The best of Northern NSW Football’s NBN State League will come together in a ‘select’ team to meet the Newcastle United Jets in the culmination to a series of ‘friendly’s’ planned as part of the Jets preseason preparation for the A-League Version 3.

The match against the NBN Select Team will be played on Wednesday July 4, the last of a series of matches by the Jets against NBN State league squads including Highfields Azzurri (June 20); Hamilton Olympic (June 26) and Lake Macquarie (June 28).

Leading NBN State League coaches Damien Smith and Peter McGuinness will share the coaching duties for the squad which will be eager to test the mettle of the Jets.

‘We have players like John Bennis (Broadmeadow) who have already been earmarked as potential A-League starters in the future, along with the best the Northern NSW Football State League has to offer,’ coach Damien Smith said. ‘Potentially in years to come at matches like this, some of our boys may be running on for the Jets, so it’s an excellent opportunity to show
the Jets management the depth of talent we have locally.’

Northern NSW Football Manager David Smith agreed that whilst billed as ‘friendly’s’, the NBN State League players will be out to make a statement.
‘Players like Stuart Musialik (Jets/Olyroos/Socceroos Train On Squad) have come from this league and gone on to achieve significant career milestones at national representative level and I expect this trend to continue,’ David Smith said. ‘The Select team will be out to make clear that the Jets need not discount the local competition to look elsewhere for potential future stars.’

The NBN Select team will meet on two occasions for training outside of their regular club commitments with the State League competition, with training sessions planned for June 25th and July 2nd at a venue yet to be confirmed.

The train on squad selected for the match against the Jets consists of:
Ben McNamarra (Lake Macquarie)
Jarryd Johnson (South Cardiff)
Joel Theissen (Lake Macquarie)
Keegan Wolfenden (Edgeworth)
Joel Grenell (Highfield Azzurri)
Gareth Jenkins (Broadmeadow Magic)
Doug West (Hamilton Olympic)
Shane Knight (Lake Macquarie)
Ben Hughes (Lake Macquarie)
Josh Mcquire (Highfield Azzurri)
John Bennis (Broadmeadow Magic)
Sean Babic (Lake Macquarie)
Peter Junchneiwiz (Edgeworth)
Ricki Metcalfe (Toronto Awaba)
David Hodgson (Phoenix)
Andrew Goldman (Hamilton Olympic)
Josh Piddington (Broadmeadow Magic)
Luke Walker (Weston Bears)
Damien Zane (Phoenix)
Tom Libberson (Toronto Awaba)
Jason Hoffman (Hamilton Olympic)
Peter Haynes (Broadmeadow Magic)

From this list, a squad of fifteen (15) will be selected for the match.