Four players from both Brisbane Roar’s NPL Men’s and U23s squads have been selected to attend the Subway Joeys five-day domestic training camp ahead of the U17 Asian Cup.
The camp held in Sydney will run from 16 – 21 April 2023, as the team continue their preparations for June’s AFC U17 Asian Cup in Thailand.
These players include Arthur de Lima, Lucas Herrington, Eddie Ince, and Zane North from both the Roar Youth and U23s squads.
Ince joined the club in 2019 as an U13 player, de Lima joined in 2021 as an U14 player and Herrington and North joined in 2020 as U13 players.
Ince and de Lima have experienced minutes in the Roar Youth squad, with Zane and Lucas yet to play in the NPL coming from U16s and U18s straight into the U23’s this year.
Congratulations goes out to former Roar Academy player Rylan Brownlie who will be attending the camp alongside Olympic FC.
Ince and de Lima previously played at Moreton Bay United FC with Rylan Brownlie.
Herrington played at Brisbane City prior to the Roar, and North came from Rochedale Rovers.
Roar U23’s Head Coach Owen Baker, is very proud of the four players heading to the camp and feels it is well-deserved after their consistent hard work and determination at both training and games.
“Over the moon for them, obviously four excellent potential players but most importantly four really good lads that have worked hard for this and applied themselves well in games and training over the last few years,” Baker said.
“So proud is the right feeling and it’s a good opportunity for them for sure,” he added.
Baker believes the camp will be a great chance for player development and confidence to get an opportunity to represent Australia.
“It’s a great opportunity for them to be surrounded and test themselves against other top national level players so that exposure can only benefit them and give them a good understanding of where they’re at,” he said.
“The opportunity to represent your country is something that is very exciting so hopefully they go into that camp in a confident frame of mind and put their hand up for selection because it would be great to put that green and gold shirt on and represent your country.”
Roar Youth Head Coach Chris Grossman is delighted for the Academy players to be given the opportunity to showcase their potential in the upcoming training camp after a good performance in the 0-0 result against the Gold Coast Knights in the Kappa Cup Pro Series on Friday evening.
“We got some opportunities for our younger players to play which was what our strategy has been about in the Cup,” Grossman said.
“Arthur and Eddie probably did well enough to show Brad Maloney, the U17 National Team Coach, that they’re worthy of a look in the upcoming camp, which is a massive win for us as an Academy and as club,” he added.
Grossman hopes the players make the most of the opportunity and prove themselves for a spot in the U17 national team.
“It’s what they do now with this opportunity, they might not get another one. There are some other boys in our squad that are deserving of a spot in the Joeys camp as well,” he said.
“We are hoping to get the boys in the best condition and mind frame possible to attack this camp as best they can, if they do, I’m sure they’ll leave Brad and the coaching staff with plenty of positive reflections of how they go.”
He believes that the young players have not had a chance to see the pool of talent around Australia to set a benchmark for themselves as footballers, and this training camp will be great to provide them with that insight.
“We look at the last three or four years, these boys haven’t really had many opportunities to see what the benchmark is for their age group in Australia.”
“But something like this camp, shows the boys the best of the best from around Australia, and it shows them where they are at as a footballer.”
“We’re excited that our boys have gotten the opportunity to have a look at that and hopefully it continues to drive them and push them to be bigger and better and hopefully opportunities open up for them in the near future.”
