Please remember that all our coaches are volunteers and do their best. Be gentle! Volunteer coaches should be helped not criticised. If you're not happy with your child's opportunities, talk to the coach, offer to help at training, take a course or next year consider coaching yourself. Most coaches are only too happy to get assistance on cold winter nights on Dickson oval.

To ensure players and coaches learn the best practice in Australia we ask all coaches to play the Football Federation Australia (FFA) structure. No if's, no buts. This way players and coaches will learn the roles of specific numbers as they develop through the grades and therefore understand the game better.

The formations the FFA recommend we play in each age group are as follows:

  • U8/9 (7 players): 1-3-3 (where 1 is the goalkeeper)
  • U10/11 (9 players): 1-3-2-3
  • U12 upwards (11 players): 1-4-3-3 (where the midfield 3 is a 2-1 triangle, i.e. not 3 spread across the field.)

For more information or to have your questions answered please attend our coach forums, Capital Football coaching courses, FFA website or discuss with our Technical Facilitator.

Player and Coach Development

At the ages from 7 - 12 it is all about the ball and skill for individual player development. All players should expect equal game equal playing opportunities where practicable including:

  1. Players all get even game time, every game - players have all played the same fee to play so players should all get equal time to play.
  2. Players should rotate through all positions throughout a season - even if you have a superstar goalscorer or you end up losing as a result of player positional changes. Players can only develop in different positions if they are encouraged and challenged to play in a variety of positions often.
  3. The team's coach is the only person who should be giving advice when a team plays. In fact the best coaches don't give advice during the game - the advice is given in training and game day is for the players to enjoy without anyone yelling instructions.
  4. All teams follow FFA game and training models.