JETS coach Scott Miller says youth team players will have a significant role in Wednesday’s trial game against the Northern NSW NPL Select side at Magic Park.
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A group of eight youth team players has been training with the A-League squad over the past three weeks, and Miller said they would all play against the NPL Select team and against the Mariners in a behind-closed-doors trial the following week on the Central Coast.
“I’d like to play all of them next week,” Miller said on Thursday. “The next two games, I’ll throw that on the table right now, they’ll be involved with us, because our boys will be playing between 45 and 60 minutes.”
Miller said the NPL Select game would be “like another training session for us”, but his players would have a “competitive mindset”.
He said the club was not in a position to sign the likes of Edgeworth’s Keigo Moriyasu or Broadmeadow’s former Jets winger James Virgili.
Miller watched Moriyasu play against the Jets youth team two weeks ago and said he had “potential”.
“I’ve read a lot of reports regarding taking a risk to sign a player of that quality, but ultimately he has to earn the contract,” he said. “It’s not about the coach taking a risk.
“If they develop to their capacity, especially that young man – he’s certainly got a great pedigree – but it’s certainly more challenging to bring a player in like that . . . especially in our contract situation. There’s no spots for those minimum-wage players at this point.
“It’s not a personal thing regarding any of these players. At this point I’m looking at the higher earners in our squad to continue our progression . . . the higher-echelon player from Europe.”
Miller said he was looking forward to some of the NPL’s best players combining on one team and expected them to be competitive.
“In terms of where the NPL falls Australia-wide, I’m not too sure how the competition is benchmarked from a Sydney or Melbourne perspective. But there’s some good players out there, and I’m encouraging them to play to their abilities without the recklessness that sometimes evolves from these games.”
Former Australian Joeys striker Cameron Joice would have joined the eight youth team players involved in the game but is out injured.
Miller said inviting youth players to training was part of a plan to bring the two sides closer.
“I’ve enjoyed seeing them here,” he said. “By them training closer to us and having more involvement, it shows progression and inspiration to those young players.”
