By LIAM TWOMEY
THE Western Jets will begin their 2013 season with a tough clash against the Sandringham Dragons at Visy Park in March.
The news comes after the TAC Cup fixture for the new season was released, which will see all 12 regions engage in a 17-round competition before the top eight progress to a four-week finals series.
Last year the Jets had two players selected by AFL clubs after Spencer White was drafted to St Kilda and Lachlan Hunter was taken by the Western Bulldogs under the father/son rule.
Region manager Shane Sexton is pleased with the progress the new crop is making after beginning pre-season training late last year.
“We think we will have a really competitive group again,” he said.
“We have quite a few boys we think will be in draft contention and we have a reasonably strong bottom age group who will be really competitive.
“That is what we are hoping for but you just never know with all this. It depends what AFL recruiters are looking for and that never changes.”
After a slow start to the 2012 season, Western came home stronger than almost all region rivals before narrowly missing the finals and finishing in ninth place.
Sexton said it is important the new squad gets off to a better start to the season with the competition at its strongest in some of the early rounds.
“We just need to keep hammering the importance of starting,” he said.
“Everyone is available at the start, everybody is up and running and fit and school footy hasn’t started. “The reason we start on 24 March is to have a clear three or four week period where the Vic Metro selectors can have a really good look at it and start selecting squads.
“If you get off to a good start, you can get enough games to give yourself a chance of making the eight.”
Last season proved to be another successful year for AFL Victoria’s TAC Cup competition, with 41 players selected via the NAB AFL drafts.
That included eight of the top 10 selections and the number one pick Lachie Whitfield from the Dandenong Stingrays.
The TAC Cup also recorded the highest number of draftees and rookies across Australia.
