Sapphire Coast AFL has named a preliminary 39-man trial squad for the upcoming representative weekend.
The rep round will see the Sapphire and South Coast teams take on 3rd and 4th grade Canberra teams at Berrambool Oval in Merimbula.
“The 39 man squad to face Canberra 4th grade at Berrambool oval on the 11th of June is packed full of talent with the best players in the competition being put forward to represent their league,” football operations coordinator Jarrod Moore said.
Co-coached by Luke Taylor and Paul Noack, there is no shortage of leadership to head up the team with Taylor a previous premiership winning captain and coach with the Sea Eagles, while Noack was an integral part of the Panthers last two premierships as assistant coach and running the game day responsibilities.
“The leadership that Paul and Luke have shown so far in 2016 is really exciting and the league should be extremely competitive come the 11th of June,” Moore said.
”It has been a few years since the boys got to play representative football in front of their own friends and family so it should help lift our boys to play some really good footy.”
The initial squad is littered with young talent such as 2015 Best and Fairest winner Scott Proctor as well as representative regulars in Scott Hay, Dylan Cook, Tom Hammond and Nick Lazzaro.
The coaches have also included a number of youngsters with no senior representative experience in Dylan Jordan, Jordan Pilgrim, Sam Hodge and 2015 Rookie of the Year Kel Evans.
“It’s great to see the young guys stepping up in 2016 and elevating their name into the senior representative conversation and it balances the initial squad well with some of the experienced guys such as Luke Taylor and Luke Moresi,” Moore said.
Moore noted that representative football was important to all leagues and is looking forward to building the program in the Sapphire.
“I believe that representative football is important to all leagues and you just have to look down in Victoria over the past weekend where every league is given a ranking, with the number one ranked side playing the number two ranked side all the way down,” he said.
“It is a great concept and brings that extra bit of competitiveness to the games with each league aiming to be the number one league in the state with some great rivalries developing from the concept.”
The squad has scheduled three weeks of training with the first to be held at Berrambool on Wednesday.
The second is in Bermagui on June 1 and back to Merimbula on June 8 with all sessions to run from 6.30pm.
PRELIMINARY SQUAD:
The initial 39 man squad to play Canberra 4th grade on Saturday the 11th of June at Berrambool Oval, 12pm includes:
Bermagui: Kobi Cook, Luke Moresi, Luke Kingston and Nick Lazzaro.
Eden: Liam Wilkinson, Scott Munday, Lachlan Rooney and Nathan Sheldon.
Merimbula: Jack Burch, Tom Burch, Dylan Jordan, Daniel Worden and Danny Adams.
Narooma: Daniel Smith, Rowan Hawkey, Luke Talty, Sam Hodge, Liam Clothier, Jack Clothier, Joe Nugent, Jordan Lang, Joel Lansky and Tom Clarke.
Pambula: Tom Hammond, Stephen Butterworth, Scott Proctor, Dylan Cook, Jordan Pilgrim, Jake Taylor, Kyle Tucker and Mitch Cameron.
Tathra/Bega: Luke Taylor, Kel Evans, Jesse Meaker, Chris Dwyer, Adam Blacka, Scott Hay, Will Dickinson and Joshua Wilkinson.
