If there’s one thing Tamworth’s Beau Cavallaro, Kilian Apen and Freddy Williams are sure of heading into the National Youth Championships, it’s this.
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“We know they're [the opposition] bigger, taller teams,” Freddy said.
The three 13-year-olds have been selected for Northern NSW to compete in the titles at Coffs Harbour from September 25-29.
While the squad will give away a head start in terms of size, it more than makes up for that in skill, according to Northern Inland Football technical director Howard Stubbs.
“Hopefully they do well this year, technically all the boys I’ve selected are very good on the ball but it depends on physicality as well,” Stubbs said.
“That’s always going to be the case, normally country squads are quite small compared to metro teams.”
Beau, Kilian and Freddy will be prepared, though.
The McCarthy Catholic College students all play together under Stubbs in the under 13s/14s Northern Inland Football team that plays in the under 16s local competition.
“For these boys to play against 16-year-olds every Saturday, it’s been good preparation for them,” Stubbs said.
Along with the championships in September, centre back Beau, right back Freddy and goalkeeper Kilian will also play a handful of pre-tournament games on September 3.
The trio also attended two four-day camps for identified high performance players at Speers Point earlier this year before being chosen in the Northern NSW side.
