AFL Canada has sent 2 players each from Toronto and Vancouver to Melbourne, Australia, to be part of a 30 man squad for the World XVIII that will play in the NAB Cup Australian under 16 State Championships.
They will compete in Division 2 against Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, Northern Territory and Pacfic Islands.
You will be able to follow their progress thru their week long training camp starting on Sunday under head coach Michael O'Laughlin and Assistant Coach Chris Johnson via their dairy that will be posted every couple of days here on www.aflcanada.com.
Riyad Karacic
June 23rd 2010
Finished my exams today, and it feels great. Left school instantly to get on my flight to Australia. I am so excited at the moment. It’s such a great feeling knowing i’ll be playing footy with some amazing people. I am meeting up in LA with 3 other players. We’ll get to know each other on the flights. Should be good. Get close with the guys so we know each other.
This flight to LA is almost over and I’m just too excited to land and get moving already. Brought a small footy ball to play in the airport with the guys. I hope these guys are really great people and easy to be around. Should be fun!
June 25th 2010
So Clayton Lund, Andrew Roosdahl & American Chris Farzen and I got off our flight today, and met up with other Canadian Jono Elliott when we were waiting for our baggage. As we emerged from customs and immigration Greg Everett from AFL Canada and team Runner was waiting for us. He took us straight to the AFL house. We got a tour of the Etihad stadium, which was real nice. We met Josh Vanderloo, and World XVIII Assistant Coach Chris Johnson and Essendon Bombers legend Scott Lucas. We saw our awesome World XVIII team jumpers, and we all had a good chat about what was happening in the weeks to come. After all that we headed on to our hotel for Friday night to shower and just freshen up.
We then went to the Victoria market and had lunch and bought souvenir’s. We also bought tram cards and they’re pretty simple to use, the trams not the tram cards. In the evening we then went to watch a game at the MCG. It was a top of the table clash of the Cats vs. the Saints. It was great to watch real amazing teams play footy in front of 60,000 spectators. Due to jetlag 3 of us retired back to the hotel after the second quarter because we had been up for too long and just didn’t think we would survive any longer.
Tomorrow we meet the rest of the team, which should be awesome because we will get to know each other really well soon. We are all just excited to play footy now.
June 26th 2010
Checked out of our hotel this morning and went for a drive to Williamstown to meet some more of the team and to watch Josh Vanderloo’s footy game. Enjoying the meat pies and peoples reactions to the AFL Canada logos on our jackets. After lunch we made our way to Ormond university where we’re living for the rest of our stay in Melbourne. It’s fantastic to meet up with more of the team, hearing stories and accents from all parts of the world. They all seem like pretty great guys and were all excited to start playing. Up early tomorrow morning for our official welcome and for training to get under way. Cheers from down under!
Last Modified on 29/06/2010 14:16