WA Football Unearthing New TalentMonday, April 28, 2025 - 10:47 AM

WA Football's Male and Female U16 Performance Pathway Squad members have taken part in the Sportskey Athlete Profiling Event, supported by the West Coast Eagles, at Trinity College.

Dozens of young athletes were given a series of tests under the watchful eye of Sportskey Managing Director Chris Smith, former Head of the Sydney Swans Academy, who has more than two decades of experience in creating and managing high-performance programs.

Leading sports science company Sportskey aims to redefine how talent search and identification is conducted, joining forces with WA Football to broaden the opportunities for talented young athletes around the state.

The goal of the project is to provide objective, data-driven insights to WA Football, parents and young athletes.

Unlike standard fitness assessments, which often exhibit both maturity and age biases, Sportskey aims to emphasise skill and movement as key indicators of a young athlete’s long-term potential.

Peter Bell, Executive Manager Performance Pathways Development at WA Football  has high hopes for the project.

“As part of the review into WA’s talent development in 2024, one of the areas that was highlighted was the access to data,” Bell said.

“It’s a little bit different today because it’s not just measuring athletic data but also things like processing, cognition, awareness and reaction times.

“We’re really looking forward to comparing the data that these athletes are showing with what’s already out there.”

The event at Trinity College is the first step towards uncovering more talent across WA.

“We’ll be getting out into the regions and the metropolitan zones to test boys and girls who are younger than the ones you are seeing today with the view to seeing who might be suitable to entering into a Pathways Program.”

The Sportskey testing goes beyond the scope of previous methods.

“Historically there have been areas like agility, speed and vertical jumping but as I’ve mentioned there are metrics such as reaction time, processing time, cognition, awareness and balance.

“In addition, the testing also allows us to forecast how tall a boy or girl will be when they fully mature.

“We’re excited about what this program can deliver in the short and long term for WA Football and we thank Sportskey as well as the West Coast Eagles for supporting the initiative.”