Middleby’s Move: The former NPL Men’s NSW starlet tackling LA Galaxy challenge

Eighteen-year-old Max Middleby was enjoying a standout tournament with Australia’s under-20s last year when he bumped into LA Galaxy coach Adam Waterson. 

The midfielder said he always dreamed of playing abroad, but America was never on his radar.

Regardless, it all moved quickly for the youngster who signed for the Major League Soccer outfit in November 2023 where he has been working his way into the LA Galaxy II team.

He has already had a taste of first-team action, too, training with the likes of former Barcelona academy star Riqui Puig and seasoned Japanese defender Maya Yoshida.

Middleby’s career started in Northern New South Wales with Valentine FC, where he played from age five, learning the game and settling on his position in midfield.

“When I was younger, I was playing pretty much all over the place trying to find that right position and I was in midfield for most of it,” he said.

“That’s the position I want to master and get better at.

“Just getting on the ball as much as I can. In a game, it boosts your confidence when you’re on the ball constantly and hitting long balls and going forward, defending – everything.”

Ahead of his season in the under-14s, Middleby moved down the coast to Central Coast Mariners and into the formerly-called National Premier Leagues Youth competitions.

It was after his first Mariners experience that the young midfielder played his first year of senior football, returning to Valentine to play for the first grade squad at 15.

Middleby credited that season back in Northern NSW as an important one for his development, in what was his first real exposure to men’s level football.

Following that year back at his boyhood club, the teenager signed for the Central Coast Mariners in their NPL Men’s NSW under-20s squad, and 12 months later, he moved up into first grade.

Despite getting plenty of senior football in Northern NSW, Middleby said he saw a move into the senior Mariners set-up as a chance to develop even further.

He said moving back to Central Coast was the right move for him at that point in his career, with the NPL Men’s NSW ranking for him as the best NPL competition in Australia.

“I was there [Central Coast Mariners] at a good time with Nick Montgomery and these guys that really push young guys forward,” he said.

“For my development, it was the better move for me, playing against the Sydney teams like Marconi and APIA that have that better technical ability in my opinion.

“It’s the NPL league in Australia that, for me is the top, so coming to play in the NPL NSW was the next step.

“There are players from all over the world coming to play in the NPL NSW, you’re picking up little things from players from Brazil, from Japan that help you as a player.

“At training, you’re competing with other young kids that want to make it, that want to be in a position.

“That’s what the league has done for me, pushing myself to make me a better player.”

The NPL Men’s NSW helped Middleby take the next step in his career – where he will now tackle his LA Galaxy challenge.

-By Tim Gibson