John Hallford will take his first steps towards one day playing in the Hyundai A-League when he represents NSW Country at the National Youth Championships next week.
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Hallford was named as part of the under 13s side and on Friday he will join up with his teammates for a training camp in Sydney before heading to Coffs Harbour for the five-day tournament, starting on Monday.
The Dubbo junior just completed his second year with the Western NSW Mariners and his form was so impressive, it earned him a Country call-up.
The Mariners play a gruelling 30-week season of home games at Bathurst, Orange and Mudgee and train in Orange, resulting in plenty of travel for John and his dedicated parents, John Senior and Kristie.
Despite coming off the long season, the 13-year-old said he couldn’t wait to take part in the national titles.
“I’m very happy and very excited to get a new experience and to be able to play against the best from all the states,” John said.
“There will be a lot of people watching and scouters looking at us for their teams.”
“We came sixth but we missed three games due to wet weather.
The young centre-back has previously played in state titles but said next week’s national event was definitely his biggest achievement in the sport to date.
John and his teammates will use the two day camp at Valentines Sports Park to learn to play as a unit before making the trip north for the tournament.
The Dubbo junior said he expects the game against NSW Metro to have the most feeling but he is expecting the competition from all sides to be tough.
“Probably Metro [are the main rivals]. Metro kids don’t like country kids so that should make for an interesting match when we come up against them,” he said.
He said he wasn’t sure how Country’s chances were.
“Country have won in the past but we will just have to see how we go,” he said. “I know half of the team because they come from our area and the other half is made up of players from closer to Sydney.”
John said he had watched other players from Western NSW like Jacob Tratt and Nathan Burns earn A-League contracts and said he would like to do the same.
“Hopefully I can get in a team and move down to Sydney. I’d definitely like to play in the A-League.”
NSW Country head coach Andrew Fearnley said the players would have a great opportunity to test themselves at a higher level during the tournament.
“There was some good competition for places in the Country Squads, and the selected players have earned their right to represent NSW Country at the National Championships,” he said.
“The Country Squads have prepared well for the National Championships and we look forward to seeing our best regional footballers show their abilities - individually and as a team - at the National Championships.”
