Opinion Piece from Head Coach Luis Melgar- our first transfer to Brisbane Roar, the June transfer window, our experience with NPL youngsters.

With the June transfer window now been and gone, making it our 6th window we’ve been a part of. Our head coach Luis Melgar reflects on our movements plus shares his opinion from an LMFC point of view of our experience with local talent and NPL pathways.

Our major movement was our first transfer out to the Brisbane Roar, with Marsden State High School student Eremugo Debele moving from LMFC, his first senior football club to the Brisbane Roar under 18’s.

Ollie Nijimbere joins LMFC from Easts. Mesbah Photography

Plus we also brought in Logan local 19 year old attacker Oliver Nijimbere from Easts after playing the majority of his youth football there plus a handful of first team games at the NPL club.

“We are all super proud of the recognition and opportunity Eremugo has earned himself in signing with the Roar academy. 16 year old Eremugo applied himself from day 1 in pre season and stepped up to the challenges we presented him in training and during the games, getting exposed to U23s and senior football after he established himself as our number 6.

We believe youth players can develop faster and better with exposure to training and playing at quality senior program.

The club has made no secret of its mission statement of “discovering and developing local talent” and this is a prime example of that.

Playing out of Compton Park in Woodridge, we are surrounded by clubs that represent almost every level of the Football Queensland competitive football pyramid.

Despite only being 10 years old we’ve quickly established a respected and well known senior football program, playing in QPL4 this year and aiming to gain promotion into FQPL3 and beyond in the coming seasons.

Part of our success has been offering talented young players a genuine opportunity to represent the club at senior level if they possess the quality.

Unlike larger clubs, young talented players at Logan Metro do not have the same risk of getting “lost” or “locked in” to playing in their age groups due to the stockpiling of talent and sometimes politics involved in playing paid senior footballers ahead of younger talented ones.

We’ve demonstrated our commitment to a fair approach and have seen local talent choose to switch from NPL, FQPL1/2 set ups, to come and be part of our football program that promotes and plays players on merit.

This season we’ve had local youth players from Western Pride (Geofrey Maru), Easts (Charles Griffin & Ollie Nijimbere), Rochedale (Eremugo Debele), Holland Park (Jacques Musabwa) all make the decision to join our program, establish themselves in the senior squad, helping us achieve our goals and joining other established LMFC players with NPL experience including our captain Jean-Mike Jabo (Brisbane City) & Jayden Ferguson (Brisbane Strikers)

We know that football is the number 1 grassroots sports played across the country BUT we also understand their is a big drop off from incredibly talented players when they hit the late teens or early 20’s.

Our message to any youngsters out there playing U16-U23 in NPL or QPL 1/2 football is, you could improve the rate of your development by playing senior football at Logan Metro FC. Feedback we’ve received is the noticeable difference in training standards, pace of the games, increased focus and tactical understanding required to be successful.

Our recent track record speaks for itself, we stand by and demonstrate our belief that if you’re good enough you’re old enough and don’t need to navigate some of the politics that can cause young talent to fall out of love with the game.

If anyone reads this and is interested in getting in touch please feel free to contact me directly at [email protected]

In the mean time we’ll continue to be Proudly Logan. Discovering and developing local talent. Chasing the fairytale. Always staying inclusive. “

Luis Melgar
Head Coach
Logan Metro Football Club