ANU defeat Newcastle Jets Youth

As the A-League bid for Canberra ramps up it's interesting to note preparations for our young players continue apace at various clubs, inparticular at ANU FC under John Mitchell's Coaching.

ANU downed Newcastle Jets last weekend and head to Sydney FC today for another game but the program been undertaken is perhaps more interesting and is outlined below.

Report starts here:
ANU Football Project Produces Early Result Early on Sunday morning 16 young footballers returned to Canberra without


fanfare or public comment, but with a deserved sense of pride and an infectious
sense of fun and hope.

This group of footballers had just defeated
the Newcastle Jets National Youth League in Newcastle.

This was the first outing for the new ANU FC squad who boast an average age of just 17.
The National Youth League is an Under 20 competition and the Newcastle Jets
players were all 19 and 20 and vying for a place among Australia’s footballing
cream ‐ a stern test for the burgeoning ANU squad which included 15 year old
Dom Falla and 16 year olds, Tom Rogic, Alex Meibusch, Danai Gapare and Declan
Poon.

An ANU FC spokesperson said the Club were thrilled at their new venture to
support the development of elite youth footballers. “What an extraordinary first
result for us. The new squad has been training together since mid‐November
and the result speaks volumes about the success of the program thusfar."

New Head Coach, John Mitchell, has brought a professional program to the Club and
the players can’t get enough of it … there were over 30 players at training the
night before the Newcastle game.”

The ANU FC program includes an intensive gym program designed by former
English Premier League strength & conditioning coach, Andrew Young. The
players are in the gym three times per week in the close season in a fully
sponsored program.

The on‐field program is based on the former AIS model originally developed by Socceroo Technical Adviser, Ron Smith and indeed Smith took charge of the ANU squad for a few weeks in December.

In addition to the Canberra based program, Mitchell has arranged for many of
the players to train with Sydney FC. This week a further four players are trialling
at Sydney – Luke Pilkington, Tal and Cyffin Evans and Ben Mitchell.

Next week the ANU are on the road again, this time to play the Sydney FC youth
team who currently top the NYL table.