Northern NSW Football sent two regional teams to Maroochydore to represent the region at the State of Origin Cup late last month.
Under-14s girls and under-14s boys teams from NNSWF took part in the three-day tournament, with players from regional areas given the opportunity to compete against teams from Football Queensland, Football NSW and New Zealand.
NNSWF players from Talent Support Programs were selected from across NNSWF’s regional member zones including Northern Inland, Football Mid North Coast, North Coast Football and Football Far North Coast.
This was the first time that NNSWF took part in the State of Origin Cup, with the aim to increase NNSWF’s representation of regional players and coaches as well as further improve our talent identification process.
NNSWF Technical Director Ryan Doidge was delighted with the overall success of the tournament.
“Tours like this for our regional players are an important part of our Talented Player Pathway as it provides more opportunities for regional players to showcase their talents with other identified players not just from within our region but from other states and countries,” Doidge said.
“Using tours like this as an identification tool gives us more information about the players that we have from across the whole region. This helps to ensure that our future selection for representative competitions and tournaments is as accurate as possible.
“With the recent selection of Coffs Harbour’s Logan Sambrook into Football Australia’s Joeys squad, we know the importance of giving all players across northern NSW the opportunity to be identified.
"This is the first time that we have taken a regional-only TSP squad away to a tournament. It aligns with our 2024 to 2026 Strategic Plan to provide more opportunities for our metro regional players.
“The State of Origin Cup provided many benefits for players such as providing a camp-like environment, giving players the opportunity to be exposed to a higher level of games, detailed preparation and recovery, all of which are important aspects of tournament football.
“I would like to congratulate all players and coaches for their efforts throughout the tournament. They represented themselves, their zones and NNSWF proudly and I look forward to continuing our talent identification process in regional areas.”
