Wollongong United, Figtree FC join forces to develop young talent

Wollongong United and Figtree FC have joined together in a new partnership that will help develop junior talent and give them a pathway to the senior ranks.

Both clubs will remain the same on the field, but they will work together to grow a technical talent pathway.

United president Peter Vrtkovski said the opportunity was made possible through his club's premier league assistant coach Aaron Kellaway, who is also a junior coach at Figtree.

Kellaway will take on the role of technical director for the new pathway program.

"A couple of conversations took place and we got the ball rolling. We're at the point where we're excited to announce that we will work together to develop young players," Vrtkovski said.

"It's not a merger - I want to make that point clear. No one is taking over, no one is changing names or colours. This is an agreement between a successful senior club and a very successful junior club to develop players with the view they go on to push through to the Wolves or the Flame, or Wollongong United.

"Both clubs will work together to develop players with the view that they will come through our ranks to the senior ranks. Both clubs will remain in their current form. We consider ourselves one of the premier clubs in the competition and they're one of the bigger junior clubs going around at the moment."

Vrtkovski said Figtree had been renowned for producing good junior teams for "many, many years".

"They have a big set up, a big pool of juniors and it's an opportunity for both clubs to work together. We see it as a win-win for both sides," Vrtkovski said.

"It's something that we've wanted to do for a long time, have our own junior base. We've got a very successful men's program, we've got women's and the next logical step was to our juniors.

"Where we're located at the moment, it's hard to go start our own organisation because you've got Berkeley down the road, you've got South Coast United, Dapto and so forth. It was just a no brainer."

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Figtree FC president Mike Dodd said the new agreement was a "great set up" and would give juniors a chance to move into a senior football system.

The partnership will also give kids a better chance of sticking together as they move out of the junior grades.

"I think it will help us a lot. We had a meeting with Wollongong and they're keen on doing this sort of stuff. And they've got some excellent coaches," Dodd said.

"That's what's great about this, it's hugely beneficial to them and they can develop youngsters to start going into their youth system, with the ultimate aim of getting our juniors into their first grade side.

"The key thing I have to say though is there is no guarantee in all of this. We can put all of this coaching in, we can put this technical pathway in and give them the best ability to make it. But they might not make it. We clearly say, we're going to do all of this but there's no guarantees."

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