Brisbane Roar/QAS NTC Women’s coach Mel Andreatta has praised the professionalism of her squad following last week’s National Training Centre Challenge in Canberra.

The tournament – which acts as an identification opportunity for upcoming youth national team training camps – was contested by elite youth women’s teams from each state with the BRFC/QAS squad managing two wins, three draws and two defeats from their seven fixtures.

While Andreatta says the final results failed to reflect the team’s encouraging level of performance, she commended the high standards maintained by her young side.

“Professionalism isn’t measured in a six-day tournament like that, it’s simply revealed,” Andreatta said.

“The professionalism of the girls in the 12 months leading into the tournament – and the 12 months before that for some of the really young ones – has been on show in managing school, coming to training and pulling out their books before training, always doing their daily scores, the committment to training and focus once we get started.

“They’re true professionals. That’s been on show for easily 24 months – not just the six days.”

Among the standouts was 16-year-old Kaitlyn Torpey, who was named to the tournament’s FFA Select Team.

Andreatta believes the selection was due reward for the Olympic FC product.

“Kaitlyn Torpey exemplifies that professionalism. She’s very happy and we are too to see her get recognised,” she said.

“It’s simply a case of her hard work and committment being rewarded by performances that were consistently at a high level.

“For her it’s a step in the right direction, but knowing her and the type of person she is she’s well aware of how much more she needs to do and the hard work ahead.”

The squad will now take a brief break before regrouping for the remainder of their PlayStation® 4 National Premier Leagues campaign, where they compete in the U13 Boys competition.

“They’re all in exam blocks right now in an important time in their academic lives,” Andreatta explained.

“Once that period has passed we’ll come back together to finish off our NPL season and also prepare the girls for those camps that might be coming up.”