Five Mariners chosen for combined camp

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2010/11 Mariners’ Medalist, Joshua Rose, as well as Rostyn Griffiths, Mathew Ryan, Brad McDonald and Sam Gallagher will join another 26 players from rival Hyundai A-League clubs at the camp in a bid to impress the National Team selectors.

Qantas Olyroos Head Coach Holger Osieck and Qantas Australian U23s Head Coach Aurelio Vidmar have selected five Central Coast Mariners players for a joint two-day training camp in Sydney next week.

2010/11 Mariners- Medalist, Joshua Rose, as well as Rostyn Griffiths, Mathew Ryan, Brad McDonald and Sam Gallagher will join another 26 players from rival Hyundai A-League clubs at the camp in a bid to impress the National Team selectors.

Rose, Griffiths, Ryan, McDonald and Gallagher will link up with their peers in Sydney following this Sunday-s F3 Derby clash with Newcastle Jets at Ausgrid Stadium.

The purpose of the camp is for both Osieck and Vidmar to have a firsthand look at players who have the potential to play for the Qantas Socceroos and Qantas Australian U23s in the future.

In a similar vein to the training camp that was held in Germany earlier this year, Osieck is excited about the prospect of working with Australian-based players who may be in line for future selection as part of the Qantas Socceroos.

“The main aim of this camp is to have a closer look at the players that we have been monitoring from within the Hyundai A-League,” Osieck said.

“It is important for us to have a personal look at these players to see if they are potential candidates to join the Qantas Socceroos for our qualification campaign.

“With such a long campaign, we are always looking for more depth to our squad and it-s logical to see if these players from the Hyundai A-League can provide that depth.

“We held a similar camp in Duisburg earlier this year which was very beneficial and we will be looking to have similar camps in the future,” he said.

With the next AFC Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympic Games against Iraq and Uzbekistan in late November, Aurelio Vidmar will also be using this opportunity to assess potential additions to his squad.

“We have added a number of players in this camp who are eligible for the Olympic qualifiers that have not been involved in our campaign so far.

“This camp is a good opportunity for us to work with those players to see if they can offer anything different to the current group of players,” Vidmar said.

The Qantas Australian U23s will travel to Qatar next month to face Iraq in the third round of the 2012 London Olympic Games Asian Qualifiers on the 23rd November. They will then travel back to Australia to face Uzbekistan four days later at Parramatta Stadium.