BRISBANE Roar Academy general manager Warren Moon sees Northern New South Wales as an untapped region that houses young footballing talent.
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In February, Port Macquarie will become the location for one of eight talent identification hubs in an area stretching from north Queensland down to the Mid-North Coast.
It will join other locations such as the Sunshine Coast, Bundaberg, Ipswich and the Gold Coast.
But Moon insists their foray into the area shouldn't be seen as them trying to compete with the Newcastle Jets.
"It's always good to have options," he said.
We get a good vibe from people involved in Northern NSW Football.
- Brisbane Roar Academy general manager Warren Moon
"If we identify some talent and they end up somewhere else ... that's got to be the goal.
"Ideally we'd love them to come to us, but we're not a closed shop when it comes to players progressing to us or to another A-League club."
All hubs will have one goal in mind - to unearth the next professional football star aged between nine and 13 from their respective regions.
"We get a good vibe from people involved in Northern NSW Football," Moon said.
"I don't think it will hurt if we continue to open up the pathways for the kids in the region.
"I know they do a lot of travel, so by having a hub in Port Macquarie we can offer something that is a genuine pathway."
The partnership with East Coast Futsal will be ongoing with the first 12 months expected to be a trial period.
"Port Macquarie is somewhere we're excited about," Moon said.
We don't want them to leave their club environments, we want them to supplement what they do in club land and come to us for one session a week.
- Warren Moon
"On the outside looking in, it's like "why Port Macquarie" to a lot of people.
"But through our relationship with Mick Day over the last 12-18 months and having been there and seeing what a big region it is, it probably needs a little bit more help in pathways from A-League clubs."
Players from the respective age groups will be identified with a focus on them transitioning into the Roar academy by the time they're 14.
Most importantly, players won't be forced to leave their junior club to chase their dream of playing in a professional league.
"We don't want them to leave their club environments, we want them to supplement what they do in club land and come to us for one session a week," Moon said.
We'll have a tournament mid-year where we invite all the teams from all the hubs we've got running.
- Warren Moon
"We're not picking them, we're talent identifying them.
"We'll have a tournament mid-year where we invite all the teams from all the hubs we've got running.
"We'll talent identify them against the other regions we have and see how they go so we can get a good gauge of what's out there."
However, if a player was believed to be talented enough to join the Roar academy, they wouldn't be forced to move to Brisbane straight away.
"When they hit 12 or 13 years old we could still identify someone from Port Macquarie and he won't necessarily have to join the academy even if he's good enough," Moon said.
"It's a case that we've identified him and then we can monitor him and use a different training regime where we can bring him into the academy when he's 14, 15 or even 16."
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