Warriors soak up chances

JULIUS ROSS | February 03, 2011 12.01am

THE 2011 pre-season has given rise to a number of opportunities for Tasmanian soccer players to show their worth against top opposition from the mainland.

This week, Olympia Warriors have sent four players to Victoria to train with South Melbourne.

In conjunction with South Melbourne's visit to Hobart in January, Warriors communicated with South's coaching staff to organise for promising youngsters Alex Nandan and Brady Cronk, both 16, and 17-year-olds Jayden Hey and Ben Phillips to train with the Victorian Premier League side.

The quartet began training on Monday with the Melbourne club's senior and under-21 squads and had further sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, with two final sessions today.

"They've all trained well under the guidance of [South Melbourne coach] Eddie Krncevic," Olympia coach Chris Hey, who is in Melbourne supervising his players, said.

"We want set up a pathway; we know as a club we want to establish a good relationship with South Melbourne."

Hey said the pathway would allow young players from Olympia to move onto higher level football.

"The positive outcome for the boys, our club and South Melbourne would be that a couple of them catch the eye of the senior coaching staff and they are invited back," Hey said.

"But they are just enjoying the experience; they are aware it's simply a fantastic opportunity for them and if anything else comes out of it, it's a bonus."

The training should provide the four with excellent preparation for this weekend's Hudson Cup in Launceston, which Olympia has entered


http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/02/03/204321_soccer.html