New Young Roar Head Coach Chris Grossman is excited to see what his new group of young players can achieve in the upcoming Foxtel Y-League 2019/20 campaign.
The first challenge – a meeting at Ipswich’s Eric Evans Reserve against Melbourne Victory Youth on Saturday morning (10am KO).
For the first time, the Roar enter the competition as defending champions following last year’s maiden 3-1 Grand Final victory over the Wanderers.
Grossman says last year’s successes will serve as motivation for the 2019/20 class.
“It’s exciting to bring some new faces into a group which had a lot of success last season. It’s exciting to look at the results & the end product we had last season and put the challenge to the new group this year to do even better,” Grossman said.
The Young Roar are unbeaten in their last 11 outings against the Victory dating back to 2014, including a double over the Victorians last season, keeping two clean sheets in 6-0 & 2-0 victories.
The Young Roar squad contains plenty of young talent who know what it takes to win Austalia’s premier youth competition, as well as plenty who have been involved in the first-team ranks throughout Hyundai A-League pre-season.
“Winning becomes a habit. It’s not all down to winning, but it does instil confidence in what we’re doing,” Grossman continued.
“The other thing is, there’s plenty of players who have been involved in the Hyundai A-League squad during pre-season.
“It’s also good to see the boys back from the [FIFA] U17 World Cup too and they can pass on those experiences to the rest of the squad. That will be important for the playing group & only push us forward.”
Headaches at the selection table await Grossman ahead of Saturday’s meeting with the Victory, with an fully fit squad to choose from.
“It’s a difficult job as a coach now – there are some really exciting players in our squad who may not get game time through the first few rounds,” he continued.
“It’s a tremendous accolade to the staff we have here at the Club keeping the boys on the pitch and that creates the competition for places, which is what you want.
“The boys need to deserve their opportunity to play & Round 1 is going to be no different. The players should be excited for the challenge of competition from within & that should only push the group forward.”
