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The Under-19 national team have traveled to Canada this week with at least six officials in tow.

So why haven't they taken the analyst?

With the senior national team Lorenzo Tucker, our video analyst, was the most important member of our backroom staff.

It is one thing to have a coach tell you what you did wrong but sometimes you have to see it to really understand it.

If your feet are in the wrong position or your playing across the line, whatever the problem is, it doesn't hit home until you see it.

I know I always found it easier to correct faults in my game when we had the analyst to help us out.

This is a tournament that the Under-19 side should come through.

But the next stage is going to be much tougher and it makes sense to sort these things out now.

If the analyst had been there the squad would have had a tournament's worth of footage to help them in their preparations for the next stage.

It might seem like a minor thing to some people but if we want to take our game to the next level we need to stop making these little mistakes. At the professional level every team has an analyst. At youth level, this is the time we need it most.

I'm sure all the coaches out there are doing a great job but it makes no sense to me to take six officials and leave the most important guy behind. Hopefully it won't cost us, down the road. n

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