That’s how Central West under-17 coach Ben McKenna describes his charges for Saturday’s game against Northern Riverina in Bathurst.

The side is made up of guns from Orange Tigers and the two Bathurst clubs, the Giants and Bushrangers. 

“There’s a lot of depth, the kids in this league a lot of them have potential to go even further, the coaching from Tigers, Giants and the Bushrangers has put them on a fast-track sort of route in regards to playing that fast, hard footy,” he said.  

“They’ve been in the same core group going through the last couple of years and stayed with each other, so they all know each other by names, there won’t be any of that awkwardness.”

McKenna said more importantly, their expectations of each other are “really high” – as are his expectations of them.

“I’m expecting a very close encounter. I don’t think it’ll be high-scoring, I think it’ll be a close encounter and anything on the outside will depend on the conditions which will play a massive factor,” McKenna said. 

“It comes down to the conditions, you imagine with the rain earlier this week it’ll be quite wet on Saturday now and it’ll be that inside football only and it’ll be that intense football with a lot of tackles and a lot of shepherds.

“I think it’ll suit us.”

McKenna said some of the Tigers in the side impressed, with under-17 skipper Peter Byrne “a good footballer and good leader” who McKenna will turn to in Sunday’s game, while Max Bylsma will also play a big role. 

The Bushrangers’ highly-rated Scott Brown will be a key, as will Giants Reilly Mitchell and Aidan Macauley, while Nic Broes is one McKenna can see taking the step beyond the Central West if he continues his trajectory.

“The way he’s going, he could go far,” McKenna said of Broes.

McKenna, who lined up for Box Hill during his stint playing in Melbourne, said he was hoping to teach his young side what it took to play at a step above their normal competition. 

“I’m trying to teach them more advanced sides, they’ve been taught how to play football and what they need now is how do we take the next step, really put the foot down and say ‘this is what we’re going to do’,” he said.

“I haven’t coached a lot, I’ve helped out with the Tigers and with [Melbourne club] Doncaster and saw myself as someone taking the knowledge of the game and reading the play, and the more I can teach kids coming through the better.”

First bounce in the under-17 clash on George Park 2 is at 11am, with the under 12s and under 14s kicking-off on George Park 1 from 11.45am and 1pm respectively.