Words: Michael Flynn
Image: Getty Images

The success of Queensland clubs in the inaugural Westfield FFA Cup is an endorsement of the state's PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues model, according to Football Queensland Chief Operations Officer Ben Mannion.

PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland clubs turned heads across Australia in the previous round of the national knock-out competition and three remain in the running ahead of tonight’s Round of 16 fixtures.

Tonight Brisbane Strikers face former National Soccer League rivals Adelaide City in the South Australian capital, while Olympic FC host Hyundai A-League club Central Coast Mariners at QSAC in Brisbane.

Recently crowned PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland Champions Palm Beach Sharks will continue their campaign next Tuesday night against South Springvale at Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast.

Mannion said that the results in the Westfield FFA Cup were a result of PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland clubs embracing the aims of the competition and maintaining a strong focus on player and coach development.

“The key driver of the NPL was always youth development and coach education and accreditation,” Mannion explained.

“We haven’t relaxed any of those accreditations. We expect our technical directors to have ‘A’ Licenses next year and our coaches to have ‘A’ or ‘B’ Licenses through FFA accredited courses.”

“Because of that we think they have been able to coach their players through their training plans and football plans very well and the benefits of that are being seen in the FFA Cup.”

Mannion conceded that while anything can happen in cup football, he was confident Strikers, Olympic and Sharks will put their best foot forward in their upcoming fixtures.

“There is nothing to stopping those three teams from going to the next stage as far as I’m concerned,” Mannion said.

However, he added that it will still be a tough task for many of the clubs against their fully professional Hyundai A-League opponents.

“The gap between NPL and A-League is still fairly significant, but it is closing. A-League clubs can bring in four foreign players, NPL clubs have only two visa players at present.”

“It is a little bit different in that way but they’re learning to develop their own and some of those benefits may take five to ten years to see.”

Mannion explained that the single-tier structure of the Playstation 4 National Premier Leagues in Queensland was an important part of its success.

“At the end of the day, we’ve been rock solid on one thing and that’s that we want this to be the best of the best,” he said.

“We wanted to take maybe three or four years to get a solid base of clubs and work on developing players through those clubs.”

“We can worry about other tiers and leagues later, but we didn’t want to dilute the talent and I think we’ve managed to do that.”

He further explained that the benefits of the structure will become increasingly evident as the current crop of juniors continue to develop.

“As time goes by, and we have expanded nationals in the junior age groups, we will see the benefits of being the best of the best and not diluting the talent.”

“We think that doing what we’re doing at the moment will in the long term benefit the game in Queensland,” he concluded.