The rivalry between newly promoted NPL club Maitland and Weston has already begun despite the season still being six months off, after the Magpies swooped to sign one of the Bears’ most promising young talents.
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Attacking threat Jye Mackellar, who won Weston’s Alan Cooper Achievement Award for best young player this season, shocked the Bears last week when he told the club he’d signed for Maitland.
The 17-year-old came to Rockwell Automation Park in 2014 after coming through the Emerging Jets program and played 15 games in Weston’s first-grade team this season.
Incoming Maitland first-grade coach Chris Turner was thrilled to welcome Mackellar to the club.
“I really like the look of him – what appeals to me is just how sensible he is at such a young age, and he looks like he’ll get better as he goes on,” he said.
“From what I saw last season ‘Piggo’ (Steve Piggott) edged him into first-team football and that’s smart.
“This is the opportunity for him to get more time in the top grade now.”
Weston officials were caught off guard by Mackellar’s decision to leave.
“We’re quite disappointed,” Bears football manager Shane Johnson said.
“Jye had spoken with (Bears coach) Trevor Morris last week, shook his hand and said he’d be on board, so from that aspect we’re not real impressed.”
Johnson said four players from Weston’s under-15 side for next season had also jumped ship after agreeing to play for the Bears, and conceded that increased competition for players between the
two clubs would now increase after Maitland’s promotion.
“We knew eventually they would come back up – they couldn’t stay in NEWFM (First Division) for the rest of their lives – and they are a competitor now,” he said.
“We wouldn’t have thought people would accept to play here at the club, and then go away and be negotiating somewhere else, but so be it.”
Mackellar isn’t the only Bear that will be making the journey across to Cooks Square Park in 2015, with former Weston under-22s captain Bryce Sanders also joining Maitland.
After seeing him during Maitland’s under-22s trials, Turner spoke highly of Sanders and suggested he could also become a fixture in the first team.
“His style of play really caught my eye at the trial,” he said.
“For me he is a holding-type midfielder and I was super impressed with the runs he made and the areas he was getting into, and from that I was super keen to get him on board.
“It’s early days, but all of those things can equal first-grade football.”