With six weeks to go until season 2012/13, we’re looking at the best breakthrough talent.
Ahead of season 2012/13, we get the coaches’ lowdown on the rising stars.
Central Coast Mariners
If one club knows how to get the most out of young players, it-s the Mariners, who have become something of a talent farm under Graham Arnold.
Mat Ryan, Mustafa Amini and Oliver Bozanic all burst onto the scene at about the same time and have all made a huge impact.
Last year it was Tom Rogic-s turn to show football fans what he had and now Arnold is ready to turn some more youngsters loose on the league.
His big tip to make an impact is midfielder Anthony Caceres.
Arnie says: “He-s coming together well. He impressed last year in the Youth team in the role that he played there. He reminds me a lot of a young Stuart Musialik.
“He moves the ball around but is also very tactically aware. It-s been a big step up for him in the first five weeks of training being full-time, because he-s come from a part-time environment where he-s only trained three times a week.
“I think that the kid has a lot of special qualities and it-s up to us to try and get them out of him.
“He-s training twice a day with us at the moment and he-s done a lot of power work and strength work that he wouldn-t have had time to do otherwise.
“This year will be a bit of a learning curve for him but I think he will get a fair bit of game time.”
Anthony Caceres says: “It-s always been a dream to do football as my job. I-ve been enjoying every minute at training, it-s intense, I-m learning a lot, so I-m very happy.
“I-ve found my overall fitness has improved. My strength and agility also. I-m learning a lot. Every second of every session I-m learning something and trying to take everything in.
“I definitely feel that I-m improving with every session.
“I have a few personal goals. Firstly I-d like to improve physically in all aspects. I-m a young player, I-m new to the club so I-m not expecting much, but I am hoping for some game time.”
