In the past century it has produced more than 100 players who have gone on to play for the Socceroos.

From Reg Date and Roy Baartz, to Marshall Soper, Graham Jennings and Ron Giles, to more recently Clayton Zane and Troy Haplin, Newcastle has football in its bloodstream.

Arguably the area's greatest football product Craig Johnston, famously never played for Australia but starred for Liverpool in England.

In more recent times the Hunter has struggled to develop the same level of elite talent as it has in previous decades.

But that could be set to change with a number of talented youngsters set to make their mark at the Newcastle Jets.

Forward Angus Thurgate made his A-League debut last season, while defenders Patrick Langlois and Jackson Frendo, as well as midfielder Jack Simmons, could follow suit in 2018/19 and move up from the youth team.

"Paddy’s [Langlois] been training with us since last season and he’s coming on a long way," Jets coach Ernie Merrick told FTBL.

"He’s a scholarship holder but I’m pretty sure he’ll be a full contract pretty soon. We’ve got another one, an absolute cracker called Jack Simmons. He’s 16 years old, he scored the winning goal against Shanghai Shenhua and they couldn’t believe it.

"He’s training with us when he can get out of school, I think he’s at primary school. No he’s a good young player, we’ve also got a player called Jackson Frendo who trains with us on a regular basis.

"So we’ve got these young boys that have come through from the academy. Like Angus Thurgate they’re really talented young lads and we’ve given them a chance. We gave Joe Champness a chance last year and he’s just come on in leaps and bounds.

"[It's about] Getting the balance right between quality senior players plus some younger players who are developing with them."

Thurgate is only 18 and made seven first-team appearances last season for Newcastle.

Centre back Langlois is also 18 and joined the Jets from Broadmeadow Magic.

Simmons has come through the Emerging Jets program, the same as 19-year-old Frendo.

Merrick said the influx of young blood is down to the Emerging Jets, which was launched in 2012.

"It’s a credit to the academy that we brought in-house for the first time last year," he said.

"Before that it was out-sourced to NNSWFF who did a pretty good job.

"Now it’s in-house and Mike Cooper who was the technical director, he’s just moved back to Victoria, and we’ve got Craig Deans running it as well as the women’s team here.

"And then we’ve got Lawrie McKinna and Labi Haliti running the youth team, because Lawrie says he can’t stop coaching.

"He’s the one who decided to bring it in-house and fund it, thanks to the financial support of our owner Martin Lee."