CENTRAL Coast Mariners’ unique youth development pathway with Western NSW Football is beginning to flourish, with two Western NSW juniors set to join the Club’s National Youth League squad as train-on members.
CENTRAL Coast Mariners- unique youth development pathway with Western NSW Football is beginning to flourish, with two Western NSW juniors set to join the Club-s National Youth League squad as train-on members.
Jayden Tumeth-McLeod and Jacob Tratt, who for the last two seasons have played with Western NSW Mariners under 18-s team, have been invited by new Mariners Youth Head Coach John McLafferty to continue training with the squad.
The dedicated duo have been involved in pre-season training and games with Central Coast Mariners Youth this campaign, and have shown more than enough potential to convince McLafferty to keep them involved with the squad.
Indeed, Tratt scored the winning goal against Australian Institute of Sport last weekend as Mariners Youth triumphed 1-0 in the nation-s capital.
Tratt has been involved with the Western NSW representative program since under 13-s, while Tumeth-McLeod joined the region-s premier development squad at under 14 level.
Another Western NSW Mariners player, Jacob Harris, has also been involved with Central Coast Mariners Youth training and pre-season games this year.
After years of informational cooperation between Central Coast Mariners and Western NSW Football, the two entities reached a formal partnership agreement in March this year.
The collaboration is focused on coach education and player development, with key aims centered around Central Coast accessing and assessing Western NSW-s gifted talent pool.
McLafferty, former Mariners Youth Head Coach Tony Walmsley, and Central Coast-s Youth Development Coordinator Damien Brown have worked tirelessly alongside Western NSW Football-s Operations and Development Manager, Andrew Fearnley, to ensure the pathway has succeeded.
With Western NSW Football currently developing a bright crop of young talent with the help of Central Coast Mariners, Tumeth-McLeod and Tratt are the first of many precocious stars to advance through the pathway.
