As the plush new Windsor Park complex prepares to stage NPL Tasmania action for the first time, the club has recruited former Football Federation Tasmania coach Alex Gaetani and teamed up with Brisbane Roar. 

Believed to be the first club in Tasmania to have an official link with an A-League club, Olympic say the partnership will provide a pathway to Australia’s elite competition with youth team products Liam Gilmore and Jarrod Hill the first to benefit.

The regular Northern representative side teammates spent last week training at the Roar’s Logan training ground, with Hill earning an invitation to join in with the first team.

Olympic’s technical director Alan Eadie said the partnership, combined with Gaetani’s appointment, gave the Northern Championship-winning club strong foundations for the step up to statewide competition next season.

“The Roar coaches will come down and work with our technical department to run talent id, coach education and development of our academy program and it is open to us to send players up for experience,” Eadie said.

“The opportunity now exists for any Riverside junior who sees themselves as a potential A-League player and aspires to that level.”

Gaetani, a former Olympic player who has coached at Launceston City and Northern Rangers, relished his upcoming workplace.

“Having been around other clubs in Tasmania there is no doubt in my mind that Riverside has got the best facilities in the state and not only in terms of bricks and mortar but the whole environment down at Windsor Park is something pretty special,” he said.