The Northern Inland Football (NIF) under 12 high performance team, made up of players from around the region, will mix it with the city’s best footballers on a weekly basis as part of the shift.

(NIF) technical director Howard Stubbs said the team’s acceptance into the league was “outstanding news”.

“Playing at a higher level in a weekly competition will certainly give our players a lot of opportunities to improve and grow,” Stubbs said.

“From what I understand it is a 21 round competition and should offer us the chance to host seven home games at Scully Park, which should be really exciting.”

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Selected from gala days earlier this year, the team has already begun training for the 2019 season.

“At this stage the players are looking very good,” Stubbs said.

“We are training once a week at the moment and have already come together for five sessions, but we will certainly ramp things up in the new year.

“This metro competition is a really great chance for our players to showcase their skills and is a major step towards our region’s bid to enter the National Premier League in 2020.”

NIF general manager Julia Farina said the side’s acceptance into the metro league was a testament to the sport’s growth within the region.

“Over the past 10 years we have seen more than 50 per cent of growth in the game within the region,” Farina said.

“A lot of that is off the back of the massive amount of work done by all of the clubs.”

Farina said the side’s 2019 fixture would be released soon.

“At the moment we are just ironing out the finer details,” she said.

“We are in the process of finalising next year’s playing dates at the moment and we will announce those as soon as possible.”

The Northern Inland Football under 12 high performance squad: