Originally Posted by Anonymous
While I would agree you can find a pole on most A or AA teams who certainly can slot in at AAA or Elite, the main difference is the stick work - primarily on the clear.

There are certainly kids who are athletic and physical enough to guard a man one on one - but when the goalie saves the ball, an elite attack line ride will render the poor kid worthless.

One main reason Teams get annihilated at this age is they can’t get the ball over the midfield line and a lot of that is largely due to the poles ability to handle the ball.

Agree with this. Also off-ball defense is way better among the defenders in elite. I’d much rather have a smaller kid who is reliable off-ball and on the clear than a monster who is good on-ball, but nothing else. When teams get beat badly, poor off-ball defense and failing to clear are usually the culprits.