Jacob Bandur, Connor Chapman, Samuel Chapple, Giancarlo Galliufuoco, Hayden Morton, Daniel Sadaka and goal scorer Josh DaSilva are all on the books of the southern Sydney club, which plays in the NSW Premier League.

With the exception of Sadaka, who's a keeper, these players are also attending the NSW Institute of Sport, one of Australia's most successful finishing schools for footballers.

"It's always been there, it really just needs to be tapped into," says former Sutherland Sharks NSW Premier League club coach Brian Brown of the area. "Something's going right down there."

Brown goes one step further, saying the strength of the Sutherland Shire as a football goldmine bodes well should the South Coast bid for the A-League ever gain acceptance into the A-League.

"If there was an A-League club, it would be a well-supported club. Even last year when Sydney FC played the Sharks we got 5000 fans," he said.

"You could build a real good strong club down there, probably with a connection with the south coast bid as a southern Sydney/South Coast kind of thing.

"There's the west of Sydney too which appears equally as good so that's the debate, isn't it?"

In fact, the area has had a team of its own - kind of.  Sydney Olympic, the former NSL champions, were rebranded the Olympic Sharks and played out of Shark Park, home of the local NRL club, at the turn of the millennium.

Two successful seasons in which the side reached two grand finals (winning one) were the highlights. But crowds failed to turn up in great numbers.

The mix of a Greek-backed club foisted onto the Sutherland Shire in tandem with the NSL's general lack of wider appeal ensured that the experiment ultimately failed.

But what can't be called into question is the extraordinary production line of juniors which we're now seeing flow through to the highest possible level.

It's entirely possible that if Australia does host a World Cup in 2018 or 2022, the backbone of the side will be from the Sutherland Shire.

Australia's U/15s drew 2-2 with Japan in Canberra. Two days earlier, they earned a 3-2 victory with Josh Da Silva bagging a double.