Fortune smiles on young footy talents
NORTH Queensland Football general manager Declan Carnes believes their new Talent Support Program will give even more Townsville kids the opportunity to pursue their football ambitions.
Football Queensland has ramped up its investment in the region’s juniors after NQ United handed back its National Premier League licence due to the high costs involved with running the state league team.
As a result, NQ Football has streamlined its junior pathways with the Talent Support Program to offer a more affordable option for young players to improve their skills.
Representative fees for the under- 13 to under- 16 program are capped at $ 1950 which covers playing kit and travel along with 76 training sessions and 30 representative games.
The program includes four representative weekends in Townsville, Rockhampton, Mackay, and Cairns which have been blocked out to avoid clashes with local fixtures.
Football Queensland staff will also be more involved in talent identification while Australian Joeys coach Trevor Morgan will be casting an eye over kids at the Rockhampton series.
Carnes said the new program would ensure talented junior footballers across North Queensland have the best chance to try to make it to the elite level.
“That’s why we chose to hand back the ( NPL) licence, for affordability as well as to give the kids the opportunity to progress,” Carnes said.
“What we learnt from this year is the clubs were on the back of kids when they were going away to play representative and not playing for the club, so we’ve blocked out all the weekends that the Talent Support Program’s on.
“FQ’s now tipped all this money into the program so it’s affordable, plus they’ve provided paid coaches who will assist in the program which will be FFA licenced.
“Having the Australian coach has never happened before, so that’s absolutely brilliant for us.”
The demise of NQ United has also led to a shake- up of the senior representative fixtures with a new series featuring men’s and women’s teams from Townsville, Cairns, Mackay and Rockhampton.
Teams will play each other once throughout the season with the top- ranked team to also play the winner of the Queensland Premier League second- tier competition.
“We’ll actually have our best representative team on the park then because we’ve blocked out those club senior rounds,” Carnes said.
THAT’S WHY WE CHOSE TO HAND BACK THE ( NPL) LICENCE, FOR AFFORDABILITY AS WELL AS TO GIVE THE KIDS THE OPPORTUNITY TO PROGRESS DECLAN CARNES