Brisbane Roar eager to identify young talent in the Darling Downs

The Brisbane Roar are leaving no stone unturned as they look to find new players. The A-League club hosted a talent identification session in Toowoomba to check out our best young talent

ROAR TALENT: Enjoying the Brisbane Roar talent identification camp are (from left) Maya Allsop, James Scutt, Xavier Burge and Marley Jackwitz. Picture: Nev Madsen.

FOOTBALL: Keen to unearth the next Daniel Bowles or Eli Adams, the Brisbane Roar conducted a talent identification session in Toowoomba yesterday.

Working alongside Garden City football coaches, officials from the A-League club ran the rule over young players from across the Darling Downs.

“We (the Brisbane Roar) have been holding talent identification days around Queensland and northern New South Wales,” Brisbane Roar Academy programs manager Jason Buchanan said.

“What we’re looking for, for our under-13s Academy program next year is any community players out there who might fit into our Academy team.

“We understand that not all the best players are in the Skills Acquisition Phase (SAP) program.

“There’s some players who are playing community football or at schools and we want to identify who they are.

“From today and other sessions the ones who get picked will be involved in a final trial.”

With the focus on junior players, what the Roar looks for is simple.

“We’re just looking for raw talent,” Buchanan said.

“Players we can work on with the obvious skills – left footed, right footed, skilful, being able to take players on in a 1v1 situation and defend in the same 1v1 situation.”

Buchanan was also excited to see the Roar name drawing interest from across the border.

Among the young players putting their best foot forward was a player from Inverell who made the three and a half-hour trip to the Garden City and showed a great deal of skill.