Words: Michael Flynn

Northern Fury leading goalscorer Braedyn Crowley is hoping to turn heads at three of the country’s biggest clubs when the Townsville Football Cup kicks off on Sunday.

Crowley has scored a team best 16 goals in 23 games this season for Fury in NPL Queensland and the former Queensland State representative hopes he can extend that form starting tomorrow against Sydney FC.

“It’s amazing that we have a chance to play against A-League teams,” Crowley said, “Anything can happen and I just want to go out there and do my best and hopefully score.”

Fury will also play Brisbane Roar on Wednesday afternoon, while a North Queensland All Star team will round out the tournament against Newcastle Jets on Saturday.

Each match day will see the remaining Hyundai A-League sides face-off in a double serve of high quality football at Townsville Sports Reserve.

With scouts and coaches from the three professional clubs certain to be watching on, the 17-year-old Crowley said he was eager to put his best foot forward in hopes of extending his break-out season at Fury.

“Hopefully I can get some trials somewhere with a youth team,” he explained, “Since I was a kid my dream was to just keep pushing forward and go into the A-League and strive to do better things.”

Crowley scored 11 goals in the first 9 games of the season to be considered an early bolter for the NPL Queensland Golden Boot award, and, despite finding the goals harder to come by in the back half of the season, said he refuses to be discouraged.

“It’s the same with every player in the world because no player is going to score in every game,” Crowley explained.

“You might go well for half a season and then go down a bit for a couple of games, but I’m still happy with the way I’m playing,” he added.

After a promising start to the season, which saw Fury fourth after six rounds, the club’s form faded and they now find themselves out of contention for the NPL Queensland Finals.

However, Crowley conceded this tournament has given the players something extra to play for as the league season comes to a close and he hopes the Fury faithful will continue to cheer on the side this week.

“Even though we’ve been losing our home games the fans have still down to support us and hopefully they will come down against the A-League clubs and they will support us again,” he concluded.

Fury kick-off the Townsville Football Cup against Sydney FC at 2pm on Sunday, with Newcastle Jets and Brisbane Roar facing off in the second match at 5pm.

For more details on the Townsville Football Cup visit - http://www.townsvillefootballcup.com.au