Canberra doesn't have a National Youth League team, but three of the city's brightest products are making their mark in the competition.
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Sydney FC trio George Timetheou, Jordan Tsekenis and Alex Tilley made a triumphant homecoming in a 3-1 win against the FFA Centre of Excellence at the AIS on Sunday.
Timetheou played the entire 90 minutes in defence, Tilley came on at half-time into right midfield and Tsekenis was injected up front for the final 20 minutes in hot conditions.
A graduate of the FFA Centre of Excellence, Timetheou trains with Sydney FC's A-League squad and was in the match-day squad for a match with Brisbane Roar.
"It's always good to train with the first team and I'm finding my time really positive and enjoying it," Timetheou said. "That first experience was really good and hopefully there's more to come.
"It's good to get three boys from Canberra in the team because we don't have that opportunity, so we have to move away from home."
Tilley is the latest addition, having joined Sydney FC in January as a replacement player.
Former Socceroo Andy Bernal recommended Tilley to trial with the Sky Blues after giving him a chance in the National Premier League with Canberra FC last year.
It was Tilley's first season with Canberra FC after he progressed through ACTAS and the Capital Football NTC program.
"That really helped me develop the technical skills that are needed for this level and the next level," Tilley said. "It'd be really important to have a Canberra youth league team because it would give the juniors something to aim for.
"If we could get a good system from the juniors to the youth league, we would see a lot more players from Canberra in the A-League because it would showcase the talent to the rest of the A-League teams."
Sydney FC youth coach Miro Vlastelica said the Sky Blues were committed to giving players from outside A-League cities a chance.
"There's a lot of talent in regional areas and areas outside of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and it's good that we can bring boys in," Vlastelica said.
"It's a good experience for them and we're always on the lookout for talent in other areas.
"We've got scouts in Canberra that help us with that. In saying that we work with Andrew Bernal, who's recommended a lot of these boys, especially the last one, Alex Tilley."
Tsekenis said coping with the increased intensity of the NYL took some time to get used to.
"At first, it was a bit hard to keep up with it, but after a week or two, I started to coping with it," he said. "My lungs started developing a bit more and I got used to the tempo.
"I'm loving it in Sydney. Training is awesome and players have welcomed me in with open arms."