By JOSIP ZILIC
TWO talented young players who have come through the North Geelong Warriors junior system have won places on representative teams.
Fifteen-year-old Thomas Hidic has been selected for Melbourne Victory’s youth team after a successful year with the Football Federation Victoria national training centre.
Max Muscat has earned a spot with the Deaf Football Australia team to tour Taipei in the Asia Pacific Games in October taking on Iran, Thailand and Japan.
A down-to-earth Thomas was quick to acknowledge his coaches at North Geelong, Sime Didulica and Ahmad Sulaimi as well as pathways coach Peter Bradley.
“They helped me focus and got me to get the best out of myself each session, both physically and technically,” he said.
The opportunity will see Hidic travel to Melbourne four or five times a week under the tutelage of full time coaches where he hopes a full time football program will help him take his game to another level.
Muscat began as a six year old with Brunswick Zebras and moved to NSW making representative teams before settling in Colac and joining North Geelong Warriors in 2015.
“It was a tough year with lots of injuries in the squad. However we can thank our under 18s coach Ante Sarcevic for the guidance and support he gave us,” Muscat said.
“It’s a great opportunity to represent my country and gain experience playing against good quality players and teams under the pressure of Asian pacific qualifiers.
“The tournament is well organised so the professionalism required will be great.”
MEANWHILE, North Geelong’s season will be on the line tomorrow when it meets Melbourne Victory’s NPL side in a relegation play-off at Port Melbourne.
Melbourne Victory led the NPL1 East for much of the season but failed to clinch automatic promotion.
On the other hand, North Geelong’s late season form saw it rise from rock bottom to win a spot in the play-off to retain its top division spot.
