Two rising Forbes talents have been identified as football stars of our future.

Josie McKenzie has been selected to participate in the emerging Matildas camp for Capital Football, Oliver Northey the emerging Socceroos for NSW Country.

Doug McKenzie, soccer coach and Josie’s dad, explained each football federation sends its best players to the tournament in July where they’ll play under the watchful eye of Football Australia staff.

“They’ll then select a group to go into camp, and from there they select an Under 17 team to play in the Asia Cup,” McKenzie said.

This year the girls are headed to Sydney for the championships, the boys to Melbourne.

Josie has risen through the ranks of local and representative soccer, stepping up to play with Canberra Croatia since mid-2023.

This year she’s made the move to boarding school in Canberra, where the strength and conditioning and athletics training programs compliment her football development.

At just 15, Josie’s already been playing with under 17s for Canberra Croatia and has now been selected for the Gungahlin Club’s reserve grade side.

“She’s in a good environment where she’s training with first grade two nights a week,” McKenzie said.

Beyond her club football, the attacking midfielder trialled for Capital Football and has started training with them ahead of the Emerging Matildas tournament.

Her strengths, McKenzie identified, are her speed and fitness, her accuracy in passing and her vision.

Oliver heads to the tournament with the Country NSW U15 boys after making his Country debut with the Under 14s in 2024.

Northey also has a busy schedule of training and competition with the Western NSW Football Club and their talent support program.

Training takes the family to Bathurst and Orange regularly, and the team competes in a youth league of mostly Sydney teams across a 27-round season.

Oli’s a defensive player, predominantly centre defence, and has been selected to step up and captain his team across a number of games this season.

The Country squad got together for training and competition over the June long weekend in the lead-up to the tournament, which his dad Scott describes as an opportunity of a lifetime.

Josie and Oliver both brought their skills home in April, helping with school holiday coaching clinics for the next generation of players, and their successes show the strength of football in Forbes.