The Joeys squad set to tour Thailand for the AFF U-15 Youth Championships this week provides yet another reminder of the fantastic talent pool we have in this region.
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To have a current Wolves youth player in Navarone Darjani in the 23-player squad as well as former Wolves player Thomas Main and Shellharbour junior Alexander Bonetig, again highlights the important role the Illawarra plays in developing young players.
It’s something that has gone on for decades now, but it never gets old seeing it continue year by year.
As a club, we are obviously very proud to see Nav there.
He has been a standout for the Wolves under 15s this season and will undoubtedly do the region proud when he travels with the squad this week.
The Joeys will play matches against Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia and Singapore at the tournament, which will undoubtedly provide great experience for all three players ahead of the AFC U-16 Championship Qualifiers later this year.
- MAKE OR BREAK
What a massive result Sunday’s win over Sydney United 58 was for our finals hopes.
If we had dropped points against United, it would have made things very difficult for us to make the post-season in 2017.
Fortunately, the boys hung tough when we needed it most and showed enormous character to come away with the points.
We had to withstand a lot of pressure from Sydney, but were eventually able to steal the result late in the piece.
It was great to see young gun Jack Lombo get the winning goal as well.
It put us in a great position now to have a serious crack at finals spot over the final six weeks of the campaign, with just two points between us and fifth place.
With this weekend off as the Waratah Cup final gets played, the squad will get some much-needed time to recharge the batteries just in time for that final assault.
Unfortunately it looks as if that fortnight off won’t be enough time for Josh MacDonald to make a full recovery.
He will have scans this week to determine the extent of his hamstring injury, so we’ve got our fingers crossed that he will be able to make a return at some point this season.
- OLD BOYS WELCOMED
It’s always great to have some of the club’s old boys in attendance for our matches, and it was no different on Sunday.
The boys came down into the sheds to celebrate our victory over United with us and we had the pleasure of celebrating some of the Wolves’ storied history as well.
It’s an occasion I always look forward to.
