Few outside of Newcastle will have heard of 33-year-old Keelan Hamilton.

But his star is on the rise.

On the weekend, the head coach Hamilton won a senior women’s premier league title with New Lambton FC, in only his second season as a senior coach. 

Barely eight years into his coaching career and with an FFA/AFC A Licence, experience as  Technical Director and Video Analyst, Hamilton is looking a star in the making. 

“At the start of my coaching career, Ange Postecoglou was someone I wanted to be like," Hamilton told FTBL. 

Keelan Hamilton

“I liked the way he had his teams playing pro-active football, he was brave in how he coached and he trusted young players and his conviction of belief.

“He backed himself. I definitely still look up to Ange massively even now.

“His conviction is something I admire. I met him briefly in Newcastle once, and he spoke in a very inspiring way.”

Hamilton worked with Gary Van Egmond at the Jets as a coach at their academy, and they would speak about Hamilton's ambitions and how Ange had inspired younger coaches. 

They also spoke about another Ange ‘prodigy’ Arthur Papas, currently in Ange’s coaching team at J-League high-flyers Yokohama Marinos, who was also briefly an assistant coach at the Jets.

“Arthur’s path and his coaching journey. He is someone who I look up to as well. I’ve always kept an eye on Arthur’s career in Saudi Arabia, NPL Victoria and in India and now Japan," said Hamilton. 

However, like many top managers, Hamilton's playing background is somewhat ordinary.

And he's brutally honest.