Newcastle Jets today welcomed the news from Football NSW regarding the Club’s youth teams and the NPL NSW competitions.

As of 2020, all 11 of the Jets Academy teams from the U/13s Boys and U/13s Girls teams, to the U/20s Men’s and Women’s teams, will compete in the NPL NSW.

Our women’s teams will continue to compete in the NPL NSW Women’s top- flight competition, while young boys teams, who will compete in the U/13s, U/14s, U/15s, and U/16s, will enter into the Youth NPL NSW 2.

The senior men’s youth teams, the U/16s, U/18s, and U/20s, will compete in the U/18s, U/20s, and First Grade competitions respectively in the Senior NPL NSW 4 and look to climb their way up the divisions.

According to Academy Technical Director, Craig Deans, the move will only benefit Newcastle’s young footballers.

“Playing in the NPL NSW has helped our young women immensely, we can see that through how many have progressed into the Westfield W-League side,” Deans said.

“For the boys to make the move will be a massive boost to their development and we’re confident it’ll have a positive impact on the quality of our youngsters.

“We see this is a fantastic move for the long-term health and success of our Academy and the players that come through it.”

Newcastle Jets CEO, Lawrie McKinna, said the future is bright for the Jets Academy.

“With the move to Hunter Sports High School and now the switch to the NPL NSW for our boys, 2020 is shaping as a landmark year for our Academy,” McKinna said.

“Northern NSW Football have been fantastic through this whole process and we want to thank them for all their support since we entered the NPL NNSW back in 2012.

“We also appreciate the hard work of Football NSW in ensuring we could bring seven new teams into their competitions and we’re looking forward to competing in the NPL NSW.”