reach the 20-year-old cut-off age. This allows them to either retain a player for one more season, elevate them to the senior team, or allow them to go, play and grow at another senior men’s side, and potentially bring them back into the club, like they did with Dominic Costanzo.
So far, so good for Adelaide, but it has created one headache that will need to be addressed over the next season or two. The squad is seriously lacking middle-aged players. They have a lot of senior players and a lot of kids. They need to correct the balance if they want to continue pushing at the top end of the ladder.
One of the biggest advantages Adelaide have in the club’s eyes is that the young boys believe they can make it. Players wanting to break into the first team know that it is possible. They know if they give absolutely everything to be the best they can be, if they’re good enough, they will get a chance. They see players they know or players they’ve grown up playing with starring on a Friday night at Coopers Stadium. While other clubs’ youth get disillusioned and don’t see a path for them to play, Adelaide’s are hungry and driven, knowing it is achievable. I’d hate to think about all the players that have been missed or fallen through the system because they became disheartened and lost the drive to go on.
There is no doubt Adelaide are leading the way when it comes to providing opportunities for young Aussie players. Sometimes by luck, but you make your own luck, the club have made a deliberate effort to use what has to become the best breeding ground for young players in this country.
Just go to Hindmarsh on a Friday night and feel the buzz when Nestory Irankunda comes on. The proof is in the pudding. Play the kids.
