Fraser Coast youngsters are set to benefit from a Sunshine Coast Falcons program which paves the way for a direct route into the Melbourne Storm and the NRL.

The Falcons Fraser Coast Development Squad will begin in 2016 with twenty Fraser Coast-based players and up to five South Burnett players aged between sixteen and eighteen.

Players named in the inaugural squad will come together in February when Storm play Wests Tigers at Sunshine Coast Stadium before ongoing training sessions at Maryborough and Hervey Bay.

“We are very big on welfare, and (Sunshine Coast) isn’t too far from home for the kids (when they come down),” Falcons football operations manager Dane Campbell told the Fraser Coast Chronicle.

“It lets them stay at home until they’re ready to make the move.”