NURTURING ABILITY KEY

Q You took up the role of FNQ Football’s Technical Development Manager this year. What will your focus be in the position?

A The plan is to make the FNQ region a stronghold in terms of player development and talent identification moving forward. My focus will be on developing the talent here – both players and coaches – because the region has a strong history of great players. I’d like to strengthen that. On the other side but also part of my role is to build the number of coaches in the region and look at the coaching development side of things. But it’s not just about getting more coaches into the grassroots space, it’s about increasing numbers with goodquality coaches. We have to cater for the player population – if we don’t have enough coaches, the players don’t have anything. I can see already that there is a passion for the game in the Far North and what the football community is doing in club land is great. The players I’ve seen at the FNQ Football trials – and we had more than 430 – displayed great skills and football talent. It’s a credit to club land and what the coaches, players and staff are doing. I’m excited to continue to improve the good things and also to find ways to be better. It’s been a busy period with the trials in recent weeks, but I’ll be looking to get out more over the next few weeks. I’ve met a few people in the game here, but I’d like to continue to meet them. One of my goals is to meet as many people in club land as possible – from presidents, to coaches, to club officials.