Two youngsters from the Newcastle Jets Academy will join 26 other talented players from across the country in Townsville this month for the Under 16 National Talent Identification Camp for boys.
Angus Muddle, 16, and Janni Rafty, 15, will both attend the elite camp from April 11-15, where they will train at the North Queensland Cowboys’ newly opened Community, Training and High Performance Centre with its elite multi-sport training spaces, sports medicine and sports science laboratories. They will be pushing to grab a permanent spot in the Australia U17s team.
Fellow Jets player Kai Herd is also on the national team radar and will be on standby for the Camp as a reserve.
The youngsters have impressed recently with Rafty recently promoted to the Jets Youth side playing in Football NSW’s League Three First Grade, while Muddle also was promoted to the Jets U20s team.
The players will be joined by Australian U17s Head Coach Trevor Morgan as well as former Socceroos Luke Wilkshire and Mark Milligan, and will play 11v11 matches internally, and against a ‘select’ team at 1300SMILES Active Park which will be streamed by Football Australia.
Newcastle Jets Youth Head Coach Daniel McBreen was extremely pleased about the players’ selections.
“This is a great opportunity for these boys to experience training at an elite level in a national team environment,” McBreen said.
“Their selection in this camp is a reward for all their hard work and top performances they’ve produced – performances that have also seen them promoted recently through the ranks of the Jets Academy.
“I’m sure both will take a great deal from this opportunity and bring that level of training quality back to their respective teams and amongst their teammates.
“As a Club, we’re proud of their achievement and being able to progress promising youngsters to their potential, and we hope to see more players step up to that level.”
The Club wishes both players all the best at the Camp!
