TRFM Gippsland League senior interleague coach Harmit Singh has announced his preliminary squad ahead of next month’s Worksafe Community Championships clash with AFL Yarra Ranges.
Singh shortlisted 37 names, with every club represented in what, on paper at least, appears a very competitive group of players.
The squad features plenty of household names including AFL Victoria Country representatives Bob McCallum and Mark Collison, Bairnsdale’s ex-AFL star Damian Cupido and reigning Trood Award and Rodda medallist Brad Scalzo.
Reigning premier Maffra leads the way with seven selections, while beaten grand finalist Leongatha and Traralgon provide six apiece.
Singh said support from the league’s member clubs had been extremely encouraging and the door was not closed for players that catch the eye in coming weeks.
“It’s a pretty strong and well-balanced squad that will play an attractive brand of footy that hopefully all the players will buy into,” Singh said.
“It’s just an initial squad and we’ll add to it over the next couple of weeks as required."
The squad also includes three of the league’s rising stars – Bairnsdale’s Corey Timms, Morwell’s Ryan Hearn and Traralgon’s Michael Jacobsen – that Singh hopes will make the most of the opportunity to be involved in a senior interleague program as development players.
The first of five training sessions will take place on Wednesday, 19 April and will be immediately followed by a team dinner and coaching presentations.
The league will meet with Yarra Ranges in the coming weeks to finalise details such as squad numbers for the match, which will take place at Woori Yallock on Saturday, 13 May.
2017 TRFM Gippsland League preliminary senior interleague squad: Russell Cowan, Damian Cupido, Corey Timms* (Bairnsdale), Bob McCallum (Drouin), Chris Dunne, Cade Maskell, Tom Marriott, Zak Vernon, Aaron Hilberg, Hayden Browne (Leongatha), Sam Pleming, Darren Sheen, Mitch Bennett, Kel Porter, Danny Butcher, Daniel Bedggood, Jack Johnstone (Maffra), Tom Long, James Blaser (Moe), Jack Brown, Ryan Hearn* (Morwell), Adam Wallace, Lachlan Ronchi, Jack Lipman, Jordan Dessent, Kane Martin (Sale), Mark Collison, Tim Northe, Adrian Slottje, Ben Amberg, Matt Northe, Michael Jacobsen* (Traralgon), Nate Parades, Brad Scalzo, Brayden Fowler (Warragul), Aiden Lindsay and Jack Blair (Wonthaggi Power)
*Development squad members
Training dates (venues TBC):
- Wednesday, 19 April (post-training dinner and coach presentation)
- Wednesday, 26 April
- Wednesday, 3 May
- Monday, 8 May
- Thursday, 11 May (jumper presentation night – all grades)
Last Modified on 13/04/2017 16:28
