When I first retired from professional football in 2014, I returned to my hometown, Cairns, and started coaching while running the family business. While I didn’t stay retired for long (I re-signed for the Newcastle Jets shortly after) I knew that when I retired for good, I'd go back to coaching full time.

Even while playing in the A-League, I returned to Cairns for coaching spells in the off-season or during my breaks. When I moved back home permanently I knew my passion was for youth development, so from there I started the Caravella Football Academy.

Now, nearly three years on, it’s something that’s very important to me. It keeps me in the game, and I love remaining involved. But in a place where many kids have never even seen an A-League game, simply because of the distance, growing the game has its challenges.

The biggest problem for junior footballers, particularly those with aspirations to go pro, is Far North Queensland’s population; finding regular, good-quality games and competitions is a struggle.

Another big issue is the travel. Distance becomes a huge issue for kids who want to develop as footballers. For me, as a footballer growing up in Cairns and even still now, we have to travel large distances to find quality opposition. Without this, there’s almost no development.

I think scrapping North Queensland Fury from the A-League had a massive impact on support for football in Cairns. There’s no top-flight representation for these young kids. You’ve got one A-League team covering the vast area of Queensland, Brisbane Roar, where before there was an A-League team in driving proximity.

Based in Townsville, you could become a season ticket holder and travel down to watch the team regularly. I think a second Queensland A-League club will work. Even at Gold Coast United under Clive Palmer - despite all the problems we had - the first couple of derbies were great rivalries with fantastic support.

There’s room for another club, it just has to have the right people behind it.

There’s so much competition from other codes in regional Queensland. It’s just about doing what we can to promote the game and create as many opportunities as possible for these aspiring footballers.

I’ve tried in my own way to bring the A-League to Cairns, regularly bringing up guest coaches the kids can google and watch on YouTube. Over the last two years we’ve had Cassio, Michael Thwaite, Nick Carle and Michael Bridges hold workshops at my academy and the players were absolutely buzzing to have them here.

Despite all the challenges in being far away from the big smoke, the passion these kids have for football is fantastic. For me, it’s been a very rewarding journey so far. In April we will host the first ever “Far North Queensland Youth Cup” featuring academies and teams from all over the country.

Our tournament’s going to be unique because the first day we’re doing an age-appropriate advanced coaching camp where all players will participate in focus stations.

One might be a ‘one vs one’, another might be striking exercises. We’ve secured Shane Smeltz and Patrick Zwaanswijk - who have had excellent professional careers - to join me coaching the camp.

The second day will be a ‘seven vs seven’ competitive tournament, which will provide small-sided matches with lots of touches, goals and excitement for the kids.

I’m sure, between all of us, we’ll be able to offer some valuable experience and insight to these regional junior footballers.

I do it because I love seeing our kids learning and growing week to week as they practice. Watching them fulfil their challenges, but most of all, translating what they learn into a match. That’s the most rewarding part.

I’ve seen a lot of great outcomes for these players, not only from a playing perspective, but as people as well. When we first took the kids down to Sydney, it was a very intense, competitive environment. For young kids coming from Far North Queensland, who haven’t been exposed to this kind of setting, it’s a culture-shock. But every time we take them down, they get better and better.

The last time we entered a Sydney tournament, we won. When you consider the size of our talent pool, it’s a great achievement.

But the amount of red tape involved in operating a private academy is phenomenal, and it’s a really contentious subject across Far North Queensland and Australia.

Being an academy, certain sections of football frown upon you. The governing body don’t like it and they don’t make a secret of it, either.

Football is a political game but I always say that as long as you are trying to develop kids with good intentions, provide opportunities they may not have otherwise had, and ensure your coaching is at a high standard then the kids will always be the winner.

I’m not the only former player in coaching. I’m finding more and more former (or even current) professional players who want to impart their experience to the next generation. They get to stay in the game they love that way, particularly when, like me, they’ve been playing so long.

It’s all we know really.

We should be able to teach the way we want to. We don’t want to be restricted to certain methods. At our academies there’s freedom in the way we can coach young kids, without getting bogged down in the rigidness of the national curriculum.

I learnt to play the game a certain way, I’ve got a way of delivering my coaching and that, for me, is very important. It’s the reason I became involved.

The greater diversity of coaching techniques that are available to young kids, especially in regional areas, the better for Australian football in the long run.

We want to continue encouraging quality teams to Cairns – we’re bringing some of the most talented kids in Australia up north – so our kids don’t have to constantly travel. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to play football in paradise. April is the best time to come visit the Great Barrier Reef.

It’s exciting for the region, and we hope to host the FNQ Youth Cup and Camp for years to come. Many people don’t realise that opportunities are so limited in Far North Queensland, especially for the juniors.

So when you can do things like this, it’s pretty special.

As told to Lucas Radbourne-Pugh

For more information, or to submit your youth team - U10, U11, U12, U13 - to the competition visit the event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/900836500090178/ or the Caravella Academy website: http://www.caravellafootballacademy.com.au/