This Friday Werribee will take to the MCG for one of its final practice games of the pre-season – but they won’t be facing a fellow Peter Jackson VFL opponent.
For the second year in a row Werribee will face the NAB AFL Under 18 Academy team, which features some of the most exciting underage talent from all over Australia. The game starts at 4.35pm as the curtain raiser to AFL blockbuster between Collingwood and Richmond.
Werribee senior coach John Lamont sees this as a great opportunity to test his players on a big stage.
“Some of our blokes have never played on the G so that is a real buzz for them. Plus, it is an opportunity to put our players under the eye of all AFL recruiters,” Lamont said.
“Players like Wilson, Gribble, Conway, Porter, Robinson and Maishman all have ambitions to get to an AFL club, so this is a huge opportunity for them.
“New boys Mennan, McFarlane and Petterwood will also come under notice of AFL talent scouts for the first time in a Werribee jumper, so it’s exciting for them too.
“Then throw in a few of our older heads like Laracy, Sherlock and Hussey and it promises to be a great game for our playing list.
“Everyone will be going 100% trying to impress for selection in the round 1 team.”
Lamont believes it will be a great test for the Academy team against a VFL side, with many of them originating from the TAC Cup system including the likes of Ben Ainsworth (Gippsland Power), Jordan Gallucci (Eastern Ranges) and Josh Battle (Dandenong Stingrays).
“It is also a good gauge for the under 18 boys to see what the next step up the AFL pathway is like.
“We hope there is bit of a crowd after halftime as the Richmond and Collingwood supporters file in.”
Werribee will round out its 2016 season preparation on Saturday April 2 with the remaining squad members not playing Friday taking on Footscray at Whitten Oval.
The match on Friday night is the first of two matches for the NAB AFL Academy players, with the Under-18 Australian Team set to take on the Geelong VFL side at 3.00pm on Saturday April 9 at Simonds Stadium.
The match will streamed live on both desktop and mobile: www.afl.com.au/draft/u18s/academy
Last Modified on 31/03/2016 23:54
