There has been much wringing of hands of late regarding the A-League’s ‘player drain’ - a particular favourite of the bandwagon media dinosaurs that see the loss of talent overseas as a key reason as to why the game will never take off in this country (I don’t want to drag Wilson back into the discussion, and I wont be linking to her link baiting article....I am sure you have all seen it), but also a genuine concern for all who support our young competition.

Many have written about the fact that losing our best is just a fact of A-League life.

The way I see it, however, it is also the key to the Leagues success, and the point of difference between it and other codes. Let me explain by taking the drain analogy a little bit further......

The A League is like a big swimming pool.

The world football player market is like the plumbing for this pool. There is the drain at the bottom of the pool, but at the top there is also a tap that keeps topping the pool up. We lose players, yes. but we also get topped up with players from overseas. Our National team, Asian Champions League success and European player presence means that we are in the world spotlight enough of the time that player agents have a peek at what our little summer comp has to offer.

So, for every player that gets drained out of our pool, the world football market tap drops in a new find, a star of yesteryear, a player looking to get their career back on track or an out and out gold nugget of a player.

Now, our pool drain has a sieve on it, so only certain types of players can drain out - the rest stay in the pool. Likewise, our tap is connected to all the other League pools in the world, and their plumbing. Whatever comes through their sieves can potentially end up in our pool. And sometimes it can be less than desirable (cue cringworthy memories of Mario Jardel, or Brian Deane) and should have been shuttled of to some deep ocean outfall for treatment.

But as the League and our profile around the world changes, so do the sieves. More players will opt to stay, different kinds of players will decide to drop in (like Jason Culina), and the young up and comers will hang around. Whatever the case, our clubs make money from transfers, and after a season or so the lost player becomes forgotten as a new star breaks the surface from the local scene or from our player tap.

In other football codes, the pool has a small, small drain, and an even smaller tap. The ‘glamour’ transfers there are players moving from a Sydney suburb by the beach to some cold damp armpit of a place in the North of England, or to play a different version of the game altogether.

Our pools drain is different. It may be large, but our sieve is ever evolving. I am not worried about the player drain because I know the world game will keep feeding us a wealth of new and interesting talent. We have a fire hydrant for a tap, connected to a football world that can only keep on pouring in variety, interest, controversy, colour and excitement. Thats why the game is here to stay....

Super Mario: Plumber and Star Striker