FOOTBALL Federation Victoria is concerned that a lack of Albury-Wod- onga youngsters at a recent federation Summer League trial is going to result in weaker-than-expected Goulburn North East teams.

The new Summer League competition is to be the state’s central pathway towards representative and A-League selection and will be contested by 12 zones across metropolitan and country Victoria.

The first of the Goulburn North East trials was held at Shepparton and while the number of Shepparton players exceeded expectations, Atila Kerestes, FFV’s development co-ordinator for Goulburn North East, said he was disappointed with the Border’s showing.

“In the under-14 and under-15 boys there was not a single player from Albury-Wodonga,” Kerestes said.

“There were around 20 players from Shepparton for those age-groups but they were not of the quality that we’re looking for.”

Kerestes said elite juniors would be selling their careers short if they passed the opportunity to play in the Summer League.

“I’m not sure if this is well understood, but this competition is going to be the main avenue towards A-League and state selection now,” Kerestes said.

“The talent pool in this region is regarded as the best in country Victoria — to not have those players represented in this competition would be a disservice to both the region and those players.”

Two more trial sessions will be held from 6.30pm at the South Wangaratta Reserve this week — an all-boys sessions tonight and all-girls and open women sessions on Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, four of the region’s best juniors — Zac McKenzie, Josh Warmsley, Thomas Frawley and Novak Sojic — have just returned from impressive performances at Football Federation Australia’s National Boys Youth Championships.

The quartet were all part of the Victoria Country team that finished the tournament in fifth.