About 43 young up and coming future stars are participation in the program under the guidance of coach Mark "Freddy" Stringer and his assistants.

The players were selected mainly for their football abilities, given a pathway to helping them if they want to progress their football careers, as well as helping the lads in their future healthy lifestyles.

Stringer, who has been in charge of the squad for a number of years, will once again be in charge of the under 17s combined teams.

He will be assisted by assistants Jeff Ewings and Tristan Watt, who are also coaching the under 15s combined squads, with help from Gary Bridgman and Mark Sims.

Also giving a helping hand with an eye on the future in coaching is West Whyalla's Scott Norman and Nick Tzanztoglou, while the team manager once again is Shane Sawyer.

The squad is as follows:

From North Whyalla: Adam Delcano, Ben Crawford, Billy Parish, Jai Harvey, Nick and Riley Sanders, Ayrton Franke, Bradley Coulson, Chris Slater, Toby Buhlmann and Tyson Henderson-Ewings.

From Central: Brandon Dix, Glen Wanganeen, Jarrad McInnes, Joey Webster, Kyle Ward, Michael Karoussis, Michael Wallace and Samuel Ellis.

Weeroona Bay: Brendan Colson, Jake Beinke, Jake Gericke, Kyle Colson, Owen Yendall and Ryan Adams.

West Whyalla: Ciaran Hollingworth-Hughes, Jack Inglis, Jayden Croft, Lachlan Foran, Lewis McLaughlan, Max Manners and Shane Hage.

South: Cody Pettiford, David Shaw, Daniel Kriticos, Henry Shea, Jacob Smith, Lourens Victor, Jarrad Kriticos, Nick Bence, Ryan Edwards and Steven Prior.

The squad will be added to at the discretion of the coaches.

There are a lot of very good young footballers named and if they apply themselves, who knows, we may have some of them go all the way and play AFL football, just like Levi Greenwood, who was a member of the development squad about five years ago.

Overall, the development squad has been a success story for the Whyalla Football League, with many players going on to play at a higher level.