Inside Hibs talent factory as academy graduates aim to 'dominate' opponents
Building a player from the studs up is not an exact science. And constructing a footballer capable of competing in Scotland’s top flight might, on occasion, feel more like heavy engineering than particle physics; extra girders are a required piece of kit.
Hibs Academy director Gareth Evans, an experienced youth development coach who has see more than one Next Big Idea come and go over the years, makes no excuses for emphasising the importance of brute force in a league noted for its no-holds-barred approach to the beautiful game. Any youngster looking to make an impact on the first team here, he insists, needs technical ability AND the power to withstand a weekly battering.
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Hide AdEvans, who has already met with his Bournemouth counterpart to discuss future co-operation within Bill Foley’s Black Knight stable of clubs, said: “I think you have to be able to dominate your opponent. And a lot of that, coming through the academy, is about physicality rather than technical ability.
“So what we try to do with the guys is make them as technical as we possibly can, of course. They can all play. But they also need to be as robust as they possibly can - because we realise that we are playing in Scotland.
“It’s a totally different intensity in terms of the power and the pace. I mean, we look at the data from their testing and the biggest difference is the power and the speed of the first team players compared to our players.
“Stamina wise, I don’t doubt our boys will be okay, but it's that injection of pace and it's that power that's the total difference. And that's when that becomes men's football as opposed to under-18s football.”
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Hide AdIn a game as chaotically competitive as football, eureka moments – that instant when coaches KNOW they’ve found the next first-team superstar - are incredibly rare. Yet academy coaches and heads of development keep plugging away in search of The One. Or maybe The Other One. A footballer capable of affecting games at the top level.
Evans, thrilled to see Rudi Molotnikov making waves in the top team but aware that the sheer number of players on the books makes breaking through increasingly unlikely, admitted: “Yeah, it does make it harder when there’s such a big first team squad already There's no doubt about that. But, you know, our boys still have their under-18s programme. They have games in the Reserve League Cup.
“We organise friendlies as well against Lowland League teams as well. So, they get plenty of game time to go and show what they can do and to develop themselves. They've started well in the under-18s league, and they haven't been beaten as yet.
“But it's not about that. It's about them developing as players and seeing which one can pop out at the end of it to go and play in the first team.
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Hide Ad“It's a great feeling when you see a boy from the academy go and play in the first team because that's what we're here for, to try and to get players to go and play in the first team.
“But by the same token, there's lots of boys that aren't here anymore that are playing football at a good level in Scotland or elsewhere. Look down in England in terms of Ryan Porteous or over in Italy with Josh Doig. So we have got players that come through the academy that maybe aren't standing out playing for Hibs but are making a living out of the game elsewhere. But I don't think there's any greater feeling for anybody at the club than seeing an academy boy go out and represent Hibs.”
Elaborating on the idea of sharing “best practice” within the Black Knights circle, Evans revealed: “I've been in touch with the Academy director myself personally, got to know him down at Bournemouth. Hopefully we'll get down there or they'll come up and they see what we do, and we see what they do. But there's always things to be learned in life and, you know, if we can learn from a Premier League club, then great.”