but does it really mean anything in the long run? A lot of them may not amount to anything. Since the FFA were forced to relax their rules on players heading overseas before they turn 18, playing abroad at a young age is going to become an even more popular than before for a lot of players since they can freely move to wherever they want as long as they can get a visa. But combine this with the fact that there is no more HAL youth league it's going to be interesting found this from another board, a list if anyones interested 1991 Bradden Inman - Newcastle United Steven Lustica - Hadjuk Split Tommy Oar - Utrecht Jason Davidson - Heracles Mathew Leckie - Borussia Monchengladbach Dylan McGowan - Hearts Francesco Stella - Siena Kearyn Baccus - Le Mans Dean Bouzanis - Oldham Brent McGrath - Brondby IF Tomi Juric - Inter Zapresic 1992 Kerem Bulut - Mlada Boleslav Matthew Fletcher - Sheffield Wednesday Bailey Wright - Preston North End Nikodin Matic - Sheffield United Massimo Luongo - Tottenham Hotspur Curtis Good - Newcastle United Liam Graham - Vicenza Eli Babalj - Red Star Belgrade Kristopher Kioussis - Independiente Carlvin Lovric - Parma Rashid Mahazi - Independiente Brendan Hamill - Seongnam Illwa 1993 Ryan Edwards - Reading Andrew Higgins - Portsmouth Aryn Williams - Burnley Jarrod Kyle - Sheffield Wednesday Corey Gameiro - Fulham Aaron Lennox - QPR Jamie Maclaren - Blackburn Rovers Ryan Williams - Fulham Mustafa Amini - Borussia Dortmund Nick Terezakis - Vicenza Grant Maddern - CFR Cluj Jackson Irvine - Celtic Jonathon Stynes - Kilmarnock 1994 Alex Grant - Portsmouth Dylan Tombides - West Ham United Patrick Antelmi - Portsmouth Jordan Fitzharris - Portsmouth Dean Gardikiotis - Blackpool Alex Gardikiotis - Blackpool Giancarlo Gallifuoco - Tottenham Hotspur Alex Baird - Newcastle United Brad Smith - Liverpool Tom King - Liverpool Liam Jacob - Manchester United Hyuga Tanner - Blackburn Rovers Roko Strika - Dinamo Zagreb Frane Vladislavic - Hadjuk Split 1995 Jake Adelson - Everton Peter Skapetis - QPR Peter Makrillos - Stoke City James Storjcevski - Karlsruher Chris Ikonomidis - Atalanta Callum Elder - Leicester City Nicholas Tarasenko - Portsmouth 1996 Taylor Tombides - West Ham United Thomas Beadling - Sunderland Dominic Kurasik - Stoke City Paul Katsetis - AEK Athens Rafa Jiminez - Villarreal Thomas Strain - Aston Villa 1997 Lyden Jordan - Aston Villa George Mells - Southampton
A few at the top of that list came through the A-League first. Show's we must be doing something right here.
It doesn't seem to be translating into quality for the national team. I wonder if that has more to do with the gap created by the death of the NSL and the start of the A-League? Hopefully it bodes well but i'm not all that convinced. Also in our recent past we actually have been pretty well represented with Aussies Abroad. What seems to me to have dropped off is the number of Aussies playing regularly in the big three leagues in particular the EPL. Only Holman has made that transition recently off the top of my head. That is the big worry for mine.