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A new cycle of U17 female players is set to commence their national team journey as head coach Rae Dower has called up a 30-player provisional squad for the CommBank Junior Matildas’ upcoming October training camp.

Held on the Gold Coast from 25 October to 5 November 2022, it will mark the first assembly for the U17 Women’s ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Team since their success at the AFF U18 Women’s Championships.

Dower, who has guided a generation of talented national team footballers since 2017, is enthused about the prospects for this new group.

“I’m ecstatic to commence working with the new cohort of CommBank Junior Matildas,” said Dower. “There are some outstanding young talents we’ve selected that really excite me and year upon year I’m blown away at the continued improvement in the young players coming through.”

“This group gets the first opportunity to impress and build upon their football knowledge and take another step towards pulling on the green and gold.”

Football Australia’s recent U14 and U16 ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Youth Championships at Coffs Harbour and several Elite Games around the country have been the basis for this initial selection with many more already identified for future assemblies. The provisional squad sees players named from seven different Member Federations and a host of clubs around the country from metropolitan and country areas.

“Already we have identified a ‘long list’ of 80+ players in this cycle which are players born in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The players come from all over the country and are playing in a variety of environments including the Member Federation NTC Programs, community football leagues and both boys and girls NPL competitions.”

“We’ll continue building up our staff team too in this camp with a number of additional professional development opportunities afforded and some referee education and development opportunities as well.”

Dower will be faced with the difficult task of whittling down the provisional squad to 24 players to be announced early next week.

COMMBANK MATILDAS JUNIOR MATILDAS | PROVISIONAL SQUAD