By JOSIP ZILIC
North Geelong Warriors have helped nine juniors earn selection to represent Vic Country in a National Youth Championships.
Football Federation Australia (FFA) uses the nationals for youth development and talent identification while providing a showcase for the best 13 and 14-year-old boys from around Australia.
The nationals give the young players opportunities including national representation and places at Australian Institute of Sport.
The championships will begin 29 September at Coffs Harbour.
North Geelong president Ivan Deak was delighted for the boys.
“We’re excited for the young gents and they’ve done a marvellous job of embracing the region’s only NPL club and applying their learning to achieve the results together.”
National Premier League has put clubs’ operations through numerous changes but Deak said the Vic Country results only encouraged further improvement.
“We’ve hit the ground running this season with NPL and we’re proud of the way we’ve gone about putting Geelong on the map with many terrific team results. It’s a credit to the coaches and support staff.
“We’re learning every day and continually looking for improvements.”
The selected players are: under 13s, Matthew Stosic, Chandler McEwen, George Ellis, Thomas Banks and Anthony Legan; under 14s, Mitchell Johns, Max Waugh, Jamie Noggler and Thomas Hidic.
They were rapt with their Vic Country selection.
Max Waugh was full of praise for the Warriors’ support.
“North Geelong has provided us with the highest level to compete at with good structured coaching. We want to use that and put in a great team effort for Vic Country against the best young players in the country.”
