Photo: Greg Downes being presented with a South Hobart centenary shirt by coach Ken Morton [PlessPix]
Tasmanian youngster Greg Downes had his first training session at National Conference League club Darlington yesterday.
Last week, he trained with Division One club Hartlepool, the traditional rivals of Darlington, and he will resume training with Hartlepool next week.
Darlington, whose nickname is The Quakers, are based in the north-east of England and were relegated to the Conference League after finishing bottom of Division Two last season.
Downes said the club had two training sessions on Monday and he trained with the youth side.
“Firstly, we warmed up and then played some possession games,” Downes said.
“There were three teams and we kept rotating.
“We then went into 5 versus 5 games with plenty of shooting.
“Firstly, we played to two goals for three minutes and then went into 5-minute games in a round-robin tournament.
“The team then did some shape work ahead of their FA Youth Cup game on Wednesday [tomorrow], which if they win, they have a very good chance of playing Arsenal Youth in the next round at the Emirates Stadium.
“We finished the session with some crossing and shooting.”
Strength and conditioning exercises were the order of the day in the afternoon session.
“It consisted of plenty of push-ups, wheelbarrow walking and squats with resistance bands,” Downes said.
“I’m training again today [Tuesday] and maybe Thursday and Friday and then it’s back to Hartlepool on Monday.”
12 comments:
Walter isn't greg a little old to be considered for youth teams in the UK? are these genuine trials, because 18 is the age they look at you for 1st team football, not youth.
Walter stop taking the piss. Anyone can go to England and ask to 'trial'
Get back to Tas news
Walter, don't listen to the boo boys who have nothing better to do than whine! Tasmanian "Football" isn't the top end of soccer, so maybe listening to experiences of a guy training with pro's and semi pro's will give others a belief that they can achieve at a higher level than the State League here.
Anonymous 12:35 the reason is because of the rules introduced by FIFA that state that players under the age of 18 can't get a transfer to foreign clubs, I don't know if it prohibits players from germany going to a english club when they are 17 though. Anonymous 2:08 you are a complete idiot, the standard of Darlington is very high, and also he has been training at Hartlepool in League One, which is pretty similar to the standard of the A-League so I think this is very worthy of walter's coverage
I'm glad to see Walter covering Tasmanian footballers playing beyond this island. Keep it up !!!
When I've lived in Sydney or Melbourne, Tasmanian football has little status in the national football landscape. Greg Downes is moving upwards playing in League One or the Conference.
Kleberson
He is only training there .
English training sessions make me laugh.
He couldn't get a game at south.. Maybe he should Try that first
what a bunch of whingers. "he is only training there" - which do you think is better: training at Wellesly with people barely take it seriously, or travelling around England training with pofessional players and coaches? "Anyone can train over there" - really??? Have you done it? If it is that easy, wy dont more of us players do it? SOOOOOO PATHETIC!
Good luck Greg, worst case scenario - U come back to Tasmania a FAR FAR better player than anyone who writes on this Blog.
Calm down . It's not hard to train with them it's hard to play for them. I have mates that play there and sometimes it's who you know rather than what you can do
yeah but how many people play with them without training with them first? Surely its a step in the right direction and doesnt deserve all this negativity.
Compared to what most Tassie players are doing at the moment (absolutley nothing or starting the same old boring pre-season), it is definitely newsworthy.
Yes it is newsworthy and he could get a team in England that is a better standard than tas . There is so many leagues there that pay good money 2 players. Pre-season isn't boring hahaha
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