Jonathon Hassan, Saleh Salim, Reuben Haley and Ben Sredojevic kick off NYC campaign

Jonathon Hassan, Saleh Salim, Reuben Haley and Ben Sredojevic will pull on the NSW Country shirt and run out to play in front of scouts from A-League and NPL clubs as well as national selectors at Valentine Sports Park.

Murray United forward Hassan is in the U16 boys side while AWFA trio Salim (Wodonga Heart), Haley (Cobram Roar) and Sredojevic (Albury City) have been picked at under-15 level.

NSW Country face Capital Football and South Australia on Monday, NSW Metro Blue and Victoria Blue on Tuesday and Queensland White on Wednesday before finals begin on Thursday.

The tournament concludes on Friday afternoon, with the Border quartet playing not just for the chance to make a grand final but higher opportunities in the game.

Wodonga Heart president Anton Maas, who is one of NSW Country's assistant coaches at the championships, underlined the significance of four players from the Albury-Wodonga region making it this far.

"It's really hard, as country boys, to get to this level because it's really difficult to replicate the quality of teams in Sydney where they play high-quality matches, week in, week out," Maas said.

"They have to do it all in their own time and raise the bar at training for themselves and they set the bar really high for everybody else.

"Sometimes you play a little bit differently in local leagues compared to how we want them to play here but they've had some good coaching along the way and they are able to change formation and play out of position so they've done very well."

Hassan left Wodonga Heart to test himself in the NPL with Murray this year and Maas, having previously worked with him at club level, has noted his progress.

"Jonathon is a little bit more unpredictable this year," Maas said.

"He's left-footed so he was favouring his left side a lot but having come up against some good defenders when he was playing against Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory, he's had to become a little bit of a different player.

"But he still has that confidence to dribble and that's where we want him to be, in those one-v-one situations up front.

"I think it was good for him (to move).

"I couldn't do anything more for him at Wodonga Heart, he needed an environment where he got challenged a lot more.

"There were too many easy matches for him in our local league, he was miles above anybody else, and he scored plenty of goals at Murray so I think he's proved that he can compete at NPL level.

"Even here, he can still do it against the best defenders in the country so hopefully he can do it consistently over the next five or six days and it's his moment to shine."

Salim and Haley shone at centre-half throughout the AWFA season while Sredojevic scored 37 goals across four different grades at City.

"Ben and Reuben were in the team last year and they've really grown," Maas said.

"Reuben has played quite a bit of senior football, he played some Division 1 matches, and Ben even scored a couple of goals in Div 1 as a 15-year-old.

"Ben scored a couple of goals at NYC last year; he's a very skilful player up front, fast and tall and has a good shot and he knows where he has to be on the pitch.

"Reuben and Saleh are very solid on the ball and with a very good passing range and the confidence to play out from the back.

"We try to play proper football, not just long balls up front, we try to have a possession-based game and those two in the back line can do it."

The National Youth Championships has a reputation as the pinnacle of junior competition on the Australian football calendar so there is no better opportunity for our rising stars to show how good they really are.

"Everything is set up for the kids to shine," Maas said.

"It's a real professional set-up, all the kids will get equal playing time and everything will be recorded.

"People from Football Australia will come into our dressing rooms and spend time with the kids outside of the game as well.

"In the past, they would always just look at the players in videos and from the stands but they don't really know the players.

"This year, however, they will be much closer to everybody so it's very important for the players to be on their best behaviour.

"They're not just selecting good players, they want good people as well, not difficult people who will cause trouble when they're in the hotel if they play a tournament overseas."

The Girls National Youth Championships will be played from October 9-13.

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